Scott McLaughlin had pole. The alternates had grip. The strategy charts had drama. None of it mattered once Palou found clean air and decided he’d quite like to stay there.
Team Penske spent last year answering uncomfortable questions. On Saturday at St. Petersburg, Scott McLaughlin answered with a lap quick enough to make the entire field blink.
After 20 races of nothing but frustration, Josef Newgarden finally gave the hometown fans what they’d been waiting for—a win that felt like it belonged on Broadway’s main stage.
Christian Rasmussen got the break he needed from Mother Nature, and then he and Ed Carpenter Racing did the rest.
Will Power’s first win of 2025 kept Team Penske out of the history books for all the wrong reasons—while Alex Palou made history of his own.
The rest of the INDYCAR field showed up to Laguna Seca for a race. Alex Palou showed up for a coronation.
With gutsy strategy and a lucky bird strike, Pato O’Ward clawed 30 points out of Palou’s championship lead in a wild street fight up north.
In a race that looked like another Josef Newgarden Iowa special, it was Pato O’Ward who broke through late and ruined the Penske parade.