ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (Saturday, June 20, 2026) – The pole streak lives for Alex Palou.
Series leader and four-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Palou earned his fifth consecutive NTT P1 Award this season, grabbing the top starting spot Saturday for the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America Presented by AMR with a best lap of 1 minute, 43.6615 seconds in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. The pole was Palou’s sixth in 10 races this season and the 18th of his illustrious career.
Fellow Chip Ganassi Racing legend Alex Zanardi, a two-time INDYCAR SERIES champion, was the last driver to win five straight poles. He captured the last four poles of the 1996 season and opened the 1997 season with two more consecutive poles.
“It’s incredible, five in a row this year,” Palou said. “This team, man. This team and everyone on it is giving me the best car, all the power we needed. We suffered quite a lot there in Q2. Couldn’t really get the lap we wanted, but the car was super rapid.”
David Malukas continued his strong first season at Team Penske by qualifying second at 1:43.9542 in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.
Marcus Armstrong will start third – tying a career best – despite fighting the flu all weekend after his best lap of 1:44.0225 in the No. 66 Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Honda. His teammate, Felix Rosenqvist, will join him on the second row in the fourth position after his lap of 1:44.0502 in the team’s No. 60 Honda.
Marcus Ericsson continued his solid rebound season after his first two subpar years with Andretti Global, qualifying fifth at 1:44.1737 in the No. 28 Delaware Life Honda. Scott McLaughlin rounded out the third row at 1:44.8242 in the No. 3 XPEL Team Penske Chevrolet, as MSR and Penske each put two cars in the Firestone Fast Six.
Palou entered this event with four victories in nine starts this season and a 49-point lead over second-place Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Global in the standings. Kirkwood qualified 18th in the No. 27 Sam’s Club Honda in a weekend full of struggles, as 15th is the best position he has managed at the end of any of the three sessions on the 14-turn, 4.014-mile road course.
Spanish driver Palou led his qualifying group in the first round but slipped to fourth, .3901 of a second behind leader Malukas, in the Fast 12 round. But Palou and CGR regrouped for the Firestone Fast Six and laid down their quickest time on their penultimate lap, also producing a time quick enough for pole on their final circuit for good measure.
If the pole streak doesn’t send enough shivers up the spines of his rivals, Palou is starting from the front Sunday at one of his best tracks. He is aiming for a series-record fourth career win at the longest circuit on the INDYCAR SERIES schedule and is the reigning winner of this event.
Live coverage of the 55-lap race starts at 2 p.m. ET (FOX, FOX Deportes), with a 30-minute warmup session preceding at 11 a.m. (FS1). FOX One and INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls also will cover both sessions live.
The warmup session may be crucial due to a lack of day-to-day consensus on whether the Firestone Firehawk primary or alternate tire is preferred.
“Tomorrow is going to be tough,” Palou said. “It’s going to be a long, long race for everyone. I don’t really know what tire is best. It seems like everyone was unhappy with the alternates yesterday, and then suddenly today, they are so much faster. I think it’s going be very interesting in terms of strategy and stuff.
“Obviously, we’re starting from the best spot and hope we can keep it there.”
