Honda fans had plenty to celebrate this week. Alex Palou brought the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda home first at the rain-delayed Music City Grand Prix in Nashville, and it's just the latest chapter in what's shaping up to be a historic season for Honda power in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES.
A Nail-Biter at Nashville
Weather pushed the race from Sunday to a Monday afternoon green flag, and the extra day off didn't slow Palou down one bit. Nashville Superspeedway saw plenty of chaos: a caution flew when Scott Dixon made contact with Alexander Rossi in Turn 3, and Palou's pit crew got him back on track just a fraction of a second before pit road closed. That timing put Palou in front once the leaders cycled through their own stops, and he made it stick over the final 95 laps, holding off Team Penske's Josef Newgarden by just 0.8731 seconds at the checkered flag.
David Malukas capped an incredible comeback drive, working his way from the back of the field all the way to a podium finish, just two days after a hard crash in practice sent him briefly to the hospital. Rookie Mick Schumacher also turned in a career-best eighth-place finish in a race that tripped up plenty of veterans.
A Championship Coming Into Focus
The Nashville win was Palou's fifth of the 2026 season, following victories at the season-opening race in St. Petersburg, the Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix at Barber, and the Detroit Grand Prix. He's now won 13 of his last 29 INDYCAR starts, a run of dominance that's built him an 83-point championship lead over Kyle Kirkwood with six races left on the calendar. Palou enters the stretch run already a four-time series champion, fresh off an eight-win 2025 season that included a win at the Indy 500, and a lead this size this late in the year has him in a great spot to make it five.
Honda's Signature Moment: The Closest Indy 500 Ever
Palou isn't the only Honda story of 2026. Back in May, Felix Rosenqvist and the Meyer Shank Racing team delivered one of the most thrilling finishes in motorsports history, edging David Malukas by just 0.0233 seconds to win the 110th running of the Indianapolis 500, the closest finish the race has ever seen, beating a record that had stood since 1992. It was Honda's seventeenth Indy 500 victory, and another reminder that when it matters most, Honda shows up.
Bringing That Winning Feeling Home
There's a reason Honda's success on the track means something to Honda owners off of it. The same precision, efficiency, and engineering discipline that puts a Honda-powered car in victory lane are built into every Civic, Accord, CR-V, and Pilot on our lot. You don't need to be a die-hard racing fan to appreciate a brand that performs when it counts.
