Race Report: Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix

DETROIT (May 31, 2026) -- The Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix was a street fight and the gloves were clearly off as drivers bullied their way past others Sunday afternoon around the 1.64-mile street circuit in downtown Detroit.

Some drivers got away with little consequence and others incurred penalties in the 100-lapper which was slowed five times for full course cautions totaling 21 laps.

The race was also a story of toughness as several drivers battled through injuries and pain, the aftermath of crashes at Indianapolis last week, to compete on one of the bumpiest tracks in the NTT INDYCAR Series.

Caio Collet, who sustained injury to his ribs in the violent crash in turn 2 at the superspeedway, soldiered through the pain to finish 16th in the Combitrans Amazonia Chevrolet Sunday afternoon after starting 19th.

"Tough weekend in general," assessed Collet. "Think we just struggled all weekend long with pace. Also, a little bit from my side, (my) driving was not the best that it was this season, and just struggling a bit with the (hurt) feeling since Friday."

Josef Newgarden and Alexander Rossi dispensed with their crutches to climb into their cars with foot injuries -- after passing the physical tests to insure they could drive safely and exit quickly if needed. Newgarden finished 10th and Rossi was one who incurred a penalty in the latter stages of the race, he finished 17th.

Collet's strategy didn't play out the way the engineers expected and he ran in the rear of the field for much of the race. At some point in the middle stages, he encountered someone hard enough to

puncture a hole in the nosecone of the No. 4 car. He ran with a piece of it dragging for nearly a stint but the crew eventually replaced it under caution.

"I think we made a couple of wrong calls on the first yellow that we had there," Collet explained, "and that put us on the back foot, but at the end we just finished the race with what we had.  Also had a couple of incidents as well trying to come back up through the field, so was just a tough day, but glad that at least we were able to finish the race, and we'll move on forward."

Santino Ferrucci, who was running 14th after starting 22nd in the No. 14 Homes For Our Troops Chevrolet, incurred a penalty for avoidable contact in a battle with Rinus Veekay who had been blocking multiple times when Ferrucci attempted to pass. Ferrucci was upset with the penalty as he did not believe he touched Veekay who overdrove the corner.

"The start was good, made up a lot of spots, we got hit a bunch. It was just moving bumper cars out there," Ferrucci said, who placed 23rd. "Strategy was good. The guys did a great job in the pit lane."

"Then we got taken out by the same car that hit us at the start tried to put us in the wall, and bent the front suspension," Ferrucci continued. "We came to the same car again, and he's blocking, blocking, but no penalty. He was so loose that when we got to the corner, I don't think I even touched him and he spun on his own.  We got the drive through. Then we had a part failure on the pedal throttle and it just stopped. Looking forward to St. Louis."

Alex Palou won from his pole position again for his fourth victory this season and 23rd overall. He now has a sizable lead in the title chase and appears to be headed for a fourth consecutive championship and fifth overall if he continues his winning ways. Kyle Kirkwood finished second and was followed by Graham Rahal, Pato O'Ward and his teammate Christian Lundgaard.

On a brighter note, Ferrucci celebrated his 28th birthday Sunday with cake and a rousing rendition of the Happy Birthday song from crew and sponsors.

Along with Larry Foyt and fellow driver Caio Collet, Santino met newly hired Coach Kyle Whittingham who is moving from a very successful college football career at the University of Utah to coach at the University of Michigan. All three racers signed the helmet that Coach wore in his two-seater ride around the circuit--aka "the fastest seat in sports."

Coach Kyle Whittingham holds his helmet autographed by Santino, Caio and Larry.

The NTT INDYCAR Series heads to St. Louis this week for their only night race of the season which will be held at World Wide Technology Raceway. FOX will broadcast the race Sunday evening, June 7, starting at 9 p.m. ET.

Earlier in the day, the INDY NXT by Firestone race took place on the same circuit and hopes were high for Alessandro de Tullio who earned his fifth pole position of the season Saturday in the No. 14  AJ Foyt Racing entry. For the second time this season, he did not clear the first turn of the first lap as he was crashed from behind when Lochie Hughes charged hard into the first corner and crashed into de Tullio, spinning him out.

Alessandro de Tullio paces the field moments before he was taken out. (INDYCAR Photo)

Hughes received a drive-through penalty while AJ Foyt Racing's INDY NXT crew repaired the car. The rookie re-entered the race four laps down and used it to gain experience. He placed 22nd. Teammate Nicolas Monteiro stayed clear of trouble and finished 17th on the lead lap. Enzo Fittipaldi won.

The INDY NXT by Firestone teams also head to World Wide Technology Raceway for their next event which will televised on FS1 starting at 5:30 p.m. ET.

The AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolets on track with the Chevrolet-branded Renaissance Center overlooking the city.