Alex Palou started his 2025 NTT IndyCar season with a walk-off win on the streets of St. Petersburg on March 2.
Palou started the day eighth and spent most of the 100-lap race methodically working his way to the front.
As Scott McLaughlin led the field a lap 1 accident into turn three collected Nolan Siegel, Will Power and Louis Foster, ending their race.
Under caution, the eternity of the field came down for their first pit stops of the day.
The field ran the final caution laps of the day before McLaughlin led the field back to the green on lap 7.
On lap 32 McLaughlin relinquished the lead for the first time as he came down pit road for his second stop.
The strategy came into play with several teams staying out a few more laps, allowing Marcus Armstrong, Colton Herta and Josef Newgarden to lead their only laps of the race.
McLaughlin retook the lead on lap 39 after the pit cycle ended but lost the lead when he hit the pit road again for fresher tires.
Christian Lundgaard took the lead on lap 46, while behind him Scott Dixon, Newgarden and Palou continued their march to the front.
On lap 68 Lundgaard came down pit road for his final stop with Newgarden and Palou pitting a few laps afterwards.
Dixon stayed out until lap 73 after leading 3 laps, McLaughlin would lead one more lap before making his final stop of the day handing the lead over to Palou on lap 75
Palou had a 5-second lead over second-place Newgarden with 25 laps to go.
With 14 laps to go Newgarden managed to cut a second out of the gap as lapped traffic began to build in front of Palou.
More lapped cars allowed Newgarden to continue making up ground, closing the gap to 1.5 seconds with 10 laps to go.
Each lap Palou had to force his way through the traffic in front of him while Newgarden and Dixon continued to shrink the gap.
With three to go Palou had cleared the traffic and began to expand his lead.
Palou drove away with the win in the final laps and Dixon passed Newgarden for second with a last lap pass.
The win in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is Palou’s first since June 23, 2024, at Laguna Seca.
Palou won the last two NTT IndyCar championships and now leads the points to start 2025.
While the name atop the standings hasn’t changed, 2025 is the start of a new era for IndyCar.
The NTT IndyCar Series started its multiyear deal with Fox after spending the last six seasons on NBC.
In total, the 2025 season opener received 1.4 million viewers, a number that surpasses any IndyCar race other than the Indianapolis 500 since 2011.
IndyCar enters a two-week off period returning on March 23 at the Thermal Club in Riverside California for the inaugural Grand Prix of Thermal.
