Updated Saturday, September 5, 2026.
The 2026 IndyCar season ends Sunday afternoon on the Monterey Peninsula. Alex Palou already has the championship, his fifth in six years and fourth in a row, so the Mission Foods Grand Prix of Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca is about the rest of the standings and about whether the best driver in the series adds one more win to a season that has already produced six.
Here is everything you need to watch it.
| Date | Sunday, September 6, 2026 |
| Coverage | 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX, green flag scheduled for 3:00 p.m. ET |
| Streaming | FOX One, FOXSports.com and the FOX Sports app; FOX Deportes in Spanish |
| Radio | INDYCAR Radio |
| Distance | 95 laps on the 2.238 mile, 11 turn road course |
| Booth | Will Buxton with Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe; Georgia Henneberry, Kevin Lee and Jack Harvey on pit road |
| Saturday qualifying | 4:30 p.m. ET on FS2 |
Race coverage by time zone
| Eastern | Central | Mountain | Arizona | Pacific |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2:30 p.m. | 1:30 p.m. | 12:30 p.m. | 11:30 a.m. | 11:30 a.m. |
What Is Still at Stake
Palou locked up the title at the Milwaukee Mile on August 30, the second straight year he has clinched before the finale. He is the first driver in IndyCar history to win five championships in a six year span and the youngest ever to reach five. Sebastien Bourdais is the only other driver to win four in a row. Palou has six wins and eight poles this year, and his 25 career victories are tied for 17th all time with Gordon Johncock. He has also won this race three times in the last four years, including in 2025. Chip Ganassi Racing is running a tribute livery on his car this weekend in memory of Alex Zanardi.
The real race is for second in the standings. Christian Lundgaard moved into second at Milwaukee, with Kyle Kirkwood and Pato O’Ward right behind, and the three are separated by just four points. O’Ward has the momentum after sweeping both Milwaukee races, the first IndyCar driver to win twice in one day since 1981. Lundgaard is trying to become Arrow McLaren’s top points scorer other than O’Ward since O’Ward joined the team in 2020.
Palou and Lundgaard each have two road course wins this season and O’Ward has one. Laguna Seca, with the Corkscrew and its long drop through the back half of the lap, has been Palou’s track, so the finale sets up as the champion against the three drivers fighting for the runner up spot.
The Bottom Line
FOX has the IndyCar finale from 2:30 p.m. ET Sunday with the green flag at 3, streaming on FOX One. Alex Palou is already the five time champion. Second place in the standings comes down to Lundgaard, Kirkwood and O’Ward with four points between them, and 95 laps at Laguna Seca will settle it.