Alex Palou sends rest of IndyCar field back to earth after opening practice in Detroit

Alex Palou enters Sunday's Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix in the midst of what can only be classified for him as a long winless streak: two whole races. 

But after finishing fifth in the Indy GP and seventh in the 110th Indianapolis 500, Palou, the NTT IndyCar Series points leader and three-time defending champion, sent the rest of the field back down to earth Friday by pacing the first of two practice sessions on the streets of Motor City. 

Palou laid down a fastest lap of 62.77 seconds/94.341 miles per hour in the session, with Kyle Kirkwood, Will Power, Marcus Armstrong and Pato O'Ward rounding out the top five. David Malukas, Christian Lundgaard, Rinus VeeKay, Scott McLaughlin and Marcus Ericsson completed the top 10. 

Other notable drivers include Indianapolis 500 winner Felix Rosenqvist in 11th, six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon in 12th, Graham Rahal in 15th, 2025 Detroit runner-up Santino Ferrucci in 16th and Josef Newgarden in 21st. Sting Ray Robb was last (25th) in the session, with his fastest lap clocking in at 64.876 seconds/91.282 miles per hour. 

Can IndyCar field beat Alex Palou?

For Power, who enters Sunday's race 17th in the standings and seeking his first win with Andretti Global, speed in practice was a welcome sign. 

"Frustrated but encouraged," Power said Friday of his 2026 season so far. "I was in contention for win at Phoenix. I was in contention for a win at Arlington. Indy road course I was in contention for a win. I led laps at all those tracks. Cars are good. Just various things going wrong at times. I think we were going to be very good at Barber. Had a brake failure in qualifying, which was unfortunate. We were quick in the race.

"It can beat you down a little bit. That's the way this sport goes sometimes. I'm very happy with the team. Very good. Very good. We just got to execute a weekend without any sort of issues."

Saturday's schedule features the second and final practice of the weekend at 9 a.m. ET (FS1, IndyCar Radio) and qualifying at 1 p.m. ET (FS1, IndyCar Radio). 

The question that remains for the field after Friday is whether or not it has the pace to take down Palou, who has won three of the campaign's first seven races and has led more laps (268) than any other driver so far in 2026. 

"I do think about Palou at these times and think about how often he puts it together," Power said. To be in this place must feel so good where it's all flowing for you. But his time will come."