OnlyBulls Grand Prix of Portland Honda Message Points

Portland, OR
Sunday, August 9, 2026 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET
Live on Fox

What to Watch for at Portland International Raceway

• Pursuing Palou: Chip Ganassi Racing's Alex Palou extended his championship lead the last time out with a victory at Nashville Superspeedway. The Honda-powered Spaniard now holds an 83-point margin in the title fight with six races remaining in the season. Palou is looking for his fifth NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship, and fourth straight. Palou has twice clinched the championship at Portland International Raceway, in 2023 and 2025, and while that is not mathematically possible this season, the reigning champ will be looking to bolster his points margin with a good result at the track.

• The Law of Averages: Palou and Kyle Kirkwood boast the highest average finishes in the 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season. Palou's five victories on the year give him an average finish of 5.833. While Kirkwood has only one victory to his name thus far, the Andretti Global driver from Florida has the most top 10 finishes of anyone in the series in 2026-finishing outside the top 10 just once in 12 races, giving him an average finish of 6th. Kirkwood sits third in the IndyCar title fight, just four points out of second place.

• Keeping Portland weird: Honda teams and drivers have three wins at Portland International Raceway since the series returned in 2018, Palou's victories in 2023 and 2021 (a Honda 1-4 sweep), and a Honda podium sweep led by Rahal Letterman Lanigan's Takuma Sato in 2018. Honda's first Portland win came in 1996, via a 1-2 finish for Alex Zanardi and Gil de Ferran. Zanardi won again in 1998. Honda drivers swept the 1999 podium in Portland, with de Ferran winning, followed by Juan Pablo Montoya and Dario Franchitti. De Ferran repeated as race winner in 2000.

• The busy stretch: The NTT INDYCAR SERIES is finishing the 2026 season with an incredible six races over five weeks, crisscrossing North America, starting with this weekend's OnlyBulls Grand Prix of Portland. Included in that stretch are two new tracks-Markham and Washington DC-and a doubleheader event at the Milwaukee Mile before the season finale at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca the first weekend of September.

2026 Honda IndyCar Lineup

C-Series Champion I-Indianapolis 500 winner W-Race Winner R-Series Rookie

Where to Watch the OnlyBulls Grand Prix of Portland

• Television coverage of Sunday's OnlyBulls Grand Prix of Portland will air at 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET on Fox. Complete, flag-to-flag race coverage also will be available on the INDYCAR Radio Network, and SiriusXM INDYCAR Nation (Channel 160).

• Practice, qualifying and morning warm up across the weekend will all air on FS1.

HRC US social media content and video links can be found on:

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