David Malukas hung on to finish fifth in the Mission Foods Grand Prix of Monterey on Sunday, giving him three consecutive top-five finishes to close the 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season.

It was Malukas’ ninth top-five finish of the season.

“I think it was really strong for us,” Malukas said. “There’s a few mistakes that we’ve made throughout the weekend that I think we should have started off a bit better. But so many good things to come out of this, especially for me.”

Malukas (photo, top) believes he became a more complete driver in his first season in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet. Before this season, five of his six career top-five finishes in 61 starts came on ovals. This season, four of his nine top-five finishes came on permanent road courses.

“I think before coming into the season, it was always just ovals only (as my best tracks), and now we figured out the road courses on top of it,” Malukas said. “Street courses still need a little bit more work, but road courses are very strong.”

Malukas’ three consecutive top-five finishes provided a boost after he had three finishes of 12th or worse in a row entering last weekend’s Milwaukee Mile doubleheader.

He believes his tender wrist played a role in that difficult stretch.

Malukas has driven with discomfort since the July 5 race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The pain stems from a left wrist fracture and dislocation, along with torn ligaments, suffered in a mountain biking accident in February 2024.

The pain returned late in Sunday’s 95-lap race, which was slowed by just one caution on the opening lap.

Malukas entered Mid-Ohio second in points but finished the season fifth in the championship.

“I think we were one of the top cars on pace,” Malukas said. “It’s just my wrist started kind of giving out toward the end there.”

Malukas still ended up as the top Team Penske driver in his first season with the team with his fifth-place finish in the standings, easily a career best. His previous best was 11th last season with AJ Foyt Racing.

Team Penske teammates Scott McLaughlin finished sixth in the standings and Josef Newgarden eighth this season.

Kyle Kirkwood

Kirkwood Finishes Second in Points

Kyle Kirkwood climbed from sixth at the start to finish second in Sunday’s race in the No. 27 Sam’s Club Honda for Andretti Global.

He also finished second in the 2026 standings, 86 points behind champion Alex Palou.

“It’s big,” Kirkwood said. “I hope people consider us as the second-best team. We have a lot to build off of. We made a huge jump year over year. Now second in the championship.

“Will (Power) and Marcus (Ericsson) have come on very strong at the end of the year. We have a lot of momentum going into the offseason. We have a direction. Hopefully we can work on it and better ourselves for next year.”

Kirkwood (photo, above) entered the weekend third in points, two behind Christian Lundgaard. Danish driver Lundgaard climbed from 11th at the start to finish sixth in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.

Kirkwood ended the season with three top-six finishes in the final four races and 10 top-five finishes in 18 starts.

Scott Dixon

Dixon’s CGR Tenure Ends

Scott Dixon finished 17th in his 417th and final start with Chip Ganassi Racing.

He didn’t know how he would feel entering the weekend, but the emotions arrived before the race as he prepared to climb into the No. 9 PNC Bank CGR Honda.

“There were definitely many moments,” Dixon said. “I think the race meeting and then probably the pre-race interview and things like that, just kind of seeing old snippets and different memories.”

For the first time since 2004, Dixon (photo, above) failed to win a race, ending his series-record streak of 21 consecutive winning seasons.

Dixon also saw his streak of 20 consecutive seasons finishing in the top six in championship points come to an end. He finished 13th this season, tying 2002 and 2005 for his career-worst points finish.

“Good riddance to the year,” Dixon said. “It was definitely a tough one.”

Mike Hull, the longtime managing director of Chip Ganassi Racing and Dixon’s strategist since 2003, was emotional as he called Dixon’s final race for the team.

“I would say first of all, personally, rather professionally, when you get to ride with a guy like Scott for as long as we have, that’s the team,” Hull said. “For as long as I have, you just stand back in awe of what he does on the racetrack, but better yet, what he does off the racetrack to keep everybody focused.

“To be around greatness, you work your whole life to be around greatness, and when it happens, you just think you’re like a star.”

Hull said the opportunity to work with Dixon has been a career highlight.

“I think understanding that we have a team of people first of all, and a driver that can win, and we’ve managed to be able to do that for a long time,” Hull said. “But the focal point has been Scott Dixon, and we’ve seen other INDYCAR drivers, not very many, that have achieved what he’s achieved over the amount of time that he’s achieved it.

“I always wanted to work in INDYCAR racing. Always wanted to work around people like that, and then having gotten that opportunity, it’s been terrific.”

Scott McLaughlin

Odds and Ends

  • McLaughlin (photo, above) led the first lap of the season on the streets of St. Petersburg and the final lap of the year Sunday at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
  • McLaughlin said this is the first time he’s won a race since becoming a dad. His daughter, Lucy, was born in October 2024. McLaughlin’s last win before today came in September 2024 at Milwaukee Mile.
  • Team Penske won the season finale for the second straight year. Newgarden won the final race of 2025 at Nashville Superspeedway.
  • Pato O’Ward finished 11th Sunday in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet and ended up fourth in the final standings. O’Ward has finished in the top five in points in six of his seven full-time seasons, with the worst result being seventh in 2022.
  • Marcus Ericsson finished ninth in the No. 28 DKY Foundation Honda. That propelled him from eighth to seventh in the final standings, the best the Swede finished since sixth in the three years prior to joining Andretti Global in 2024. The No. 28 car with Andretti hasn’t finished in the top 10 in points since Ryan Hunter-Reay was 10th in 2020.