Cayman’s Simpson battles through the streets of Detroit for a top 10 finish

By Cayman Compass contributor Ted Nesbitt

Fresh off a spectacular Indy 500, the IndyCar Series took to the bumpy streets of Detroit for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix on 31 May.

A challenging track comprised of Detroit’s narrow streets and unforgiving concrete walls on either side, the track proved to be quite the test for many in the IndyCar field. This included Indy 500 runner-up David Malukas in his Penske Chevrolet, who found some of the concrete very hard and unforgiving in a practice crash which sent him to his backup car for race day.

Qualifying Saturday was more of the same in many ways as Alex Palou again took the pole in his Ganassi Honda for the race.  Ganassi teammate Sir Scott Dixon qualified fourth in his PNC Bank Honda while Cayman’s Kyffin Simpson struggled and would have some work to do starting 17^th in his Sunoco Honda.

Sunday dawned clear and dry and the weather was perfect as the green flag flew at just before 1pm on the shores of the Detroit River. As polesitter Palou took off at the green, it was going to take both strategy and luck to win this race. Pitstop and tire strategy proved to be key throughout the race, with the softer red Firestone tires providing nice race grip early, but dropping off, while the harder black Firestones proved to be consistent if not quite as fast. Attrition also proved to be a factor in the race taking out front-runners Dixon (hybrid power issues) as well as Andretti Global’s Will Power after a couple banging incidents with former Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin.

While all this was going on, Kyffin Simpson yo-yo’d through the order, getting up to 8^th at one point after starting back in 17^th. Pitstop cycles again saw Simpson fall down the order to 15^th but he continued to battle on. Daring passes of American Sting Ray Robb, Dutchman Rinus Veekay and Meyer-Shan Racing’s Marcus Armstrong propelled Simpson into the top 10 in the closing laps.

When the checkered flags waved, Palou again had streaked to another victory, his fourth of eight races this season.  Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood was right there, but luck did not fall his way as he finished second, with American Graham Rahal rounding out the podium in third place.

Cayman’s Simpson would ultimately finish 9^th in a race that saw him battle through frustrating luck in the timing of yellow flags. Ultimately, it was Simpson just putting his head down and making many daring passes in the last third of the race that brought him home inside the top 10.

Alex Palou maintained his championship lead in the standings by earning 54 points Sunday, but things are much tighter than years past. The top five in the standings are within 100 points of Palou – last season at this time, only one driver was within striking distance of the Leader.

Sunday’s win was the 23^rd victory in Alex Palou’s 106 career IndyCar starts, an amazing win percentage of 21.7 percent. Palou has also won an amazing 12 of the last 25 races (48%) since the beginning of the 2025 Season. While many are complaining of the Spaniard’s dominance, finding it “boring and predictable”, IndyCar is right now seeing a talented racer achieve great things. Comparisons to F1 greats Michael Schumacher and the late Ayrton Senna may be premature, but if Palou keeps things going the way they are, those discussions might just indeed start to happen.