The usually unshakable Alex Palou threw away a certain IndyCar victory at Mid-Ohio with a late-race mistake that allowed team-mate Scott Dixon to take a first win since Detroit in June last year.
After taking a third pole of the season, Palou was supremely comfortable at the front - aside from a brief spell of pressure from McLaren's Christian Lundgaard after their first stops - until Dixon came to the fore.
Dixon had gambled on a two-stop strategy before the race even started, and got more than the four laps of caution he needed to save fuel in each of the first two stints.
A caution on lap 31 of 64 meant Dixon could make the end of the race on one more stop - with some other drivers committing to the strategy - while Palou needed two.
That meant Dixon would spend the rest of the race fuel saving while Palou could run qualifying laps with the need to pit once more.
Palou emerged from his second stop 10 seconds behind Dixon but had reduced that to 8.8s by the time Dixon stopped on lap 61/90.
Now back at the front and with a buffer back to Lundgaard, Palou turned the screw on his six-time champion team-mate, driving away to the extent that he had a 27-second lead by the time of his final stop, which allowed him to rejoin ahead of Dixon.
The stop - "this is the pressure we want" said Palou's crew chief Ricky Davis, acknowledging its importance in a fight for victory - was absolutely perfect, as is typical of that #10 team, and Palou had just enough time to get his tyres up to speed with a 1.5s gap to Dixon.
But with six laps to go came the unthinkable: an unforced Palou error while leading. He went wide and handed a 1.2-second lead to Dixon with six laps to go and set about attacking to get the place back.
But Palou couldn't reel him back in and was left to rue his late error, with Dixon instead taking his seventh at Mid-Ohio.
Even so, Palou's championship lead stands at 113 points with seven races remaining. "Keep your head up, keep smiling," said team strategist Barry Wanser.
"Nobody to blame but me. It sucks: obviously still a good day but sucks to lose it like that," said Palou, praising the work of his team and the #9 crew of Dixon.
For Dixon, he joins Palou and Kyle Kirkwood as only the third driver (in 10 races) to win this year. A number of risky strategies have fallen just short this year despite his best attempts, but he succeeded in front of family from New Zealand in attendance.
Dixon's crew forgot to adjust his front wing and his car was full of oversteer but he held on in impressive fashion, maintaining Honda's record of winning every IndyCar race in 2025.
Behind Palou, Lundgaard took the final spot on the podium, while his McLaren team-mate Pato O'Ward came from 14th on the grid on a strategy similar to Dixon's to take fifth. He sits third in the championship ahead of Dixon and Lundgaard.
Andretti driver Colton Herta split the McLarens, passing O'Ward late on to take fourth.
The third Ganassi of Kyffin Simpson pitted right behind Dixon for his last stop and was a fixture in the top five all afternoon from a career-best third-place starting slot, but he stalled during that stop and then clipped the foot of a Dale Coyne crew member on the way out earning a drivethrough penalty and finished 10th.
Callum Ilott scored Prema's best road course result with a 13th place, ahead of rookie Louis Foster. His and his Rahal Letterman Lanigan team's struggles to turn great qualifying positions into results continued, as he slid from sixth at the start to 14th.
Penske's nightmare run continued with Josef Newgarden involved in a bizarre incident locking his rears on lap one, completing a hat-trick of DNFs. Will Power had an engine issue and Scott McLaughlin also had a poor run to a lapped 23rd.
Only one Penske driver is in the top 10 in points now, with Power in ninth, 227 points behind Palou.
