The seventh race of the IndyCar season saw the drivers take on Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. This came a week after an eventful Detroit Grand Prix which saw multiple cautions and tempers flaring left and right. Tempers did flare at Road America but there were much fewer cautions and, after a turbulent first 10 laps, ended up with a long green flag run. This meant pit stop and tire strategy would decide the race winner.
Rookie Linus Lundqvist led the field to green with weekend favorite Colton Herta was outside pole. The Xpel Grand Prix was a 55 lap race with each driver having to utilize both the Primary and Alternate tires.
Coming into Sunday’s race, it had been 736 days since Will Power, driver of the Team Penske number 12 Verizon Chevrolet, last visited victory lane. Power has been accustomed to winning as he opened his first 16 seasons of his IndyCar career with at least one win a season. However, that all ended in 2023 when Power went winless for the first time in a season in his career. After Sunday’s race, he can finally put those demons to bed. He utilized both strategy and a green flag pit stop cycle to leapfrog his Penske teammates and take the lead after the final pit stop cycle of the race.
Will Power, Penske, Dominate After Shaky Start
For most of the afternoon, it looked like it would be a battle between Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin as they were dueling both on the track and in the pits and were trading off the first spot. Power bided his time and sat back throughout the race in 3rd position as Team Penske established a 1-2-3 running order which led most to believe that one of the Penske drivers would take home the win.
Going into the last pit stop cycle, McLaughlin was the first of the three Penske drivers to pit, going from the softer, faster, but less durable Alternate Tire to the much more durable Primary tire leaving Newgarden and Power still on the track. Newgarden was quickly catching traffic which forced his hand to pit, by his own admission, a little earlier than he wanted to hand the lead to Power. After Newgarden’s pit stop he came out in front of McLaughlin but behind Power who had stayed out to stretch his Alternate tire stint. When Power did eventually come into the pits, he was able to stay in front of Newgarden and hold off multiple charges and secure his first win in over 2 years.
Team Penske will go home very happy as they finish 1-2-3 for the first time since 2017.
Heartbreak for Herta
Colton Herta had been the fastest all weekend throughout practice and only slightly missed out on the pole. But starting on the outside pole, the opportunity was there for Herta to seize early control of the race. That hope went up in smoke before the field made it to turn 2 on the opening lap. Right in front of Herta, Marcus Armstrong rear ended his teammate and pole sitter Lundqvist causing a pile up and effectively ruining Lundqvist’s chances of being competitive throughout the afternoon.
During this pileup, Newgarden got into the back of Herta, sending him around and damaging his ride. The damage would get worse when Herta ran wide in turn 1, flinging pieces of carbon fiber from under the car and bringing out the caution for debris. Herta’s woe’s were not over as Lundqvust made contact with him coming out of turn 3 sending Herta spinning in the grass and losing any track position he had gained after spinning in the first lap incident. Herta rebounded very well to finish a very respectable sixth after running in the back of the pack for a while. Herta was upset with his finish as he felt he had a car to contend for the win, not for sixth.
Championship Shakeup
The past two seasons have seen Chip Ganassi driver Alex Palou dominate in a Max Verstappen-esque run to two IndyCar championships in 2021 and 2023. This year has not seen the same dominance by Palou as we have seen plenty of jockeying for the top spot in the championship standings over the past several weeks.
Following last week’s win, Scott Dixon entered the weekend with the championship lead but a poor showing today dropped him down to third, 11 points behind newly appointed points leader and race winner, Power.
Palou, showing the speed that made him a two time champion, was very consistent throughout the race and currently sits five points back of Power. McLaughlin’s podium finish catapulted him into the top five of the standings but he still sits 57 out of the lead.
The top 5 in points heading into the next weekend at Laguna Seca are: Power (236 pts), Palou (-5), Dixon (-11), O’Ward (-52), and McLaughlin (-57).
Storylines Going Forward
- Colton Herta is poised to make a late run at the title, despite rocky showings the last couple weeks. Herta has shown speed in consecutive weeks and while he currently sits in 7th in the standings, this consistency is bound to pay off once he shakes this run of bad luck that he has recently found himself in. Ultimately, Herta has shown he is one of the most versatile drivers on the grid, even going as far as recommending strategies and adjustments on the car to his team strategist.
- Team Penske has put early season woes (and a brief Indy 500 “hangover” in Detroit) in the rear view mirror. Starting the year dealing with scandals which saw Team Penske suspend many members of their IndyCar operations, Penske has shown speed this year, consistently bringing the top cars to the track week in and week out. Lookout for Penske drivers Newgarden, Power, and McLaughlin to go “trophy hunting” the rest of the year and find success.
- Scott Dixon chasing history this season. Although Road America was not the showing Dixon wanted after winning last weekend in Detroit, he still sits third in the standings and is within striking distance of his record-tying seventh championship. Dixon also sits nine wins behind the legendary A.J. Foyt in all-time wins in the IndyCar series. With both of these historical achievements within his sights, can Dixon bounce back at Laguna Seca and inch closer to one of the legends of the sport in Foyt?
Great recap!