Christian Lundgaard – XPEL Grand Prix at Road America – Photo by Joe Skibinski

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio

A dazed-and-confused Christian Lundgaard asked his Arrow McLaren team over the radio what everyone else wondered moments after the Dane had taken the checkered flag for the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America on Sunday, June 21.

“How did we do that?” an incredulous Lundgaard inquired.

SEE: Race Results

Lundgaard parlayed strategy, speed and a bit of good fortune to climb from last in the 25-car field after contact on Lap 1 to earn his second victory of the season in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. The race ended under caution when Graham Rahal spun into the gravel trap outside Canada Corner after contact with Will Power while dueling for third place on a one-lap restart to the checkered flag.

The victory was the third of Lundgaard’s NTT IndyCar Series career, joining his win in May on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course with Arrow McLaren and in 2023 on the Streets of Toronto with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

“It was a very eventful day, very long day,” said Lundgaard, a 24-year-old native of Hedensted, Denmark. “Not quite what I had on my bingo card waking up this morning. Obviously, this is what you hope for. I know on road-courses, didn’t really matter where we would start, we would always get good results.

“I think we produce very good race cars. We need to still figure out how to qualify better. Obviously this weekend has been a little bit of an outlier for me. Not felt comfortable, not had the pace in Practice 1 or Practice 2, even though we tested here two weeks ago. A confusing weekend. To end with a win I would say confuses me even more. Maybe I just need to be confused.”

David Malukas finished second in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, his third runner-up result of the season in search of his first career victory. Malukas said the frustration is slowly beginning to build.

“It’s always just a battle of trying to keep that kind of contained,” said Malukas, a 24-year-old native of Chicago. “At the end of the day we’re still in a championship fight, still good amount of races to go. We really never know what happens.

“You’re still on that edge of I want to make some risks to go for the win; at the same time I need to keep it contained because I don’t want to make something stupid and get out of some good points. That’s the challenge of this year, balancing between those two forms of racing.”

Australian Power held on to finish third in the No. 26 TWG AI Honda, matching the two-time series champion’s best result during his first season with Andretti Global.

Kyffin Simpson of the Cayman Islands finished a season-best fourth in the No. 8 Sunoco Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, with point-leader and four-time/reigning series champion Alex Palou of Spain completing the top-five in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

Dallas resident Santino Ferrucci of Waller, Texas-based A.J. Foyt Racing overcame a six-spot grid penalty at the start to finish a lead-lap ninth in the No. 14 Homes For Our Troops Chevrolet. Rookie teammate Caio Collet of Brazil also finished on the lead-lap in 16^th in the No. 4 Combitrans Amazonia Chevrolet.

Pato O’Ward placed a lead-lap 12^th in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, and offered “congrats” to teammate Lundgaard for his victory. “In terms of performance on my side, I think we had everything in position to win this race today,” said O’Ward, a 27-year-old native of Mexico with family ties to San Antonio, Texas. “We just can’t catch a break with these unlucky yellows. We obviously got cycled to last on that last yellow, and that’s a pretty big race-ender.

“There are a lot of positives in terms of performance we can take away from this weekend, and we’re going to go to Mid-Ohio to try to get one there.”

That sentiment was echoed by Tony Kanaan, Arrow McLaren Team Principal. “A rollercoaster of a day on both sides. Christian, obviously, had the hiccup at the start and then came back from a lap down,” said native Brazilian Kanaan, the INDYCAR champion in 2004 and winner of the 2013 Indianapolis 500. “The combination of him driving a great race and Kyle Moyer calling a great strategy got us a win.

“Pato and Nolan (Siegel) got caught up in a yellow flag which put them both out of contention. As a team, it was a pretty good day. We came out with the win _ our second one of the year. At this point last year, we didn’t have a single win. So, huge improvement, huge boost. We have a weekend off and then back to Mid-Ohio, where we’ve won with Pato before. We’ll be looking for another one.”

Lundgaard, who started 12th, took the lead for the second and final time on Lap 52 of the 55-lap/220.77-mile race when the No. 66 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Honda of leader Marcus Armstrong slowed with a mechanical problem. Native New Zealander Armstrong led by 2.787-seconds with five laps to go before mechanical fate cruelly robbed him of what would have been his first career victory.

Armstrong’s stricken machine finally lost power in Turn 5 on Lap 53, triggering a caution period and a one-lap dash to the checkered flag.

Lundgaard never was challenged by Malukas on the final trip around the Road America’s daunting 4.014-mile/14-turn natural-terrain circuit, with most of the attention focused on the duel for third between series veterans Power and Rahal. Power, holding a straight-line speed advantage, attempted to move to the outside of Rahal at the end of the back straightaway, with both cars making contact and Rahal’s No. 15 MSC Industrial Supply Honda spinning into the gravel, ending the race.

“Our position was all thanks to the pit crew and the team again,” said Rahal, the 37-year-old son of team-founder and three-time Championship Auto Racing Teams champ Bobby Rahal. “The guys did a wonderful job in the pits. My last in-lap was a really good in-lap and that helped us get some gap on a lot of guys like Power, (Alexander) Rossi and those guys. But I really just didn’t need the yellow at the end because our cars don’t fire off well on restarts and they definitely don’t when coming out of the pits.

“So, with Power, I fought the fight for about six or seven laps of him closing on me before the car kind of came to life a little bit more and we started to be able to pull away. That yellow with two laps to go, I really didn’t need to see for sure. Overall, it is what it is. It was just Power being Power. I had every right to move to the right at the end of the brake zone. People can say that I came back to the left, but he ran into the back of my car; he wasn’t even next to me.

“It’s frustrating to not be able to get the result that I felt like we deserved because Brian (Barnhart, strategist) did a great job and Yves (Touron, race engineer) did a wonderful job with the change that they made. Our race-pace was significantly better than I think we expected it to be. And to not be able to see it through and have the result was quite frustrating.”

That was the climax to a race marked by varying tire strategies and fierce competition for nearly every position. But nothing was more improbable than Lundgaard’s charge to the front.

Lundgaard made opening-lap contact with six-time series champion and native New Zealander Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing in Turn 1, damaging the left front wing on Lundgaard’s car and deflating one of his Firestone Firehawk tires. Lundgaard pulled into the pits on Lap 2 for tires, fuel and a new front wing, with Arrow McLaren strategists devising tactics on the fly.

Lundgaard cycled into the lead for the first time on Lap 43 when Armstrong, Malukas and Rahal made their final pit stops from the top three positions. Lundgaard led Sweden’s Felix Rosenqvist by 11.720- seconds on Lap 45 when he made his final pit stop, with the Arrow McLaren team refilling his fuel and fastening four Firestone Firehawk alternate (red) tires in a speedy 7.1-seconds.

The big cushion before the stop allowed Lundgaard to exit his final stop second behind Armstrong and just ahead of Malukas, who had hotter, stickier rubber on his wheels and passed Lundgaard for second on Lap 46.

Two-time series champion Josef Newgarden _ competing despite undergoing surgery on his injured left foot earlier in the week _ made his final stop from the lead on Lap 49 in the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet. That handed the lead back to Armstrong, who was 3.671-seconds ahead of Malukas.

Meanwhile, Lundgaard passed Malukas for second on Lap 49, with Armstrong nearly three seconds up the road. Armstrong’s bid for his first win evaporated as his Honda power dwindled, letting Lundgaard pass for the lead on Lap 52.

“It was all smooth sailing,” said Armstrong, a 25-year-old native of Christchurch, New Zealand. “I came out of Turn 6 and the engine just started sputtering like it was out of fuel. But clearly it wasn’t. And then it just completely died. There was no indication there was nothing wrong.”

Pole-sitter Palou led 13 laps, but his chance for a fourth career Road America victory vanished when he was penalized for speeding in the pits on Lap 29. Palou fell to 22nd after his drive-through penalty on one of the longest pit roads in the series. But he was appointment-viewing TV during his charge toward the front over the closing 25 laps.

Palou now leads second-place Malukas by 60 points in the championship and third-place Kyle Kirkwood, who finished 10th, by 61 points. Lundgaard improved to fourth, 77 points behind Palou.

“I mean, it’s (the championship) something that’s there,” Malukas said. “Palou obviously has been on his A-game. Same thing with Kyle. I think Kyle had a little bit of an off-race this one. I mean, we all have one off-race. You know the next race we go to, he’s going to be right back up there. It’s going to be a close battle. Who knows what will happen in the end.”

Next NTT IndyCar Series event is The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Presented by the 2027 CR-V Hybrid on Sunday, July 5, at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course near in Lexington, Ohio.

Matteo Nannini – INDY NXT Presented by Firestone – (Photo by Travis Hinkle | IMS Photo)

Matteo Nannini was declared winner of Race 2 of the Grand Prix at Road America double-header for the INDY NXT by Firestone series after two A.J. Foyt Racing cars were disqualified.

Foyt driver Alessandro de Tullio of Miami originally crossed the finish line of the 18-lap/72.25-mile race 1.0584-seconds ahead of Nannini. But de Tullio and teammate Nicholas Monteiro of Brazil were disqualified after post-race inspection discovered pole-sitter de Tullio’s tires from qualifying on the No. 14 car Saturday were installed on Monteiro’s No. 4 car and Monteiro’s tires from qualifying were mounted on de Tullio’s car for Race 2 _ a violation of series rules 15.1.3 and 15.1.12.2.

INDYCAR Officiating considers this a Level 3 infraction based on the published Penalty Guidelines. As the highest infraction level, both cars were disqualified; neither entry is eligible for driver or entrant points from Race 2. Members may contest imposition of the penalties detailed in the review and appeal procedures of the INDY NXT by Firestone Rulebook.

SEE: Race Results

It was the first win of the season for Nannini, whose previous best was seventh in Race 2 of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course double-header in May. Nannini earned his second career victory in INDYCAR’s developmental series, as he last won in May 2023 on the IMS Road-Course.

“We’re finally where we belong,” said Nannini, a 22-year-old native of Faenza, Italy. “It’s been a rough start to the season so far. So happy for my team, my sponsors, everyone involved. It’s hopefully the first of many more.”

With the penalties, rookie Tymek Kucharczyk of Poland was elevated to second in the No. 71 HMD Motorsports car after a stirring drive from the 16th starting position. Series leader Nikita Johnson secured the final podium position in the No. 21 Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR machine.

Enzo Fittipaldi placed fourth in the No. 67 HMD Motorsports car after finishing 22nd Saturday in the first race, with Myles Rowe completing the top-five in the No. 99 Abel Motorsports with Force Indy entry.

De Tullio led all 18 laps around the 4.104-mile/14-turn natural-terrain road-course, enduring two restarts. De Tullio was ahead of Nannini by nearly 2.4-seconds on Lap 15 when Colin Kaminsky veered into the outside wall on the front straightaway after losing control of his No. 57 Abel Motorsports machine while trying to pass Andretti Global’s Seb Murray of Scotland in the No. 27 Megatron car.

That bunched the field for a one-lap race to the finish on a restart at the end of Lap 17. De Tullio never was threatened by Nannini, who passed Johnson in Turn 5 on Lap 2 for second and held that spot for the rest of the race.

Perhaps the biggest concern for de Tullio and Nannini on the final restart was Kucharczyk, the 20-year-old who showed stunning pace while scything through the field. Kucharczyk, who recorded the quickest lap of the race, was nearly eight-tenths of a second quicker than any driver in the closing laps, as he produced a race-high 20 on-track passes.

However, Kucharczyk couldn’t make a dent on de Tullio or Nannini over the final lap and settled for his sixth podium finish of the season. Kucharczyk’s fireworks were symbolic of a race that featured 294 on-track passes, including 274 for position _ all INDY NXT records at Road America.

Australian Lochie Hughes, winner of Race 1 of the twinbill on Saturday, placed 20th in the No. 26 Andretti Global car. Hughes was involved in a four-car incident in Turn 3 on Lap 1 and had to retreat to the pits for repairs, placing two laps down at the finish.

Johnson’s lead in the series shrank from 10 points over Kucharczyk after Saturday’s race to one point over the Pole. Fittipaldi is third, six points behind Johnson.

Next INDY NXT by Firestone event is another double-header on July 4-5 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio.

NTT IndyCar Series Point Standings _ 1, Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing, 374; 2, David Malukas, Team Penske, 314; 3, Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global, 313; 4, Christian Lundgaard, Arrow McLaren, 297; 5, Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren, 257; 6, Felix Rosenqvist, Meyer Shank Racing, 248; 7, Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske, 248; 8, Josef Newgarden, Team Penske, 247; 9, Marcus Ericsson, Andretti Global, 213; 10, Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing, 211;  

11, Marcus Armstrong, Meyer Shank Racing, 203; 12, Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 200; 13, Rinus VeeKay, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 187; 14, Will Power, Andretti Global, 180; 15, Alexander Rossi, Ed Carpenter Racing, 180; 16, Kyffin Simpson, Chip Ganassi Racing, 179; 17, Santino Ferrucci, A.J. Foyt Racing, 168; 18, Louis Foster, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 147; 19, Dennis Hauger, Dale Coyne Racing, 143; 20, Romain Grosjean, Dale Coyne Racing, 132;

21, Nolan Siegel, Arrow McLaren, 125; 22, Christian Rasmussen, Ed Carpenter Racing, 117; 23, Caio Collet, A.J. Foyt Racing, 113; 24, Mick Schumacher, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 102; 25, Sting Ray Robb, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 100; 26, Derek Daly, Dryer & Reinbold Racing, 24; 27, Takuma Sato, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 20; 28, Jack Harvey, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, 8; 29, Jacob Abel, Abel Motorsports, 6; 30, Helio Castroneves, Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian, 5;

31, Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing, 5; 32, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Arrow McLaren, 5; 33, Katherine Legge, HMD Motorsports with A.J. Foyt Racing, 5.

FOX SPORTS’ 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES BROADCAST SCHEDULE/(RACE WINNER)

Note _ All times Eastern

Sunday, March 1 _ Streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Saturday, March 7 _ Phoenix Raceway, Avondale, Ariz., (Josef Newgarden, Team Penske)

Sunday, March 15 _ Streets of Arlington, Texas, (Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global)

Sunday, March 29 _ Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Ala., (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, April 19 _ Streets of Long Beach, Calif., (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Saturday, May 9 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course, (Christian Lundgaard, Arrow McLaren)

Sunday, May 24 _ 110^th Indianapolis 500, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Oval, (Felix Rosenqvist, Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian)

Sunday, May 31 _ Streets of Downtown Detroit, (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, June 7 _ World Wide Technology Raceway, Madison, Ill., (Josef Newgarden, Team Penske)

Sunday, June 21 _ Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis., 2 p.m., (Christian Lundgaard, Arrow McLaren)

Sunday, July 5 _ Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio, 12:30 p.m.

Sunday, July 19 _ Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon, Tenn., TBA

Sunday, Aug. 9 _ Portland (Ore.) International Raceway, 4 p.m.

Sunday, Aug. 16 _ Streets of Markham, Canada, Noon

Sunday, Aug. 23 _ Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C., TBA

Saturday, Aug. 29 _ The Milwaukee Mile Race 1, West Allis, Wis., 2:30 p.m.

Sunday, Aug. 30 _ The Milwaukee Mile Race 2, West Allis, Wis., 1 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 6 _ WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif., 2:30 p.m.

Note _ Dates and times subject to change.

2026 INDYCAR NXT BY FIRESTONE SCHEDULE/(RACE-WINNER)

Sunday, March 1 _ Streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., (Nikita Johnson, Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR)

Sunday, March 15 _ Streets of Arlington, Texas, (Max Taylor, Andretti Global)

Saturday, March 28 _ Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Ala., (Nikita Johnson, Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR)

Sunday, March 29 _ Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Ala., (Alessandro de Tullio, A.J. Foyt Racing)

Friday, May 8 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course Race 1, (Enzo Fittipaldi, HMD Motorsports)

Saturday, May 9 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course Race 2, (Tymek Kucharczyk, HMD Motorsports)

Sunday, May 31 _ Streets of Downtown Detroit, (Enzo Fittipaldi, HMD Motorsports)

Sunday, June 7 _ World Wide Technology Raceway, Madison, Ill., (Myles Rowe, Abel Motorsports)

Saturday, June 20 _ Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis., Race 1, (Lochie Hughes, Andretti Global)

Sunday, June 21 _ Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis., Race 2, (Matteo Nannini, Cape Motorsports powered by ECR)                                                                             

Saturday, July 4 _ Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio, Race 1

Sunday, July 5 _ Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio, Race 2

Sunday, July 19 _ Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon, Tenn.

Sunday, Aug. 9 _ Portland (Ore.) International Raceway

Sunday, Aug. 30 _ The Milwaukee Mile, West Allis, Wis.

Saturday, Sept. 5 _ Weather Tech Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif., Race 1

Sunday, Sept. 6 _ Weather Tech Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif., Race 2