Lundgaard Goes Last to First to Win at Road America

Photo: Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment

By Dennis Krause

Christian Lundgaard’s XPEL Grand Prix at Elkhart Lake’s Road nearly ended before it really began.

Making it even worse was defying what Arrow McLaren team principal Tony Kanaan told him in his pre-race pep talk

“Actually he said not to do exactly what I did, which is don't make life harder on yourself,” Lundgaard related. “That's pretty much it (smiling).”

On the run to Turn 1 at the drop of the green flag, Lundgaard definitely made life harder for himself when his No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet made contact to the right rear of Scott Dixon in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, causing Lundgaard’s left front wing and that tire to lose air and force him into a pit stop after just one lap.

“Yeah, I mean, I haven't honestly seen it yet. I'm not quite sure what exactly happened. In the moment I thought it was my fault, basically just ran into the back of Dixon.

“Obviously at that point I know how long the race is,” Lundgaard recalled. “It was really to try to stay on the lead lap. That was the main goal. It wasn't very easy with the tire missing basically. But from there on, it's such a long race, one caution brings you back in the game. You just got to take it from there after that.

"Yeah, I knew we were going to be fighting for a top 10 regardless, just from the pace that we had. I didn't really expect it to be a win.”

Lundgaard found himself in last place, but because of the length of the 4.014 mile lap at Elkhart Lake, the Arrow McLaren crew was able to replace the nose and left front tire without losing a lap, coming out ahead of then race leader Alex Palou in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

“Yeah, obviously we started on the primes (black sidewall tires),” Lundgaard said. “Had to pit for the (red sidewall) alternates due to the puncture. I had been very positive about the alternates all weekend. I think a lot of drivers had been negative, never really knew what they were going to do.

“I was very happy with them. It sounded like everybody was degging a little more. I was having a great time driving around. I wasn't really full, full push. Just trying to maintain.

“I still knew I had to make it to a certain lap to put ourselves in contention if a yellow did come out, which it did. Again, obviously it's super important to come out in front of the leaders at that time. When you're driving on three wheels, I rather want to just get it to the pit lane than anything else.”

While Lundgaard thought a top 10 was achievable, when did it occur to him that a win was possible?

“When I came out in front of David Malukas on the last stint and then got past,” Lundgaard said. “That was the moment I realized we were fighting for a podium. I never thought I was going to catch (leader) Marcus (Armstrong). I was going to give it my best shot to get close to him and put him under some pressure.

“But yeah, I mean, it wasn't really obvious at any point until then.”

Armstrong, indeed, looked like he was on his way to his first career NTT INDYCAR SERIES win when the engine in his No. 66 Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb Agajanian Honda let go four laps from the finish.

“It was all smooth sailing, and I came out of turn 6 and the engine started stopping like it was out of fuel,” a heartbroken Armstrong said, “but clearly it wasn’t. And then it just completely died. We’ll have to speak to Honda to see what the issue was, but there was no indication that there was something wrong.

“I’m massively proud of the guys and girls on this team. We had the quickest car today and I think we had the quickest car all weekend. My engineers did everything right, my pit crew as well. I’m just gutted really.”

Even as he was trying to reel in Armstrong, Lundgaard admitted he didn’t think he’d be able to pass him.

“No. I was trying to drive around and do some math of the speed that I was faster than him and still the gap that I had to close. I think (race strategist) Kyle (Moyer) told me at this pace we were going to catch him on the last lap, but I still have to get by him. I didn't really know how much push to pass he had.

“At the end of the day if the yellow and the safety car that came at the end would have happened anyway, I think we would have had him.”

That last safety car period set up a one lap dash to the checkered flag. Running second, Malukas didn’t feel he had much of a chance at Lundgaard.

“The very end one, that was the one that's not really any chance there,” the driver of the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet explained. “You're going against alternates versus primary tires. It's not really going to be a competition. You come out of turn 14, he's going forward, I'm going sideways. That's kind of the result of that.

“I mean, if it was same tires, you can maybe make an opportunity, yeah. You could try to set him up the next lap through 14. That's just a tire difference there.”

Despite tangling with Graham Rahal’s No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda while battling for the final podium spot, Will Power was credited with third place in the No. 26 TWG AI Andretti Global Honda.

“Yeah, unfortunate there. I was braking, he was braking. I don't understand why that was. It took me by surprise obviously. That's what caused that. It's a pity.

“But still a very good day for us overall. I'm really glad to finish third,” Power exhaled.

“Had a rough season, for sure. Had a lot of potential. Yeah, it was nice sitting there in third, then waiting to see what would happen with that contact.

“From my perspective, I could not do anything. I mean, I was at the capacity of braking. He moved it. There's nothing I can do.”

Two corners from a fourth podium finish this season, Rahal ultimately was scored in 23rd.

“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. So, 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.”

Fourth in the standings, 77 points behind Palou, Lundgaard knows what he needs to do to try and catch the four-time and reigning series champ in the second half of the season.

“Maybe I do need to drive into the back of whoever is in front of me into four,” said Lundgaard (smiling).

“No, I mean, we got to qualify better. I think that's really the main thing. We've done so well on race pace, we've produced such great race cars on Sunday, and we just need to be better on Saturday. I think that will just help our weekends tremendously.

“I'm not worried going to Mid-Ohio. We were extremely fast there last year. I think we can make something happen.”

After making life harder on himself, Lundgaard certainly then made something happen, Sunday, at Road America.

Dennis Krause has spent decades covering all forms of motorsports, including over 40 Indianapolis 500s, with stints at WIBA Radio, PIT PASS - Radio’s Premier Motorsports Magazine and Motorsports Minute.

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