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IndyCar Results and Highlights From the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America

Full results and race highlights from the most difficult road coarse on the IndyCar Calendar at Road America – with a shocking podium and last lap shootout.
May 24, 2026; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; IndyCar Series driver Christian Lundgaard (7) during the 110th running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
May 24, 2026; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; IndyCar Series driver Christian Lundgaard (7) during the 110th running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

IndyCar is back after a much-needed week break before returning to one of the most historic tracks on the calendar. It has hosted races across all classes since the 1950s and is known to be one of the most challenging circuits in the world.

This track also holds a wealth of history for our current grid. Alex Palou has won three of the last six race weekends at Road America. The other wins fall to Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, Will Power, and our reigning Indianapolis 500 winner (as his only other IndyCar win) Felix Rosenqvist.

The ending to the XPEL Grand Prix was nothing less than shocking as the 'sure' race winner, Marcus Armstrong, had an engine failure with only three laps to go, causing a full-course yellow. Christian Lundgaard took home his second win this season, David Malukas finished second, and after review from race control, Will Power finished third.

Full Course Yellows Shake Up Strategy

While there wasn't much crashing or intense contact on track, two full course yellows were thrown, which threw a wrench into the strategy of several of the leaders.

Romain Grosjean Dale Coyne
Romain Grosjean Dale Coyne | Penske Entertainment: Chris Owens

First, Romain Grosjean came slow out of the pits on Lap 15 before losing a tire. Drivers like Rosenqvist and Palou got into the pits just before they closed for the yellow, but the back half of that pit group – including Scott Dixon were forced to wait several laps to pit.

The more impactful full course yellow to our finishing order came at Lap 31. Picture this: Palou had just been given a drive through penalty for speeding in the pit lane – essentially taking him out of contention for the win. Felix Rosenqvist was holding a nearly 4-second lead over second place.

Then, Rasmussen comes to a stop on the start-finish line. Rosenqvist, critically, had not yet pit. Once the pits reopened, it was two potential first-time winners at the front, Armstrong and Malukas, with Rosenqvist dropping back after running through marbles on the restart.

ECR Problems Persist

During more than half of the race weekends of the 2026 IndyCar season, either one or both (or all three, for the Indianapolis 500) of the ECR cars have faced a technical failure or issue. Even before this race began, Rossi took a 6-place grid penalty for an engine change.

Ed Carpenter and Alexander Rossi
Ed Carpenter and Alexander Rossi | Penske Entertainment, Joe Skibinski

Later in the race, Rasmussen had a hybrid failure that brought him to a race-critical stop at the start-finish line. A few questions remain about ECR. The first, of course, is what is creating issue after issue for the cars? The second, did the team use Rasmussen's failure to influence a positive result for Rossi?

With the failure, there is a possibility that Rasmussen could have pulled into the pit lane to come to a halt. However, with Rossi having already pit, throwing a Full Course Yellow would have been advantageous to his finishing position. Strategy is strategy, but can ECR figure out its technical issues as we enter the second half of the IndyCar season?

IndyCar Road America Results

Position

Driver / Team

Time Diff. from Lead

1.

Lundgaard / McLaren

-

2.

Malukas / Penske

+0.624

3.

Simpson / Chip Ganassi

+2.310

4.

Palou / Chip Ganassi

+2.968

5.

Power / Andretti

+4.209

6.

Rossi / ECR

+4.583

7.

McLaughlin / Penske

+4.641

8.

Rosenqvist / Meyer Shank

+5.439

9.

Newgarden / Penske

+6.776

10.

Ferrucci / AJ Foyt

+7.452

11.

Kirkwood / Andretti

+7.858

12.

Dixon / Chip Ganassi

+8.356

13.

O'Ward / McLaren

+9.091

14.

Ericsson / Andretti

+10.019

15.

Foster / RLL

+10.819

16.

Grosjean / Dale Coyne

+11.658

17.

Collet / AJ Foyt

+12.121

18.

Schumacher / RLL

+12.352

19.

Veekay / Juncos

+13.141

20.

Robb / Juncos

+13.750

21.

Hauger / Dale Coyne

+14.667

22.

Nolan Siegel / McLaren

+19.809

23.

Graham Rahal / RLL

DNF

24.

Armstrong / Meyer Shank

DNF

25.

Rasmussen / ECR

DNF

Last Lap Shootout... Again

This is the second race this season that has come down to a final lap shootout. Similar to the Indianapolis 500, the final lap was absolutely shocking.

Christian Lundgaard took a dominant lead over Team Penske's Malukas, solidifying those two positions for the drivers. However, what happened behind left the fans and pit wall slowly blinking at their screens. First, Siegel, who was running solidly in the Top 10, spun – narrowly being missed by the entire field.

Will Power INDYCAR Open Test
Will Power - The Unser INDYCAR Open Test at Phoenix Raceway | Penske Entertainment, Joe Skibinski

Then, Power, who was "driving like a man possessed", ran wide and was passed by Rahal for the final podium position. In his dire attempt to take back that podium position, Power hit Rahal, taking Rahal out of the race. Power still finished on the podium for his first podium with Andretti.


The NTT IndyCar Series will return in two weeks at Mid-Ohio for the Honda Indy 200 on July 5th at 12:30 PM ET on Fox Sports.

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Published | Modified
Kaitlin Tucci
KAITLIN TUCCI

Kaitlin Tucci has been a fan of motorsport for close to a decade. Before joining On SI in 2025, she contributed heavily to the marketing and media efforts at FanAmp, a motorsports startup for which she was the Head of Marketing. She has contributed to a number of publications covering series such as Formula 1, IndyCar, IMSA, and more... Kaitlin graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with both a degree in Business/Marketing and Political Science. She works full time as a marketer at high-growth tech startups while spending her weekends immersed in the world of racing. Kaitlin was raised in Las Vegas, Nevada, but has lived in New York City for the past 5 years with her 'giant chihuahua' Willow. You'll often catch Willow watching races alongside Kaitlin, but unfortunately she doesn't have enough airline miles to join her at the track just yet.