Christian Lundgaard rode a roller coaster day to victory in Sunday’s (June 21) XPEL Grand Prix at Road America. It was the third victory of Lundgaard’s NTT IndyCar Series career and his second on the 2026 season.
It was the also the second road-course win of the year for Lundgaard, who came within an eyelash of another win at a road course earlier this season at Barber Motorsports Park.
The Denmark driver battled back from the start on Sunday, dropping to the rear of the field thanks to a flat tire. But he and his Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team kept digging, and the payoff was a big one by race’s end.
“I knew we had a chance, I knew how this race panned out last year and that it was all about just sticking in the race, which I did last year – I made a bunch of mistakes there. We spun ourselves around last year, and I wanted to make up for that,” Lundgaard said. “We were on the struggle bus all weekend, and to turn this around, I want to thank the team for that.”
While Lundgaard waged a strong drive to get the win, it depended on Marcus Armstrong‘s misfortune in the closing laps.
After gaining the lead mid-race on pit strategy, Sunday’s race appeared to be Armstrong’s to lose until engine issues from his machine brought out the caution with three laps to go.
“It was all smooth sailing. I came out of Turn 6, and the engine stating sputtering like it was out of fuel, but clearly it wasn’t. Then, it just completely died,” Armstrong said. “We’ll have to speak to Honda and see what the issue was, but there was no indication that there was something wrong.”
That flung the door wide open, as Lundgaard took advantage to take his second win of the season on a one-lap restart, beating David Malukas to the win as the caution was displayed before the final lap was completed.
“We’re P2 champions, man. I just keep getting that P2. Honestly, I just need to look into my race pace, there. In the Indy GP and again here, I am just struggling on race pace. I need to go back and see what I can do differently,” Malukas said. “That whole race was just a game of just getting that strategy right. So a big thank you to Travis Law and everybody on that stand and getting that right.”
Will Power survived calamity of his own on the final lap that included battling with Graham Rahal for third.
The two would make contact, but Power continued on to be credited with third, with Rahal relegated to 23rd.
Kyffin Simpson took fourth, 15 spots ahead of his 19th starting position. Alex Palou took fifth. Alexander Rossi, Scott McLaughlin, Felix Rosenqvist, Santino Ferrucci and Kyle Kirkwood rounded out the top 10.
Palou’s charge to the front was set by unfortunate circumstances on lap 29 of the 55-lap event. After pitting from second place, Palou was hit with a pit-lane speeding violation. Luck, however, quickly smiled on the No. 10 team as a lap-30 caution waved when Christian Rasmussen’s car stalled on pit road. That not only caused Rosenqvist to give up the lead since he was readying to pit under green at the time, but it also cycled Palou in eighth place.
Armstrong, as he did earlier in the race, opted to stay out longer than other frontrunners before pitting under green. As the likes of Palou and Rossi pitted with 14 laps remaining, Armstrong was within a group extending their cycle further, being able to go full speed instead of fuel-saving as much. That pit call helped Armstrong eventually cycle back to the front as the race stayed green, leading Lundgaard and Malukas. That put Armstrong out front and in position to win before fates not of his own would sink hopes of a victory.
The NTT IndyCar Series will stay on the road-course circuit for its next race on July 5 for the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio as the series races at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The race will be broadcast at 12:30 p.m. on FOX.
XPEL Grand Prix at Road America Results
Brad joined Frontstretch.com in 2020 and contributes to the site's 5 Points To Ponder column and other roles as needed. A graduate of the University of Georgia's Henry W. Grady School of Journalism and Mass Communication, he has covered sports in some capacity for more than 20 years with coverage including local high school sports, college athletics and minor league hockey. Brad has received multiple awards for his work from the Georgia Press Association.
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