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.<\/p>\n
Full Course Yellows Shake Up Strategy <\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
![\"Romain](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/01khcg61mrz1sjjtpbqm.jpg\" "\\"Romain")
<\/p>\n
Romain Grosjean Dale Coyne | Penske Entertainment: Chris Owens<\/p>\n
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 \u2013 including Scott Dixon were forced to wait several laps to pit.<\/p>\n
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 \u2013 essentially taking him out of contention for the win. Felix Rosenqvist was holding a nearly 4-second lead over second place.<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
ECR Problems Persist <\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
![\"Ed](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/01kvnyg13a72jndraz3q.jpg\" "\\"Ed")
<\/p>\n
Ed Carpenter and Alexander Rossi | Penske Entertainment, Joe Skibinski<\/p>\n
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?<\/p>\n
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? <\/p>\n
IndyCar Road America Results<\/p>\n
Position<\/p>\n
Driver \/ Team<\/p>\n
Time Diff. from Lead<\/p>\n
1.<\/p>\n
Lundgaard \/ McLaren<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
2.<\/p>\n
Malukas \/ Penske<\/p>\n
+0.624<\/p>\n
3.<\/p>\n
Simpson \/ Chip Ganassi<\/p>\n
+2.310<\/p>\n
4.<\/p>\n
Palou \/ Chip Ganassi<\/p>\n
+2.968<\/p>\n
5.<\/p>\n
Power \/ Andretti<\/p>\n
+4.209<\/p>\n
6.<\/p>\n
Rossi \/ ECR<\/p>\n
+4.583<\/p>\n
7.<\/p>\n
McLaughlin \/ Penske<\/p>\n
+4.641<\/p>\n
8.<\/p>\n
Rosenqvist \/ Meyer Shank<\/p>\n
+5.439<\/p>\n
9.<\/p>\n
Newgarden \/ Penske<\/p>\n
+6.776<\/p>\n
10.<\/p>\n
Ferrucci \/ AJ Foyt<\/p>\n
+7.452<\/p>\n
11.<\/p>\n
Kirkwood \/ Andretti<\/p>\n
+7.858<\/p>\n
12.<\/p>\n
Dixon \/ Chip Ganassi<\/p>\n
+8.356<\/p>\n
13.<\/p>\n
O’Ward \/ McLaren<\/p>\n
+9.091<\/p>\n
14.<\/p>\n
Ericsson \/ Andretti<\/p>\n
+10.019<\/p>\n
15.<\/p>\n
Foster \/ RLL<\/p>\n
+10.819<\/p>\n
16.<\/p>\n
Grosjean \/ Dale Coyne<\/p>\n
+11.658<\/p>\n
17.<\/p>\n
Collet \/ AJ Foyt<\/p>\n
+12.121<\/p>\n
18.<\/p>\n
Schumacher \/ RLL<\/p>\n
+12.352<\/p>\n
19.<\/p>\n
Veekay \/ Juncos<\/p>\n
+13.141<\/p>\n
20.<\/p>\n
Robb \/ Juncos<\/p>\n
+13.750<\/p>\n
21.<\/p>\n
Hauger \/ Dale Coyne<\/p>\n
+14.667<\/p>\n
22.<\/p>\n
Nolan Siegel \/ McLaren<\/p>\n
+19.809<\/p>\n
23.<\/p>\n
Graham Rahal \/ RLL<\/p>\n
DNF<\/p>\n
24.<\/p>\n
Armstrong \/ Meyer Shank<\/p>\n
DNF<\/p>\n
25.<\/p>\n
Rasmussen \/ ECR<\/p>\n
DNF<\/p>\n
Last Lap Shootout… Again<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
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 \u2013 narrowly being missed by the entire field.<\/p>\n
![\"Will](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/01kj6rgb8xz7gy4dcgk7.jpg\" "\\"Will")
<\/p>\n
Will Power – The Unser INDYCAR Open Test at Phoenix Raceway | Penske Entertainment, Joe Skibinski<\/p>\n
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,\u00a0taking Rahal out of the race. Power still finished on the podium for his first podium with Andretti.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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