By Cayman Compass contributor Ted Nesbitt
After a couple weeks off, the IndyCar series descended upon the challenging Road America track just outside Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin this past weekend. Built in the 1950’s on rolling terrain, the 4+-mile, 14-turn circuit is a natural beauty, one of the most challenging tracks in North America.
Meyer-Shank Racing’s Marcus Armstrong and Felix Rosenqvist were the quickest in practice on Friday with reigning Series Champion Alex Palou posting the 3rd fastest time in his DHL Ganassi Honda. Cayman’s Kyffin Simpson posted the 11th quickest time in his Sunoco Honda, with Ganassi teammate Scott Dixon slotting in between with the 7th fastest time.
Saturday qualifying saw Spaniard Palou take the pole yet again, his 5th in a row tying a 1997 record from legendary CART IndyCar driver Alex Zanardi, whom the racing community recently lost. David Malukas qualified second in his Verizon Penske Chevrolet. Marcus Armstrong, fighting through the flu, qualified third with Meyer-Shank teammate and Indy 500 Champion Felix Rosenqvist starting alongside in fourth. Scott Dixon qualified his PNC Bank Ganassi Honda at 12th, with Simpson battling some tire grip issues, qualifying 19th.
When the green flag flew on Sunday, contact on the first lap with Scott Dixon saw Arrow-McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard damage his front wing and drop to last place when he pitted for repairs. At the front, pole-sitter Palou led early but was penalised for speeding on pit lane on lap 28. He fell to 22nd serving his drive-through (the speed-limited pit lane) penalty but soon mounted a charge to the front.
The running order changed often through the 55-lap, 220-mile race as various pit strategies unfolded. Both Ganassi drivers Dixon and Simpson lucked out on the timing of a mid-race yellow flag that shot them both up into the top 10 running order with their pit strategies.
Lundgaard, who had that first lap damage, used an off-sequence pit strategy that worked for him well as he took the lead for the first time on lap 43, when cars in front of him including Armstrong, Graham Rahal and Malukas had to pit. Lundgaard pitted four laps later, exiting in second place behind Armstrong and ahead of Malukas.
While this was going on up front, a pit stop saw Simpson drop back to 14th, but as cars in front of him pitted, he climbed back up into a top 10 spot. Further battles on track saw Simpson climb to sixth as the laps ticked down.
Lap 52 saw heartbreak for Armstrong coming onto the front straight. Problems with the Hybrid Power part of his engine caused him to coast to a stop on the front straight.
Lundgaard took the lead on Lap 52, trailed by Malukas, Rahal, Will Power and now Simpson who had climbed to fifth. A last lap coming together between Rahal and Power in the famous “Canada Corner” saw Simpson exit the corner in third place.
After the checkered flag flew, it was Lundgaard with the victory, storming back from that first lap incident and last place in the field. Malukas came home second with Power being classified as 3rd place in spite of his involvement in the incident a mile from the end.
Cayman’s Simpson came home fourth in his Sunoco Ganassi Honda with points leader and teammate Palou right behind him in fifth place. Ganassi teammate Dixon finished 11th.
Race winner Lundgaard said after the race “I knew we had a chance with the change in our pit strategy after the first lap incident. I knew how this race unfolded last year and knew we had to just stick with it.”
The fourth-place finish for Simpson was his best finish of the 2026 season thus far, narrowly missing out on tying his career-best third in Toronto in 2025.
The next IndyCar race is 5 July at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course near Columbus, Ohio.
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