Palou maintains points lead with 2nd-place finish, while Lundqvist leads three laps on way to 12th.
After a tough opening day at the Iowa Speedway, Chip Ganassi Racing’s (CGR) Alex Palou and rookie Linus Lundqvist both battled back to strong showings in Sunday’s Hy-Vee One Step 250.
Palou, driving the No. 10 DHL Honda featuring American Legion branding, finished second to Will Power by .39 seconds after the Team Penske driver overtook Palou on Lap 205 following a Palou pit stop and held him off the rest of the way. Palou, the defending NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion, left Iowa with a 35-point lead over Power in the points race.
And CGR rookie Linus Lundqvist, driving the No. 8 American Legion Honda, ran in the top 10 part of the race – including leading Laps 206-208 – before finishing 12th.
Their showing followed a Saturday in the Hy-Vee Homefront 250 that saw rookie Linus Lundqvist retire after 209 laps because of mechanical issues and finish 21st, and NTT INDYCAR SERIES points leader Alex Palou record his worst finish (23rd) in 36 races after being forced out of the race on Lap 176 when he made contact with the outside wall on the front straightaway.
Palou came back on Sunday, starting second and taking his first lead on Lap 95. He ended up leading a race-high 103 laps; his finish also marked six podium finish and ninth top five of the 2024 season.
“It was a good weekend,” Palou said. “I mean, yesterday was a terrible day for us, but the No. 10 DHL crew rebounded today. We almost got the win. I mean it was really tough to pass, I don’t think anybody could pass.
“(Power) got us in the pits because they had a little bit more fuel, same as what we did to (third-place finisher Scott McLaughlin). Solid P2, looking forward to Toronto next week.”
Lundqvist’s finish tied for his second highest of the season in a points race and pushed his Rookie of the Year lead by 31 points over teammate Kyffin Simpson.
“The American Legion Honda was fast again. It’s just a shame that we couldn’t get the second lane working and passing was very tough,” Lundqvist said. “It was stay behind the car in front, have no mistakes and try to get them in the pits. We tried something a little different and going a little bit longer, I think that worked out well for us.
“We ended up 12th, which is not amazing but not bad. So, (I’m) walking away where we had a little bit of speed and more confidence on the short ovals.”
On Saturday, Palou qualified third and maintained that spot most of the first third of the race. But exiting out of the pits he had a mechanical issue that dropped him 16 spots to 19th. He was able to battle back to 12th before losing control of the car on Lap 176 and hitting the wall.
“Yeah, I just lost it out of Turn 4,” Palou said. “Just went a bit closer to the No. 6, then yeah… just a driver mistake.”
Lundqvist, meanwhile, had qualified 12th and was running ninth with 40 laps left before a gearing issue took him out of the race.
“I got stuck in gear for two laps as the team tried to work on the issue and couldn’t resolve it,” Lundqvist said. “I got a message to stop the car.
“I thought we were having a pretty good day. It felt good, fast, good in restarts. It’s a shame. Our American Legion Honda was super-fast today.”
The NTT INDYCAR SERIES heads northeast next weekend for Sunday’s Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto.
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