Lundqvist clinches Rookie of the Year, Palou still holds championship lead with 1 race left

It was an up-and-down weekend for Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) in the Milwaukee Mile doubleheader, but it still resulted in one award, an NTT INDYCAR SERIES record and the defending series champ still being the man to beat in the season finale.

Linus Lundqvist, driving the No. 8 American Legion Honda that shares the organization’s Be the One suicide prevention message, picked up his third top-10 finish of the season in Saturday’s HyVee Milwaukee Mile 250 Race 1 with a sixth-place finish.

A penalty incurred on Lap 1 that put Lundqvist a lap down in Race 2, and then contact with the wall much later ended the rookie’s Sunday, but the P20 still was good enough to clinch Rookie of the Year – the sixth time a Ganassi driver has won the award and the second consecutive year doing so.

Meanwhile, Alex Palou – driver of the No. 10 DHL Honda also featuring American Legion branding – will head into the Big City Music City Grand Prix on Sept. 15 with a 33-point lead over Will Power in the championship points race. Palou finished fifth on Saturday and then battled through electrical problems on the pace lap to end up 19th and looking at a third INDYCARE championship in four years.

Lundqvist qualified fifth for Saturday’s race and led 19 laps – third most in the field – on his way to sixth. He battled from the front of the pack most of the way, and though happy with his effort, there was a bit of dismay.

“It was a good day for the American Legion Honda and the No. 8 crew. But I will say it was a little bit disappointing, because I feel we could have done a little bit more,” Lundqvist said. “I felt like we had the pace to fight for at least a podium, maybe even a win. But we’ll take a P6 finish. It’s a good day.

“That first stint — driving to the lead and properly leading an IndyCar race for the first time — was good. It felt very cool.”

Lundqvist also started off Sunday’s race fifth, but things got off to a bumpy start on what was supposed to be the opening lap. But with the rear of the field out of order, the green flag was called off. However, Lundqvist hit the back of teammate Marcus Armstrong, who then ran into Josef Newgarden, knocking the car and driver out of the race.

Lundqvist was assessed a penalty and had to head to the pits, putting him a lap behind the field. At one point he worked his way back to the top 10, but after making contact with the outside wall late in the race, he was forced to retire on Lap 215.

“That was not the race that we’d hoped it would be. There was chaos from the start,” Lundqvist said. “I still disagree with the penalty; I don’t think it was right. I think we need to look at what can be done to prevent that, because you’re nose-to-tail, and with somebody backing off you have no time to react.

“From that point onward, it was just a hard race. I got pushed wide into the marbles there at the end, so we had to retire. Maybe we were looking at a 10th-place finish. It’s a sad end to a weekend that had so much potential and so many good things for the No. 8 American Legion Honda.”

On Saturday, Palou again showed the consistency that has put him atop the series standings most of the season. Despite starting 12th, he worked his way to fifth and might have moved up further had there not been a late yellow flag.

“We had a good day overall,” Palou said. “A little bit unlucky there with the yellow. We were a bit aggressive to try and get the lead, but we got that yellow on the out lap and went to seventh, one lap down.

“It was not the luckiest of our days, but we’ll take a top five. The No. 10 DHL Honda was amazing, everybody did an amazing job in the pits, strategy, and so on.”

But on Sunday, Palou’s car failed to start on the pace lap due to an electrical problem and had to be taken to the pits and then the garage for repairs. By the time he returned to the track with the problems worked out, it was Lap 37, and he was 28 laps down.

“I’m a bit sad. We just couldn’t really do anything,” Palou said. “We tried everything to try and not lose many laps, but it was out of our control. It’s a sport. It is what it is, but we tried everything.

“It was not a great day for the No. 10 DHL Honda, but it could’ve been a lot worse — it could’ve been a lot better, obviously. On to Nashville.”

CGR’s Scott Dixon used a late charge to finish second on Sunday, and in doing so set IndyCar’s all-time record with his 142nd podium finish, breaking a tie with Mario Andretti to set the record. Dixon gained 15 spots in the race, the most in the field.

To learn more about The American Legion’s Be the One veteran suicide prevention program, click here.