Lundgaard was gone after the first round of pit stop cycled through, but when the caution came out for Romain Grosjean getting into the turn ten barrier, it created a scenario where a driver could make it to the finish on a 41-lap stint. Most of the time that is just out of reach, and if you are leading the race you are definitely not stopping at that lap. Almost half the grid did stop, and on the ensuing restart Kyle Kirkwood hit Hélio Castroneves from behind in the final corner and the caution was back out.
Now everyone could make it on fuel and Lundgaard would relinquish his lead when he came in. There was no guarantee he would make it back to the front. However, a few things benefitted Lundgaard. One, a few drivers that stopped under the Grosjean caution chickened out and stopped to top off on fuel under the Castroneves caution. That gifted Lundgaard a few spots. Two, Scott McLaughlin, Scott Dixon and Rinus VeeKay did not come down during either caution for Grosjean or Castroneves. It was a curious strategy decision, but it would mean three spots for Lundgaard later on when those three stopped later in the race, whether under green flag conditions or under caution.
Then Lundgaard scrapped his way forward and picked up a handful of spots on the restart, passing Colton Herta, Patricio O'Ward and Kyle Kirkwood in the process and the only threat between Lundgaard and victory was Álex Palou.
While Palou has been the man to beat for over a month, Palou damaged his front wing avoiding a spinning Castroneves, and it cost the Catalan driver time. Palou had also stopped under the Grosjean caution and had to save some fuel. Palou was holding on but he was not going to hold off Lundgaard for long, and Lundgaard swept ahead on the outside of turn three.
Earlier this week, The-Race IndyCar Podcast with Jack Benyon and J.R. Hildebrand went over their top ten drivers through the first half of the season. While listening and thinking about it, I had Lundgaard fifth or sixth on my list. Consider Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's season. Lundgaard has regularly been at the front despite the team showing speed deficiencies. Lundgaard has qualified and finished in the top ten while his two teammates were not close. Lundgaard already had one pole position before this weekend and he was tenth in the championship. Then he went out this week and took a second pole position in changing conditions on Saturday before having the best car in the Honda Indy Toronto.
This day has been two years in the making. Lundgaard was a surprise debutant back in 2021 when he ran a third RLLR entry for the August Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course race while he had a break from his Formula Two season. Lundgaard qualified fourth on debut. The race was tough, especially as he learned how to use the alternate compound tire, but he still finished 12th. It almost became a no-brainer to put Lundgaard in a car full-time.
Last year, Lundgaard was teething on new circuits, but was getting results. He was the best RLLR driver at the end of the season. A few races got away from him, but he was still second in the summer IMS road course race, and he had a stellar drive from 16th to fifth at Laguna Seca.
In 2023, Lundgaard is the leader, supplanting Graham Rahal. As bad as this season has been, Lundgaard had two top five finishes and five top ten finishes through nine races. He has been making the most of a team that isn't at the top of IndyCar. RLLR might not be in the cellar, but it has been clawing in the muck for the better part of the last two seasons.
While many names are getting attention for that next big move in IndyCar, Lundgaard is the most ready for it. How isn't Chip Ganassi on the phone to get Lundgaard, especially if Palou and Marcus Ericsson could both be gone? Roger Penske would be smart to line up Lundgaard to replace Will Power when Power calls its quits.
RLLR is an accomplished race team. It was only three years ago the team won the Indianapolis 500. It has competed an IndyCar championship. It has won championships in sports cars. RLLR has what it takes to be one of the best teams in IndyCar. If it can keep Lundgaard, it could rise to a higher level and be a greater name in the series.
2. Álex Palou has clinched this championship, not mathematically, but psychologically it is his.
Come on! Palou finished second with a front wing dangling like a baby tooth in a nine-year-old's mouth. He started 15th, brushed the wall after a car spun in front of him, had to drive 41 laps on the final stint, and still finished second! Besides Christian Lundgaard, there are 25 other drivers saying, "You cannot be serious," after this race.
But you cannot be serious! This is the kind of race a champion pulls out. And now the championship lead is 117 points! It is over. I have been saying that since Road America, but now it is really over!
If Palou isn't going to have a bad day after this one, when will he? This is the kind of race where a driver has to pit for a repair late and goes from second to 15th and coughs up 25 points. Not Palou. He only improved his championship standing after a day such as this one.
3. For a split-second, it looked like Colton Herta was in the catbird seat when the Castroneves caution came out. About a dozen cars had to make a pit stop, Kirkwood was likely going to get a penalty, and Herta was the next car in line, primed to take the lead.
Palou passed Herta immediately on the final restart, so there went that golden position, but Herta was still looking at a podium finish after starting 14th, he just had to stretch the fuel. He made it! But just so. He parked the car on the straightaway just after turn two.
If qualifying was not in wet conditions, or if Herta was in group one for Saturday qualifying instead of group two, there is a good chance Herta would have qualifying on pole position or the front row and prevented Lundgaard from having this day. He and the entire Andretti Autosport team looked that good on Friday and Saturday. The problem is Andretti Autosport too often looks phenomenal on Friday and Saturday and then comes out on Sunday pear shaped. It is a minor victory today, but there is plenty of work to do.
4. As mentioned above, Scott Dixon decided to not pit under two cautions and it looked like he definitely threw away a top five finish and likely a top ten as well. But Dixon wound up fourth! How? It is Scott Dixon! That's how!
Dixon leap-frogged ahead of Scott McLaughlin during that final pit cycle. Dixon drove from 14th to seventh, and then he gained a few spots when Marcus Ericsson and Will Power both dove for the pit lane at the start of the final lap to top off on fuel!
Fourth is respectable for Dixon. It could have been a little better, but it shouldn't have been much worse than fourth. Dixon never looked to have Lundgaard's pace, but he had good pace. If it wasn't for that teammate of Dixon's, Dixon would be in the championship lead and we would be talking about how with six races remaining Dixon would be on the verge of suffocating the field and taking a seventh championship after pulling out this result. That isn't the case in 2023, and it will require something remarkable, borderline unfathomable, for Dixon to take the championship this year.
5. Josef Newgarden had a good day and finished fifth. Scott McLaughlin qualifying second was a bit of rouse on Team Penske's pace this weekend. The team never looked that great this weekend. Any top five finish at Toronto was going to be a great success. Newgarden is in a good position heading to Iowa, but any championship run this season requires something nearly greater than perfection.
6. It is hard to say Scott McLaughlin was a big loser today. The strategy choice was head-scratching. McLaughlin still ended up sixth, but he did more work was necessary in this one.
If McLaughlin stops under the Castroneves caution with Lundgaard, McLaughlin is likely restarting in the top five, definitely in the top ten. Lundgaard restarted seventh. McLaughlin could have made a fight for the victory from Lundgaard's gearbox than restarting in the lead but still owing one more pit stop while all but two other drivers were done with stop.
I don't think McLaughlin would have beaten Lundgaard today, but McLaughlin likely would have ended a few spots better than where he did end up. Then again, after Saturday practice, I don't think I had McLaughlin finishing in the top six. This weekend could have been better, but it could have been much worse.
7. Another quiet top ten finish for Marcus Armstrong. The crazy thing is Armstrong and Lundgaard were teammates at ART Grand Prix in the 2020 Formula Two season. Lundgaard did well and was sevneth in the championship. Armstrong was in his first Formula Two season and finished 13th. Armstrong stuck around two more seasons in Formula Two, Lundgaard stuck around for one more, but they were both looking to IndyCar as the Formula One opportunities were not arising.
There are many talented drivers in this world. It is nice to see some of the promising talent in the European junior series is coming to IndyCar. There was a long stretch where that wasn't the case. The top GP2/Formula Two drivers weren't moving to IndyCar. They were settling to stand at the back of a Formula One garage or going right into sports cars. IndyCar is benefitting from the likes of Lundgaard and Armstrong coming off. The series is only getting better. If Armstrong is full-time next year, and if he is driving for Ganassi, his first career victory isn't that far off either.
8. I am not sure how Patricio O'Ward ended up eighth in this one. For the first stint, O'Ward was running in third, then he lost some ground as those who stopped early in the race to get off the alternate tires cycled jumped ahead. He did not pit under the Grosjean caution, but did under the Castroneves caution and was still in the top ten. O'Ward just didn't go forward today, and this is the first weekend in a while where all three Arrow McLaren cars were rather anonymous.
9. There is not much a driver can do from 27th on the grid at Toronto and hope to earn a respectable result. Graham Rahal nearly didn't make it to the second corner. When the track was blocked after Jack Harvey, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Tom Blomqvist came together, Rahal ran into Benjamin Pedersen, but Rahal was able to reserve and take the detour that goes through the Princes' Gate and outside of turns one and two to rejoin the circuit and get repairs. At that point, all Rahal could do was run long each stint and hope something worked out.
It was working, and Rahal was up into the top fifteen. Rahal did stop under the Grosjean caution, but he was one of those that topped off under the Castroneves caution as well to be safe. It didn't look like a top ten was in the works, but a top 12 finish would be something to glean a positive from after how Saturday went. However, David Malukas brushed the wall late, and then Ericsson and Power made last lap pit stops and Rahal ended up ninth! A double top ten day for RLLR on a day where they won! It was a difficult weekend but take it and run.
Rahal is savvy enough to turn out a performance like this. He knew he wasn't going to pass 26 cars today and win by nine seconds. This race was going to require patience and understanding. Before today's race, there was a good chance the #15 team would do everything right today and still only finish 17th. The group was setup from behind from the start but earned a brilliant result.
10. Like O'Ward, Felix Rosenqvist went backward today. Kooky weekend for Rosenqvist when you consider how fast he was before an accident in Saturday practice forced the change to a backup car. With the backup car, he still qualified in the top five, but McLaren could not make up ground in this race. He was competitive, but strategy didn't click today for any of these cars and Rosenqvist finished tenth.
11. We are going to chunk the field here. Marcus Ericsson was 11th after his late splash of fuel and Will Power was 14th. We don't see many IndyCar races where cars are on the verge of running out in the dying laps. Both of these drivers stopped on lap 49 and didn't make it. Seven drivers, including Lundgaard, stopped on lap 49 and did make it. It could be as simple as those two teams were a half-second too fast and didn't get enough in the cars or both drivers were really aggressive and burned more than expected.
Power sounded surprised he didn't make it. We didn't hear from Ericsson afterward. Both cars should have finished in the top ten today.
12. Agustín Canapino was 12th again! Canapino has three 12th-place finishes this season! That isn't an earth-shattering result for most, but this is his first full season in open-wheel racing. It was a race of survival. When it is a race of pace, Canapino doesn't finish 12th or in the top twenty for that matter. He isn't there yet. He may never quite get there, but he is putting in the work and we aren't close to crashing into his ceiling. But when it is a race of survival, Canapino does not put a wheel wrong. He doesn't overdrive the car. He doesn't step over the edge. He knows the race is 85 laps and his goal is to complete all 85.
His job only becomes easier when about six or seven cars are damaged in an opening lap accident. That gifts Canapino a handful of positions.
13. Rinus VeeKay played the same hand as Scott Dixon and Scott McLaughlin. Those two were in the top six. VeeKay was 13th. That is the difference between Ganassi, Penske and Ed Carpenter Racing. VeeKay also made his final stop two laps before McLaughlin and three lap before Dixon. It could be a case of he got caught behind a few extra cars after his stop and it cost him a few positions.
It was still a strange strategy choice, and seeing as how ECR's season has gone, if the team was doing anything risky, it should have stopped under the Grosjean caution and tried to run 41 laps. I cannot say for certain it would have gotten VeeKay a finish better than 13th, but this strategy was not the correct choice, I don't care what Dixon and McLaughlin did.
14. Fifteenth is brutal for Kyle Kirkwood. Kirkwood was the leading driver of those that stopped under the Grosjean caution, and it felt like he was set to possibly win this race. Then he got into the back of Hélio Castroneves coming to the green and that ruined Kirkwood's race.
It should be noted that was a such a funky restart and it appeared the lapped car of Alexander Rossi floored pass Castroneves on the outside of turn ten to have the inside of turn 11 coming to the green flag. If that wasn't a jumped restart, then there are no such things as jumped restarts in IndyCar. The drivers should just gun it the second the pace car enters pit lane.
I think there is a chance that car being to Castroneves' inside going into turn 11 spooked Castroneves, forced him to back off to avoid contact but it suddenly put Castroneves on Kirkwood's front wing and Castroneves was around.
It wasn't as black-and-white as Kirkwood spun Castroneves. I don't understand how the officials didn't notice that restart and at least penalize Rossi or whichever McLaren car it was as well. It is harsh because Kirkwood deserved better than this. This is a result that got away from him.
Speaking of Rossi, he was 16th after spending the entire race one lap down because Rossi was caught in the opening lap incident. That is just as harsh as Kirkwood's result. For Rossi, the one time he is stuck starting at the back and he is caught in the track blocking incident and then no timely caution comes out during the race to put him back on the lead lap. Life sucks sometimes.
15. Let's run through the field. Santino Ferrucci was in the opening lap accident and needed repairs. Ferrucci ended up three laps down, but in this race three laps down gets you 17th. Not thrilling but could have been worse. Callum Ilott was running just outside the top ten when something went wrong and he lost four laps. It wasn't clear what happened, but he didn't make a pit stop, as his last stop was listed as happening on lap 50. It sounds like he and Canapino may have had slight contact late and that ended Ilott's day.
16. Sting Ray Robb was in the opening mess and was four laps down in 19th at the finish, which is one spot better than his Dale Coyne Racing teammate David Malukas because Malukas brushed the barrier on exit of turn one with just over 15 laps remaining. That bent Malukas' suspension and it cost him a possible top ten finish. The good news is both DCR drivers finished in the top twenty. The bad news is they were 19th and 20th, so they bare made it.
17. It looked like Hélio Castroneves was only going to lose about nine spots after the Kirkwood contact, but Castroneves stalled trying to spin the car back in the correct direction and then the car would not re-fire, as it appeared the gearbox seized up. I am not sure a top ten finish was in the cards, but a top fifteen looked likely and that is what Meyer Shank Racing is fighting for at the moment.
Then there was Romain Grosjean. Grosjean slammed into the barrier and he said the steering wheel slipped out of his hands going through the turn nine and ten section. That part of the course was notably rough, but this is another street course event where Grosjean found the barrier when it looked like he was at least in for a good result. Those two runner-up finishes and the St. Petersburg race that got away from him were a long time ago at this time.
Devlin DeFrancesco said he had brake problems and only completed ten laps, finishing 23rd.
18. This was not the race Jack Harvey could afford to have Christian Lundgaard win because while Lundgaard was taking the checkered flag, Harvey didn't complete a lap, barely completed a corner, and it is partially because he was three-wide with Tom Blomqvist and Ryan Hunter-Reay.
Harvey was on the inside slid into Hunter-Reay, who slid into Blomqvist, and all three squeeze into the barrier before spinning back across, blocking the track and taking out a few other cars.
I have been a proponent of Jack Harvey's since Indy Lights. I have defended him over the last two seasons. I don't know how RLLR can continue with him. Lundgaard just won. Rahal went from 27th to ninth after Rahal was fighting at the front at Mid-Ohio before pit stop issues let him down in the most recent race. Harvey only has bad results. Even when he is starting well it goes sideways. Over a season-and-a-half with RLLR, we have not had a weekend where Harvey sneaks into the second round of qualifying, starts 12th and then ends up finishing tenth without doing anything impressive.
Those are the kind of days Harvey needs at the moment! He needs to be anonymous and at least in the middle of the field. We know he can do that. We saw him do that and more at Meyer Shank Racing. RLLR has had issues over the last two seasons, but not enough where Harvey cannot contender for a top ten finish on a semi-regular basis. We have been watching his teammates do it and now a teammate has won a race. It might be time for a driver change.
As for Hunter-Reay and Blomqvist, this is more about their teams. Ed Carpenter Racing and Meyer Shank Racing cannot buy a good day at the moment. Hunter-Reay's track record at Toronto is atrocious since his 2012 victory, and most of that isn't really on him. Blomqvist barely completed a corner on his IndyCar debut. No blame can be put on Blomqvist, but my goodness, he could have experienced a more welcoming start to his IndyCar career.
Benjamin Pedersen was also caught in that accident and his race ended after one corner, so at least he couldn't get in anyone's way this race.
19. Since Toronto moved the pit lane to serpentine on the inside of turns nine, ten and 11, we have talked about this track and how there must be a better way for that setup, and now the roughness of the surface is another concern. I wish Toronto could get all the money necessary to re-pave the entire circuit. There shouldn't be a draining grate in the middle of the corner that cars are hop-scotching over and that is in the middle of a newly re-surfaced section of the course! Everything from turn four through turn six has needed to be paved over since 2005. The track is too damn narrow from turns nine through 11. This is the worst street course IndyCar goes to, and Detroit wasn't wonderful either.
Most of the street courses are far below the standard IndyCar should have. It doesn't have to be Formula One level, which is a little ridiculous, but it feels like IndyCar is stuck in 1989 and running some street course configurations because it can run those layouts and not because it should run those layouts.
Toronto is a hackjob. Detroit was pitiful. Nashville is ok but still has that section from turn four through eight that is single-file and unnecessary. I have suggested alternatives to Toronto before, but nothing is going to change. Green Savoree Productions only makes changes when they are absolutely necessary, not when they should be made for the greater good of an event.
It is disappointing because the crowd looked great today. The race kept you on edge but it could be better if the course was in better condition. I hope the two-lane pit lane that we saw at Detroit could be incorporated at Toronto. There are a few parking lots available around BMO Field in Exhibition Place. It would require some grandstands move around, but it would likely be worth it if it made the track and the racing better. The final three corners should not be that cavernous. It makes most Formula E tracks look good.
It is appalling IndyCar has been living with this since 2016, and the series should hold its races to a higher standard. I am not saying it should be demanding a state-of-the-art pit building with suites on the second level, but it shouldn't be jamming itself into a corner where it must cut off two-feet from each pit box to fit in another two entries. This should have be handled years ago. It isn't going to change for 2024, but a man can dream.
20. And now a doubleheader is six days away. Onto Iowa.
