Colton Herta was left standing in his pit stall in visible frustration.

Understandably so after leading a race-high 33 of 55 laps from pole but looking across and seeing another driver, Alex Palou, celebrate in Victory Lane for the Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America presented by AMR.

From the drop of the green flag, even with a blend of pit sequences and tire strategies, Herta appeared in control with his No. 26 Gainbridge Honda out front at the 4.014-mile, 14-turn natural terrain road course. That all changed, though, as Herta was forced to reign in pace during the final stint to maximize fuel, which led to the defining moment on Lap 49, when the Andretti Autosport driver was passed by Palou and his No. 10 The American Legion Honda of Chip Ganassi Racing.

In a span of just two laps, Herta had gone from being poised to claim his eighth career win in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES to running in the final spot of the top five, where he remained – barely – at the checkered flag.

The difference appeared to be the timing of the final pit stop, with Herta coming in to be serviced on Lap 40, compared to the rest of the top five that came in on Lap 41.

“It was unclear to me like how the race was going to play out at that point,” Herta said. “It was hard to say what was going to happen with fuel numbers. I knew it was about 15 laps ago and that's usually a pretty reasonable fuel number, but it ended up being quite a bit more. It's a frustrating one.

“We had the best car, and we were cruising the whole time. I had so much more in it, and we just never really got to show it because we were always saving fuel and trying to go to that lap later. That's a killer. We still got a fifth out of it, which is nice. Not what we want, though, and so for that reason, it's pretty frustrating.”

This was the first NTT P1 Award of the year for Herta, with the four previous races seeing him start no higher than 14th.

“Yeah, but when you're starting 14th, it's a lot easier to move forward than when you're starting first,” Herta said. “So, it does suck. It's a top five in the end, which is nice points, but at the moment, I could care less about it.”

After eight of 17 rounds, Herta sits ninth in the championship standings, a sizable 141 points back of leader Palou.

Kirkwood Rebounds … Again

Kyle Kirkwood is making a habit of dramatic comebacks.

For the second consecutive race, the Floridian was plagued by an opening-lap incident and forced into a position to drive back through the field. Unlike the last race – the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear – that saw Kirkwood hit from behind by Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Callum Ilott and in need of repairs before returning to finish sixth, this latest incident rested squarely on the shoulders of Kirkwood.

After starting sixth in the No. 27 AutoNation Honda, Kirkwood drove into Turn 1 and was already knocking on door of challenging for position among the top three before making slight contact with the back of Pato O’Ward’s No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. The result carried O’Ward off line and dropping a few positions, while Kirkwood ended up spinning and brought out the first caution.

“Yeah, the start was my fault," Kirkwood said. "I had an amazing jump from P6, and I was nearly passing for P3 ... I ran into the back of Pato. I feel bad for him.”

Kirkwood was relegated to the back of the 27-car field, but pace vaulted him into the top 20 by Lap 19. He continued to methodically march forward with relentless pace and was running 12th by Lap 39. Then, after the final pit stop on Lap 41, another push came, and he broke into the top 10 by Lap 47. He then squeezed by Alexander Rossi’s No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet on the final lap to claim ninth, his third top-10 finish of the season.

“I was able to pass cars on track,” Kirkwood said. “It showed how good our No. 27 AutoNation Honda was. We had good strategy, good pit stops and got us back up in the top 10. So, we were happy with top 10, and I was able to get off one more position there at the end. We're happy with that, but just a dumb mistake in the beginning for me."

Kirkwood leaves “America’s National Park of Speed” 10th in the overall standings, 19 behind teammate Herta (183-164).

Practice-Perfect Rossi Sees Promising Weekend Slide

Rossi was enjoying a near-perfect weekend.

The 2019 winner at Road America, Rossi led both practice sessions and even the morning warmup ahead of Sunday’s race. The only thing he didn’t lead was qualifying, where he ended up fifth.

Even so, many were left believing Rossi’s No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet would be a force to threaten for victory.

But things didn’t materialize as many, including Rossi, expected.

At no point was Rossi, the 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner, able to break into the top three, only managing to run as high as fourth. Although he remained solidly in the top 10, that also came under threat as he dropped from sixth to 10th over the last 15 laps, where he remained at the finish.

The California native was left puzzled afterward.

“I honestly don't know,” Rossi said. “I think that the balance was pretty good. I don't know, I feel like it's something to do with a straight-line thing, but I haven't been able to look at data yet. We had used a lot of overtake (push-to-pass) to try and just keep position. And then at the end, other cars had 50 seconds more than us.

“But the straights here, that's really where we lost most of the spots in the final stint. I think the car was good. I don't have an answer, unfortunately.”

This marked the fifth consecutive top-10 result for Rossi, who joined Arrow McLaren over the offseason from Andretti Autosport. He occupies seventh in the championship standings, 128 points behind leader Palou.

“Throughout the whole weekend, the McLaren team did an amazing job,” Rossi said. “Team Chevy has been fantastic. I think from the test here, we carried a lot of potential into the weekend, and it's the first Sunday we've really struggled. So, we'll look into it. It's not the end of the world, but certainly we're going to have to find an answer for that guy (Alex Palou) that keeps winning.”

Odds & Ends

• There were 444 on-track passes, with 386 for position. Of those, 110 passes were made in the top 10 and 32 in the top five. All are event records since INDYCAR started recording the stat when it returned to Road America in 2016.

• Alex Palou’s victory at Road America provided Chip Ganassi Racing with its 250th victory as an organization across all the disciplines it has competed in over the years, including the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, NASCAR Cup Series and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, among others.

• Today’s mark of 26 cars running at the finish at Road America broke last year’s event record of 25, and 23 drivers on the lead lap tied the event record set last year.