Chip Ganassi Racing driver Marcus Armstrong rebounded from an early-race mechanical problem that relegated him to 30th place in the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge to finish a career-best third in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear on Sunday.

Armstrong climbed from the No. 11 Root Insurance Chip Ganassi Racing Honda after running out of fuel after he crossed the finish line with elation.

“It was chaos, but my strategist Taylor (Kiel) did a great job of navigating all of that and making the most of all the chaos,” he said. “Very pleased with the end result.”

Armstrong charged from the 20th starting position for his first career podium. His previous best finish was fifth in the Sonsio Grand Prix last month on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. Armstrong climbed from 15th to 13th in points after his first podium result in his 18th NTT INDYCAR SERIES start.

The podium finish came despite Armstrong being involved in one of the many incidents that sparked eight caution periods for 47 laps during the 100-lap race.

Christian Lundgaard’s No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda punted the No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing of Romain Grosjean in Turn 3 on Lap 53 immediately after a restart. Armstrong stacked up behind Grosjean’s car but was able to continue.

Armstrong also finished on the podium despite making four pit stops, two more than winning teammate Scott Dixon, runner-up Marcus Ericsson and fourth place Kyle Kirkwood. Armstrong was one of the majority of the field of drivers who pitted for rain tires on Lap 38 during the brief shower, returning to the pits for used primary tires on Lap 41 after the rain stopped quickly.

Up next is the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America on Sunday, June 9, an event in which Armstrong led five laps last year before ending up 24th, one lap down. Could the beloved, 4-mile natural-terrain road course be the site of Armstrong’s first career win this Sunday?

“Road America is my favorite track, so…” Armstrong said.

Actors Reinhold, Ashton Enjoy Detroit Experience

Actors Judge Reinhold and John Ashton, stars of the upcoming Netflix release “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F,” were featured guests at Sunday’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear.

This was the first NTT INDYCAR SERIES race for each outside of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge.

Reinhold joined a long list of celebrated INDYCAR Fastest Seat in Sports passengers as he led the field to green in a custom INDYCAR SERIES car with a special back passenger seat. This high-speed, high-octane, super-charged thrill ride already has been taken by Jon Bon Jovi, actor Dylan Sprouse and country music star Riley Green during the 2024 INDYCAR SERIES season.

Ashton also took a high-speed lap around the nine-turn, 1.645-mile Detroit Grand Prix track.

“This is great,” Ashton said. “My dad was a race car driver and drove an Offenhauser. I’ve been around the track a little bit, but it’s always exciting to come back and see the guys do something I could never do. It’s really fun. Just the whole experience and all the teammate work that goes into putting on a race and winning.”

Both actors are reprising their long-running key roles for “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F,” starring Eddie Murphy as Detective Axel Foley.

“We’ve never had a summer movie, so that’s exciting for us,” Reinhold said. “We want to bring some fun to our hurting world. We’re very conscious of that. We really do want to bring a lot of fun.”

The franchise has deep ties with the city of Detroit, where its first scenes take place with Foley serving as a Motor City plainclothes police detective. Netflix also had a significant display supporting the film, featuring seven vintage Chevy Novas at the recent Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge.

“It's a terrific movie,” Ashton said. “It's wild from the get-go, right off the bat. I'm very proud to be in it. It's really wonderful.”

The actors weren't the only special guests Sunday in Detroit. Motown legend Smokey Robinson served as the grand marshal of the race Sunday as part of his SiriusXM's partnership with Meyer Shank Racing. Robinson has a channel, Smokey's Soul Town (Channel 74), on SiriusXM.

Rosenqvist Learns Lessons from Dixon

On a day when Meyer Shank Racing driver Felix Rosenqvist started a season-worst 22nd, the Swedish driver charged through the 27-car field to finish eighth in his No. 60 AutoNation/SiriusXM Honda.

“I’m happy we were able to move back up,” Rosenqvist said. “I think actually every track except this one we’ve had the pace to win the race. Here, we just haven’t been good. We just didn’t find the sweet spot this week. We want to have at least have a top-five car, but I don’t think we had that this weekend.”

Rosenqvist credited his two years (2019-20) as a Chip Ganassi Racing teammate with Dixon for his path to the top 10.

“I feel like watching Dixon do what he did on these kind of tracks, specifically, I was definitely thinking about that in the car,” he said.

That’s why salvaging this top-10 finish was rewarding for Rosenqvist since he and his MSR strategy team juggled the various scenarios created by the unpredictable nature of the race, which had 47 of its 100 laps run under caution.

“Once you realize there’s going to be a lot of yellows, we tried to pick up a couple of cars on the restarts but not get involved in all the shenanigans,” Rosenqvist said. “That was the right strategy today. Interesting race.”

Rosenqvist remains ninth in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES points standings after his fifth top-10 finish in six races.

“I should be here,” he said of his spot in the top 10.

Power Rallies from Four Penalties

Sunday’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear box score shows Will Power started eighth and finished sixth in his No. 12 Verizon Business Team Penske Chevrolet. But race results don’t tell anywhere near the whole story for Power in the 100-lap race.

Power was spun in Turn 3 on the opening lap, had contact with Rinus VeeKay’s No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet in the same corner on Lap 41, was penalized four separate occasions and still rebounded for his 186th career NTT INDYCAR SERIES top-10 finish.

“That's a good day,” Power said with a laugh. “It's very tough, really. All sorts of stuff going on. You got everything in there, rain, everything between. Happy to get back to sixth and go from there, see what we can do.”

Two-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Power remains third in points, dropping from 26 behind Alex Palou to 31 behind new leader Dixon. But it’s a minimal loss considering the topsy-turvy race Power someone managed to salvage.

Power has five top-six finishes in six races this season, including three runner-up results at St. Petersburg, Barber Motorsports Park and the Sonsio Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Odds and Ends

• Dixon earned his fourth street course victory since 2020. That breaks a tie with Andretti Global driver Ericsson, who scored three street course victories with Chip Ganassi Racing in 2021 at Nashville, 2022 at Belle Isle and 2023 in St. Petersburg.

• Dixon gave Chip Ganassi Racing its sixth street course victory over the last 14 races, double the next best from Team Penske and Andretti Global.

• Palou finished outside the top eight for the first time since Sept. 4, 2022, at Portland International Raceway when he finished 12th. That breaks a span of 637 days or 24 consecutive races, including his victory in The Thermal Club $1 Million Challenge exhibition March 24. His 16th-place finish at Detroit on Sunday is his worst result since 27th at Road America in June 2022. He enters next Sunday’s XPEL Grand Prix at Road America as the defending race winner.

• Kirkwood climbed two spots on track, starting sixth and finishing fourth in his No. 27 AutoNation Honda, but charged four spots in points from 10th to sixth. He has finished 10th, seventh, 10th, 11th, seventh and fourth, respectively, this season.

• Alexander Rossi was the top-finishing Chevrolet driver with a fifth-place finish in his No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. Rossi has five top-10 finishes in six races this season but his two top fives have come consecutively including a fourth-place finish in last Sunday’s 108th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. He’s gained five spots in points during this stretch going from 10th to fifth, entering him in the top-five of points for the first time since the 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season opening race at St. Petersburg when he finished fourth.

• Josef Newgarden finished 26th in the No. 2 Hitachi Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet after winning the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge for the second straight year last Sunday. It’s been 24 years since the Indy 500 winner captured the next race on the schedule. Juan Pablo Montoya won the “500” in 2000 as a CART regular, capturing that series’ next race the following weekend at Milwaukee.