Linus Lundqvist did more last weekend at World Wide Technology Raceway than score his first top-three finish in an NTT INDYCAR SERIES oval race. He effectively ended this year’s Rookie of the Year conversation.
The driver of the No. 8 American Legion Chip Ganassi Racing Honda padded his rookie lead over teammate Kyffin Simpson (No. 4 Journie Rewards Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) by 31 points, pushing his advantage in the first-year battle to 71 points with four races remaining.
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Lundqvist also moved up a position in the overall driver standings – to 17th – and is positioned to make a run at the series’ best rookie finish in the championship since Felix Rosenqvist placed sixth in 2019. Marcus Armstrong was last year’s highest-finishing rookie in 20th place, and the three previous top rookies – Rinus VeeKay, Scott McLaughlin and Christian Lundgaard, respectively – each finished 14th. Lundqvist is only 18 points out of 14th, a position held by Armstrong.
Winning the Rookie of the Year Award has often been foretelling. Since 1990, 12 of those winners also have won the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge, including three drivers in this field (Scott Dixon, Will Power and Alexander Rossi). Thirteen rookie honorees won season titles – Nigel Mansell (1993) and Juan Pablo Montoya (1999) won both in the same year.
Lundqvist said he not only wants the rookie title, but his goal is to gain a few more positions in the standings. Those pursuits continue with Sunday’s 110-lap BITNILE.COM Grand Prix of Portland at Portland International Raceway (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, Peacock, INDYCAR Radio Network).
The 25-year-old Swede finished third in all three of his Portland races as an INDY NXT by Firestone driver. He was that series’ champion in 2022.
“I still like to think (winning the) Rookie of the Year would be nice … because you can only win it once,” he said. “Overall, looking at the championship, if we can string some good results together, maybe a top 10 (finish) is a little bit much, but we can definitely start to pick up a couple of places here, and that would be nice.
“I think that’s kind of the plan and the target going forward, (to) maximize what we’ve got but hopefully climb a few spots in the championship.”
Lundqvist has accumulated 209 points. He trails Romain Grosjean (No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing) by four points, Ed Carpenter Racing’s VeeKay (No. 21 askROI Chevrolet) by 12 points, Armstrong (No. 11 American Legion Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) by 18 points and Andretti Global’s Marcus Ericsson (No. 28 Delaware Life Honda) by 20 points.
Vips Gets First Opportunity of Season
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing expands to four cars for this weekend’s race with Juri Vips driving the No. 75 AMADA Honda. He will drive alongside Graham Rahal (No. 15 Hendrickson Honda), Pietro Fittipaldi (No. 30 Localiza Rent a Car Honda) and Lundgaard (No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda).
Vips competed in two races at the end of last season, finishing 18th in Portland and qualifying 13th in the season-ending Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. He is the only driver in series history to come from Estonia.
Also returning to the series this weekend is INDY NXT by Firestone veteran Toby Sowery. He finished 13th and 15th last month in his first two series starts in Dale Coyne Racing’s No. 51 Global Karting League/Vuzix Honda.
Portland: Palou’s Playground
Portland International Raceway is one of four tracks where series leader Alex Palou (No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) has won twice. In 2021, in his first season with Chip Ganassi’s team, he won from the pole. He also won last year after starting fifth.
Last year, Palou led 69 of the 110 laps to beat Rosenqvist, the Meyer Shank Racing driver who was then driving for Arrow McLaren, by 5.4353 seconds. Palou’s victorious drive in 2021 was even more impressive. He started on the pole but was involved in a first-corner mess. A pit stop for repairs knocked him back to the 18th position, and it took him much of the rest of the race to return to the point. He led 28 of the final 35 laps for his third career win.
Palou has fared well in the Pacific time zone. He has top-three finishes in each of his four races at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, including a win in 2022.
The Spaniard, poised for his third series title in four years, also has two wins each at Road America and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. Palou holds a 59-point lead over Colton Herta (No. 26 Gainbridge Honda of Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian).
Top Drivers Win with Same Regularity
Here’s an interesting observation: The four active drivers with at least 10 career series wins – Palou, Dixon, Josef Newgarden and Power – have won races at roughly the same rate over their careers.
Newgarden leads the group with race wins in 14.7 percent of his career starts. He is followed by Dixon (14.6), Power (14.4) and Palou (14.3).
Among these four drivers, only Palou (twice) and Power (2019) have won races at Portland. Dixon has won at 28 other tracks while Newgarden has won at 13 different tracks – just not this one.
Weekend Schedule
The series gets back to a normal three-day race weekend after a hectic two-day event at World Wide Technology Raceway.
The first practice, spanning the usual 75 minutes, is at 5:55 p.m. ET Friday. Saturday’s action features the weekend’s second practice at noon ET with qualifying for the NTT P1 Award at 3:30 p.m. ET. Later, the final practice will be at 8:15 p.m. ET. All that activity airs live on Peacock and the INDYCAR Radio Network.
Sunday, the 110-lap race has broadcast times of 3 p.m. ET on USA Network and the INDYCAR Radio Network. The green flag is set for 3:30 p.m. ET.
INDY NXT by Firestone also will be in action with a 45-minute practice at 4:45 p.m. ET Friday followed by a second practice at 2:20 p.m. ET Saturday. Qualifying is at 7:20 p.m. ET Saturday.
Sunday’s 35-lap race (Peacock, INDYCAR Radio Network) begins at 1:15 p.m. ET. This is the first of three remaining races, with Andretti Global’s Louis Foster holding a 91-point lead over Abel Motorsports’ Jacob Abel.