Palou Inches Closer to Title with Fifth-Place Run at Milwaukee Mile Opener - Speedway Digest

Alex Palou continued to close in on a second consecutive NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship, and his third in the last four years, with a fifth-place finish today in the first of two Hy-Vee 250 races to be held this weekend as INDYCAR returned to the historic Milwaukee Mile for the first time since 2015.

Palou’s fifth-place result gives him a 43-point lead in the title fight over nearest challenger Will Power with just two rounds remaining in the 2024 championship: tomorrow’s second race in the doubleheader weekend here; and the season finale September 15 at Nashville Superspeedway.

Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, Linus Lundqvist, solidified his hold on series Rookie of the Year honors with a sixth-place finish today. He now holds an 88-point lead over teammate Kyffin Simpson.

One of the biggest movers in the race was Honda’s Christian Lundgaard, who combined on-track passes with a strong pit strategy from his Rahal Letterman Lanigan team to gain 17 positions during the race – finishing ninth after starting 26th.

Hy-Vee Milwaukee 250s Saturday Honda Race Results
• 5th Alex Palou Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
• 6th Linus Lundqvist-R Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
• 9th Christian Lundgaard Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
• 10th Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
• 12th Kyle Kirkwood Andretti Global Honda
• 13th Felix Rosenqvist Meyer Shank Racing Honda
• 16th David Malukas Meyer Shank Racing Honda
• 16th Jack Harvey Dale Coyne Racing Honda
• 18th Pietro Fittipaldi Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
• 19th Katherine Legge Dale Coyne Racing with RWR Honda
• 20th Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
• 21st Marcus Armstrong Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
• 22nd Colton Herta Andretti Global Honda
• 25th Kyffin Simpson-R Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
• 27th Marcus Ericsson Andretti Global Honda [Did not finish – contact]
R – Rookie

NTT INDYCAR SERIES Drivers’ Championship Standings (unofficial, after 15 of 17 rounds)

Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing 514 points (2 wins)
Will Power, Team Penske -43 (1 win)
Colton Herta, Andretti Global -88 (2 wins)

Quotes
Alex Palou (#10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) finished 5th, holds 43-point lead in the championship going into Sunday’s second race in Milwaukee: “We were a bit unlucky, it doesn’t seem like that with a top 5, but that last yellow caught us at the worst moment. It helped the #5 and the #12 and the guys we were racing, so that’s a bit of a shame. But, overall I’m happy. I think we improved a lot, we had quite a lot of pace. We could have fought for the win. It was a fun day! It’s going to be a long afternoon now and tight to be recovered for tomorrow. But, at least we got a good result today, that will help us.”

Linus Lundqvist (#8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) finished 6th, leads Rookie of the Year standings after 15 of 17 rounds: “Good day! I’m not gonna lie, I feel a little disappointed. I feel like we had the speed to at least be on the podium or maybe even win this race. The car was amazing. The American Legion Honda was very, very fast out there today. I think that first stint was one of the most enjoyable stints I’ve ever done. It’s kind of fun to properly lead my first ever few laps in an INDYCAR — for real! The good thing is that we have another crack at it tomorrow and P6 is not a bad finish.”

Christian Lundgaard (#45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda) finished 9th after starting 26th: “The result at the end of the day is good, but how we got there—I’m still a little bit in shock because I don’t know. I looked at the dash and I was P20 and five laps later I’m fifth and I didn’t really do anything. We got lucky there with the yellow at the end, and of course that’s a part of the game. That’s how [Will] Power won the race at Iowa. We were on the wrong side of it there. We were running with him then, so we learned from that mistake. And we made up for it today. I think that it’s just nice to finally have a good result and tick that off. I did the math last night, and it’s my 50th INDYCAR race today, so to get a good result for that is pretty cool.”

Fast Facts
• The Milwaukee Mile is the oldest continually operating racing facility in the world, and has hosted at least one race every year from 1903 to 2024 (except during U.S. involvement in World War II).

• Jimmy Vasser scored the first of nine Honda-powered victories at The Mile in 1998, taking his Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard-Honda to the win in the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) event.

• Other Honda-powered race winners at Milwaukee include Paul Tracy (1999 and 2002), Dario Franchitti (2004 and 2010), Tony Kanaan (2006 and 2007), Ryan Briscoe (2008) and Scott Dixon in 2009.

Next
The NTT INDYCAR SERIES completes its second and final doubleheader race weekend of 2024 here at The Milwaukee Mile with Sunday’s Hy-Vee 250. Green flag for the 250-lap weekend closer is set for 3:00 p.m. ET, with live television coverage on the USA Network and streaming on NBC Peacock.

Honda Racing PR