Linus Lundqvist may exhale with aid—he’d earned a long-awaited podium in Saturday evening’s thriller in St. Louis.
The rookie pilot of Chip Ganassi Racing’s No. 8 Honda had navigated the mayhem that lurked round each nook of the 1.25-mile oval solely to line up fifth on the ultimate restart (lap 254 of 260), making him a late contender — with a more energizing set of tires than these forward of him, no much less.
Happening the assault, he made fast work of teammate and championship chief Alex Palou to seize fourth. Lundqvist then gained a side-by-side battle for third with Andretti International’s Colton Herta, who tried to drag a block on Lundqvist and drive him all the way down to the low line on the backstretch, with no luck.
Third matched Lundqvist’s career-best outcome from Barber Motorsports Park, manner again in April. (Herta, in the meantime, was penalized by Race Management for the tried block and relegated to the final automotive on the lead lap, pushing him all the way down to fifth place.) The outcome was important for the 25-year-old Swede and 2022 Indy NXT champion, who hadn’t scored a top-10 since being at Barber.
“Unbelievably pleased,” Lundqvist mentioned. “We have had a season with loads of ups and downs, let’s put it that manner. I believe the summer season break was truly good, for everyone on the workforce to take a little bit little bit of time to mirror—particularly on my aspect, mirror on the teachings that I’ve needed to study.
Whereas there have been anxious moments after the pink flag got here out with 9 laps to go following a multi-car crash on a controversial restart by eventual race winner Josef Newgarden, Lundqvist knew he had the higher matchup — and the tires — to make some magic occur.
“I used to be nervous as anyone,” mentioned Lundqvist. “Mainly once they mentioned we had been P5 within the restart, I used to be like, ‘All proper, I would not be too sad if I noticed a checkered flag proper now. I would take a P5.’ Then the pink got here out.
“I used to be a little bit bit frightened about what was going to occur with the fellows behind us. They mentioned, ‘Everyone else was a lap behind.’ That makes me really feel a little bit bit higher.
“I knew we had a reasonably large tire benefit going ahead. I believe Alex and Herta had, like, 45- or 50-lap-old tires. We had been mainly on stickers. I knew we’d have a chance to do one thing right here. Clearly, obtained round Alex as he obtained squeezed into Flip 1, then one or two laps later we obtained the transfer completed on Herta.”
Lundqvist had come into Sunday’s race off a troublesome couple days, however nonetheless with excessive hopes.
“This weekend in itself has not been ideally suited. We had some points in P1, then qualifying did not go precisely to plan. We knew we had good tempo within the automotive. Particularly once we truly obtained some clear air, I used to be capable of push. I believe a lot of the race was simply gasoline working, hitting your gasoline mileage—which I believe was the identical for everyone. We had been capable of prolong.
“We obtained a little bit bit fortunate with the final yellow. Unfortunate with the second-to-last yellow. Sort of labored out in the long run for us.
With the looming constitution system probably shaking up the variety of entries Lundqvist’s workforce, Chip Ganassi Racing, will run subsequent yr, the significance of a robust end is not misplaced on him.
“My focus proper now could be simply ending the yr sturdy and attempting to indicate what we discovered from the start of the yr. I would prefer to assume we have proven when every little thing comes collectively that we may be as quick as anyone, dare I say. And hopefully sit up for subsequent yr and to stringing all of it collectively — what we’re all right here to do, which is compete for championships.”
