A first IndyCar race victory in two years - at the head of a commanding Penske 1-2-3 at Road America - thrust Will Power into the championship lead.
For much of the race, it looked like Power would be at the tail end of that podium sweep behind team-mates Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin, before superb laps around the final pitstops allowed him to leapfrog them both.
NEWGARDEN ESCAPES HORRIBLE QUALIFYING CRASH
Had Newgarden won, it would have been a remarkable recovery from an absolutely savage qualifying crash in which he slammed into the wall at the fearsome Kink corner with a truly sickening crack after catching a damp patch on the drying track and snapping into a high-speed spin late in the Fast Six pole shootout.
A MASSIVE impact for @josefnewgarden at the end of qualifying.
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) June 8, 2024
The No. 2 driver has been seen and released.#INDYCAR // #XPELGP pic.twitter.com/xSdaiOK2lQ
He walked away from that incident and Penske worked late to get his back-up car ready for him to take up fifth on the grid - one place ahead of Power, who caused his own Fast Six stoppage with a far more benign crash a few minutes earlier.
GANASSI IMPLOSION FOLLOWS POLE
The red flag for Newgarden’s shunt helped Ganassi’s rookie driver Linus Lundqvist take pole, in a breakthrough result for a driver who hadn’t started a championship round higher than 17th since joining the multiple title-winning team.
Ganassi mastered the changing weather of qualifying best and had all five of its cars in the top 12 on the grid, with young guns Lundqvist and Marcus Armstrong foremost among them in first and third.
That didn’t last long when the race began. As Lundqvist fended off an outside line attack from fast-starting second row man Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti, Armstrong tapped the back of his team-mate and sent them both spinning in front of the pack.
Some big names were caught up in this one.
Another look at what unfolded in Turn 1.