Andretti Autosport driver Alexander Rossi won the Gallagher Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday, earning his first win since 2019 at Road America. Rossi captured the lead on Lap 42 and held on until the end of the race.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Christian Lundgaard placed second and Team Penske’s Will Power took third to round out the podium. Power’s teammates, Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden, earned fourth and fifth place, respectively.
The Andretti Autosport driver’s last win was 49 races and 1,133 days ago at Road America. Between his first win in 2016 — the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500, as a rookie — and 2019, Rossi won seven races but had suffered a drought in recent seasons unlike the early years of his career.
McLaren Racing announced on June 2 that Rossi will be leaving Andretti Autosport and moving into a multi-year deal with Arrow McLaren SP.
On Saturday, Arrow McLaren SP driver Pato O’Ward got caught in a traffic jam on Lap 1, causing him to spin, but he managed to salvage a 12th-place finish. O’Ward’s teammate Felix Rosenqvist won the pole for the Gallagher Grand Prix on on Friday but lost positioning early on in the race. He finished ninth on Saturday.
Rosenqvist’s future with Arrow McLaren SP is up in the air. Though McLaren has announced that he will stay within the organization next year, it’s unclear whether he will stay in IndyCar or move over to McLaren’s Formula E team.
McLaren Racing has been a major focal point in the IndyCar news cycle as of late, as contract negotiations with Chip Ganassi Racing driver Alex Palou have continued to cause chaos and confusion among the two organizations. The most recent update came from Chip Ganassi Racing, which announced that they are issuing a lawsuit against Palou, who won the NTT IndyCar Series Championship in 2021.
The lawsuit comes after Chip Ganassi Racing announced they’d be exercising their option to keep Palou for the 2023 season, an announcement in which Palou and McLaren Racing refuted. Palou reportedly signed with McLaren, but with Chip Ganassi Racing announcing their plan to exercise the 2023 option with the 2021 series champion, Palou is now caught between the two teams and his future remains unclear.
For this season’s championship, which has four remaining races, Power is now the leader, with 431 points. He overtook Chip Ganassi Racing driver Marcus Ericsson this weekend, who moved down to second with 422 points. Newgarden is in third with 399 points.
The series will head to Nashville next weekend on August 7 for the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix. IndyCar hosted its first Nashville race just last year, with Ericsson — this year’s Indianapolis 500 winner and championship contender — taking the checkered flag.
