2022 IndyCar at Indianapolis: Alexander Rossi ends winless run with steady, smooth drive in Gallagher GP

Rossi, who had not won in 49 races, dominated the second half of the race

Alexander Rossi kept driving and kept waiting. Waiting for the luck to change, for everything to click again. Sunday, at the Gallagher Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's road course, the waiting was over.

It had been 49 races -- a little over three years -- since the Andretti Autosport driver was last in the Winner's Circle, and his celebration reflected that. It didn't make up for him missing out the other 49 times, but it was still pretty sweet.

And quite a relief.

"It's been so many things, for so long," said Rossi, who will be moving to Arrow McLaren SP next season. "I feel for Colton [Herta, who had a late mechanical issue when leading]. ... He was differently strong. But it was the 27 car's turn."

Behind him, Christian Lundgaard drove his best race of the 2022 IndyCar season, finishing second for his first podium in the series. The Dane, who has quietly produced consistent finishes for Rahal Letterman Lanigan, put in another quality run where he was able to stay out of trouble the entire afternoon.

"It does feel like a win," Lundgaard said. "It feels like a birthday present. My birthday was this past Sunday at Iowa. Coming in, we knew we had a strong car. I wasn't happy in practice, but we found something after."

Running 3-4-5 were the Team Penske chargers of Will Power, Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden, who certainly looked like they had cars that could win but somehow the race never seemed to come to them.

"It was a rough start, got pushed around in Turn 1," Power said. "It was a great recovery. Everyone was very aggressive. We'd like to keep it clean, but it's amazing to go all they back to 16th and finish third.

"I know this game so well. But you've got to take what you can every race day."

It was a busy day at the office for Chip Ganassi Racing drivers Scott Dixon and Marcus Ericsson. Starting deep in the field after issues in qualifying, Dixon finished eighth and championship leader Ericsson 11th by using pit stop strategy and some gutsy driving to salvage what they could. Still, Ericsson dropped into second in the driver's championship, nine points behind Power.

Finishing order

1. Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport
2. Christian Lundgaard, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
3. Will Power, Team Penske
4. Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske
5. Josef Newgarden, Team Penske
6. Rinus VeeKay, Ed Carpenter Racing
7. Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
8. Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing
9. Felix Rosenqvist, Arrow McLaren SP
10. Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing
11. Marcus Ericsson, Chip Ganassi Racing
12. Pato O'Ward, Arrow McLaren SP
13. David Malukas, Dale Coyne Racing
14. Callum Ilott, Juncos Hollinger Racing
15. Takuma Sato, Dale Coyne Racing
16. Romain Grosjean, Andretti Autosport
17. Conor Daly, Ed Carpenter Racing
18. Devlin DeFrancesco, Andretti Autosport
19. Helio Castroneves, Meyer Shank Racing
20. Jack Harvey, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
21. Dalton Kellett, A.J. Foyt Enterprises
22. Jimmie Johnson, Chip Ganassi Racing
23. Kyle Kirkwood, A.J. Foyt Enterprises
24. Colton Herta, Andretti Autosport
25. Simon Pagenaud, Meyer Shank Racing

What we learned

The road to the IndyCar Series drivers' championship looks to be going through Team Penske. With four events remaining on the calendar, perhaps current championship leader Power will not be in that mix, as in 2021 he finished 14th (Nashville), third (Madison, Ill.), 13th (Portland) and 25th (Laguna Seca). Newgarden fared better at those events, with a 10th-place finish at Nashville his worst outing. He also had a win at the WWT Raceway, in Madison, Ill., a fifth at Portland and a seventh at the season finale in Laguna Seca.

Ericsson figures to be right there with Newgarden as he won at Nashville's inaugural event and finished ninth (Madison, Ill.), seventh (Portland) and sixth (Laguna Seca). The Swede is 11 points behind Power, with Newgarden another 23 back. Scott Dixon may still have a say in the matter as well, as he sits 38 off Power, followed by Pato O'Ward in fifth and 46 points back.

Herta showed a lot of class in congratulating Rossi before the latter was even out of the car in the winner's circle. As disappointed in his DNF as he must be, Herta must also be anxious to get to Nashville to get some payback. The young Andretti Autosport driver was handily leading the race last year when a lapse of concentration caused him to diamond a turn, bouncing the right side off the barriers and ending his race. It will be interesting to see how he approaches the narrow streets of Nashville for the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix. 

As for Rahal Letterman Lanigan, Lundgaard said at Sunday's post-race media conference that the IMS road course was the one the team had circled because "this was the track we were going to be the most competitive at" for the second half of the season. Rahal finished a quiet fifth while Santino Ferrucci finished 11th and Takuma Sato 25th at the 2021 event. 

[Jul 30, 2022 at 2:20 pm ET · Richard Biebrich Jr.]

Unofficial final top-10 order

1. Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport
2. Christian Lundgaard, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
3. Will Power, Team Penske
4. Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske
5. Josef Newgarden, Team Penske
6. Rinus VeeKay, Ed Carpenter Racing
7. Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
8. Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing
9. Felix Rosenqvist, Arrow McLaren SP
10. Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing

[Jul 30, 2022 at 2:04 pm ET · Richard Biebrich Jr.]

With 15 laps to go it's still Rossi with Lundgaard 3-plus seconds adrift of him. Power, McLaughlin and Newgarden are 13-plus seconds off the pace of the leader. 

[Jul 30, 2022 at 1:54 pm ET · Richard Biebrich Jr.]

Top-10 runners at Lap 62 and it's Rossi back in front have the pit stops have cycled. Christian Lundgaard isn't going anywhere except forward, it seems, and he is having a great afternoon, running second. It's the Penske triplets of Power, McLaughlin and Newgarden after that. 

Rinus VeeKay is sixth, Graham Rahal in seventh, Scott Dixon in eighth, Dalton Kellett and Felix Rosenqvist.

Championship leader Marcus Ericsson up to 11th.

[Jul 30, 2022 at 1:51 pm ET · Richard Biebrich Jr.]

Race leader Rossi coming in for his final stop, pulling on a set of used reds. Rossi is trying to chase down his first win in 49 races.

[Jul 30, 2022 at 1:49 pm ET · Richard Biebrich Jr.]

Will Power is pulling on sticker reds and getting all the fuel he can for what he hopes will be his final pit stop as the pit window opens.

[Jul 30, 2022 at 1:45 pm ET · Richard Biebrich Jr.]

That's it for Herta on the day. The team tried to see if they could get him back out there and salvage something, but they just called off their efforts.