Christian Lundgaard finished second in Sunday's The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Presented by the 2027 CR-V Hybrid.
For a driver expected to be free to explore other opportunities for the 2027 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season, the result felt like one that slipped away.
Lundgaard started from the pole and led the opening 41 laps of the 90-lap caution-free race before Arrow McLaren teammate Pato O'Ward passed him as he drifted wide in Turn 2 on Lap 42.
Lundgaard never got close enough over the final 48 laps to return the volley.
Lundgaard settled for second in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet in the caution-free race, his fourth top-two finish in four permanent road course races this season. He won the Sonsio Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course May 9 and at Road America on June 21 after finishing second to Alex Palou at Barber Motorsports Park on March 29.
"I'm just trying to catch my breath, and in all honesty, that was a very long, very tough race," Lundgaard said. "We were very loose and in these (warm) conditions when you're loose into Turn 1, it makes the car a lot heavier to drive. I wasn't really happy with the rear of the car all race, but congrats to the team."
Lundgaard climbed from fourth to third in the standings, 65 points behind Palou and nine behind Kyle Kirkwood for second.
The Dane has delivered in his second season with Arrow McLaren, compiling two victories, 11 podium finishes and 13 top-five finishes in 28 starts with the team. By comparison, the No. 7 entry produced four podiums over the previous 81 starts before Lundgaard joined.
"He was much stronger in (Turn) 2 than I was, which is really the passing opportunity," Lundgaard said of O'Ward. "I had nothing to play with in Turn 1."
Kirkwood Keeps Championship Pressure On
Kyle Kirkwood remains winless in 31 NTT INDYCAR SERIES starts on permanent road courses, but Sunday's drive at Mid-Ohio kept him firmly in the championship fight.
Kirkwood charged from 10th to finish third in the No. 27 Sam's Club Honda, earning the best permanent road course finish of his INDYCAR SERIES career.
"I'm super happy with that result," Kirkwood said. "Starting 10th, everybody knows this place is so hard to pass. ... I'm proud of our third place after qualifying 10th, having to drive through the field, passing some big hitters and taking the Sam's Club Honda toward the front."
With Palou finishing fifth in the No. 10 OpenAI Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, Kirkwood trimmed five points from the championship deficit, reducing Palou's lead from 61 to 56 entering the July 19 race at Nashville Superspeedway.
The upcoming stretch could provide Kirkwood more opportunities.
Palou has finished 24th, seventh and 17th on ovals this season. Kirkwood started from the pole and finished fourth at Nashville in 2024, was sixth there last season.
After Nashville, the series returns to permanent road racing at Portland International Raceway before inaugural street races in Markham, Ontario and Washington, D.C.
Kirkwood owns five junior formula victories at Portland but has yet to finish better than 10th in four INDYCAR SERIES starts. Meanwhile, five of his six career series victories have come on street circuits.
The schedule offers opportunities, and Sunday's podium ensured Kirkwood remains within striking distance.
VeeKay Continues To Deliver
Rinus VeeKay gave Juncos Hollinger Racing its best Indianapolis 500 finish with sixth in May. Now, he's chasing the team's best championship finish.
The Dutchman entered Mid-Ohio 13th in points, already ahead of the organization's previous best of 16th by Callum Ilott in 2023 and left 11th in the standings.
After participating in the June 23 series test at Mid-Ohio, VeeKay qualified for the Firestone Fast Six for the first time since Barber Motorsports Park in 2025. He started sixth after recording a season-best qualifying position of eighth at Phoenix Raceway entering the weekend.
The Fast Six appearance was the fourth in Juncos Hollinger Racing history.
"Testing here really helped," VeeKay said. "I think we found a good setup for a place like this. We got lost in practice two, but we went back and did the right things for qualifying. Really good job by the Juncos Hollinger Racing team."
VeeKay finished fourth in the No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet, matching his season-best result from World Wide Technology Raceway. It also marked his third top-six finish in the last five races after recording just one in his opening six starts with the team.
He appeared poised for a podium while running third before his final stop on Lap 63. But an 8.6-second stop, compared to Kirkwood's 8.1-second stop on the same lap, dropped him behind the Andretti Global driver exiting pit lane.
"We did a great job," VeeKay said. "We made a good strategy plan beforehand. We knew the red tires were going to be hard to hold onto. It was overcast to start the race, so we decided to start on those reds, get some spots at the start.
"Really good pit stops by the crew. We showed that, even though we're a fairly small team, once we run up front, we can run with the big guys."
Rasmussen Continues Breakthrough Season
Mid-Ohio continues to be a breakthrough track for Christian Rasmussen.
It was where he earned his first INDYCAR SERIES top-10 finish as a rookie in 2024. It also became the site of his first Firestone Fast Six appearance after qualifying fifth Saturday.
Rasmussen converted that into a seventh-place finish Sunday in the No. 21 Splenda Chevrolet for ECR, his best career result on a permanent road course. His previous best was ninth, achieved at Mid-Ohio in 2024 and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in 2025.
"My best start in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES to date and also my first Fast Six," Rasmussen said. "I can't believe it's taken us this long, but now that monkey is off our back.”
Rasmussen now has two top-seven finishes in his last three starts after recording a best finish of 14th in his previous nine races dating to last season's finale at Nashville.
Odds and Ends
- The series is off next weekend, but has a full-field test Wednesday, July 8 at the Milwaukee Mile featuring all 25 full-time entries.
- O'Ward became the second Arrow McLaren driver to reach double-digit INDYCAR SERIES victories, joining Johnny Rutherford (18).
- O'Ward delivered Chevrolet's 13th Mid-Ohio victory. He also was the manufacturer's most recent winner at the 2.258-mile road course in 2024, leaving Chevrolet tied with Honda for the most Mid-Ohio wins by a manufacturer.
- Chevrolet recorded its 36th and 37th podium finishes at Mid-Ohio with O'Ward's victory and Lundgaard's runner-up finish.
- Arrow McLaren entered the weekend with 52 all-time laps led at Mid-Ohio. O'Ward and Lundgaard combined to lead 86 laps Sunday.
- This was the first time in the second race of the season at Phoenix that Palou failed to lead a lap.
- Will Power had one top 10 finish in his first eight starts with Andretti Global. He’s had three in-a-row now with a sixth-place finish Sunday.
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