Scott McLaughlin didn’t follow Christian Lundgaard down pit road on Lap 49. Pato O’Ward went backwards and was left frustrated by it. Marcus Ericsson and Will Power each ran out of gas coming to the white flag. Felix Rosenqvist just didn’t have speed.

That was the Firestone Fast Six contenders on Saturday. Lundgaard was the only one of them to drive a flawless race and by doing so, he won by 11+seconds.

Scott Dixon also didn’t follow Lundgaard down pit road on Lap 49 and was 14th afterwards. Eighth place starter Kyle Kirkwood punted Helio Castroneves on the Lap 46 restart for which he was penalized for unavoidable contact as a result. That dropped him from the lead on those that pit on the Lap 44 strategy to a 15th place finish.

Ninth place starter Romain Grosjean crashed out for the fifth time in the 10 race season. 11th place starter Josef Newgarden overshot his pit box on his final stop. It dropped him to 11th for the final stint.

12th place starter Rinus VeeKay was the other one that didn’t pit on Lap 49. 13th place starter Castroneves was the one punter by Kirkwood.

That’s how 14th place starter Colton Herta finished third and 15th place starter Alex Palou came away with a runner-up finish.

Still, Palou collected front wing damage on the Lap 46 caution for which narrowly stayed on. He had to let Lundgaard go as his focus now was holding Herta off.

He’d do just that.

It was all about survival from everyone behind Lundgaard while the Danish 21-year-old never flinched in giving RLL their first win since Aug. 2020 in Indianapolis.

Their last win with fans in the stands was Portland in Sept. 2019. That’s what made this one special.

If it doesn’t rain on Saturday, Lundgaard doesn’t think that he had the pace to win pole. That could spark an alternate universe to where the fast cars from Andretti start in front instead and Palou is better than 15th which dictates a completely different race on Sunday.

But that’s not what happened.

Dixon came from 14th to finish fourth in the final stint. Newgarden came from 11th to 5th. McLaughlin from 16th to sixth.

It was a day to where you could rebound, but one that if you didn’t make a mistake like Lundgaard, you’d thrive.

Honda now improves to 4-for-4 on street tracks this season including 6 wins straight when going back to this race a year ago. They’ve won 9 of the 10 poles this season and 7 of the 10 races including 4 straight. 

Penske made some uncharacteristic mistakes with Power’s misjudgment on fuel saving, Newgarden’s pit road problem and McLaughlin not pitting when he should.

Now, we head to Iowa…