IndyCar sees a ton of rare occurrences at Road America

Sunday afternoon’s REV Group Grand Prix at Road America produced quite a few things that IndyCar hadn’t seen in several years.

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou passed Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden with two laps remaining in Sunday afternoon’s REV Group Grand Prix at Road America and went on to secure his second win of the 2021 IndyCar season.

An issue in Newgarden’s #2 Chevrolet relegated him to 21st after he dominated the race, leading 32 of the 55 laps around the 14-turn, 4.048-mile (6.515-kilometer) natural terrain road course in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin after starting from the pole position.

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As a result of everything that went down, this afternoon’s race produced quite a few things that IndyCar hadn’t seen in several years.

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By winning the race, Palou became the first Chip Ganassi Racing driver not named Scott Dixon to win multiple races since the 2011 season, when Dario Franchitti won four races and his fourth and final championship.

From 2012 to 2020, Dixon himself recorded eight multi-win seasons, failing to win multiple races in 2017 when he only won at Road America, and won four championships. During that span, Chip Ganassi Racing won 28 races, and Dixon accounted for 23 of those victories.

Chip Ganassi Racing have won four races so far this season, and three have been earned by drivers other than Dixon. Palou won the season opener at Barber Motorsports Park and Marcus Ericsson won the second race at Belle Isle Street Circuit. Dixon won the first race at Texas Motor Speedway.

Additionally, this race became the sixth race in a row to be won by the driver who didn’t lead the most laps after the 2021 season’s first three races were all won by the driver who led the most laps.

Take a look at the lap leaders and race winners from the most recent six races.

Texas Motor Speedway
- Most laps led: Scott Dixon (led 163 of 248 laps , finished in fourth)
- Winner: Pato O’Ward (led 25 laps)
Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course
- Most laps led: Romain Grosjean (led 44 of 85 laps , finished in second)
- Winner: Rinus VeeKay (led 33 laps)
Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Indy 500)
- Most laps led: Conor Daly (led 40 of 200 laps , finished in 13th)
- Winner: Helio Castroneves (led 20 laps)
Belle Isle Street Circuit (Race 1)
- Most laps led: Will Power (led 37 of 70 laps , finished in 20th)
- Winner: Marcus Ericsson (led five laps)
Belle Isle Street Circuit (Race 2)
- Most laps led: Josef Newgarden (led 67 of 70 laps , finished in second)
- Winner: Pato O’Ward (led three laps)
Road America
- Most laps led: Josef Newgarden (led 32 of 55 laps , finished in 21st)
- Winner: Alex Palou (led five laps)

This particular trend hadn’t happened since the 1978 USAC Champ Car season. Take a look.

Ontario Motor Speedway
- Most laps led: Johnny Rutherford (led 96 of 200 laps, finished in 11th)
- Winner: Al Unser (led 74 laps)
Michigan International Speedway
- Most laps led: Johnny Rutherford (led 26 of 75 laps, finished in 13th)
- Winner: Danny Ongais (led 17 laps)
Trenton Speedway
- Most laps led: Danny Ongais (led 53 of 100 laps, finished in 15th)
- Winner: Mario Andretti (led 33 laps)
Silverstone Circuit
- Most laps led: Al Unser (led 18 of 38 laps, finished in 10th)
- Winner: A.J. Foyt (led seven laps)
Brands Hatch Circuit
- Most laps led: Danny Ongais (led 83 of 100 laps, finished in ninth)
- Winner: Rick Mears (led 17 laps)
Road America
- Most laps led: Danny Ongais (led 72 of 150 laps, finished in fourth)
- Winner: Johnny Rutherford (led 67 laps)

Power’s Belle Isle defeat came after his car wouldn’t re-fire at the end of a red flag period with five laps remaining, and Newgarden’s Belle Isle defeat the next day came after he was hunted down by O’Ward.

So on lap 66 of 70 in the first Belle Isle race, lap 68 of 70 in the second Belle Isle race, and lap 54 of 55 in the Road America race, Team Penske led. But their leaders finished those races in 20th, second and 21st place, respectively.

Newgarden’s heartbreaking defeat at Road America, the second in a row for him and third in a row for Team Penske, also made Team Penske 0 for 9 so far this season. They hadn’t started a season 0 for 9 since they went the entire 20-race 1999 CART season without a single victory.

And last but not least, Carlin’s Max Chilton wasn’t able to hang on to his late lead, as he needed to pit for fuel, but he still made the most out of his fuel strategy and utilized a late caution flag period to finish in a solid 10th place, his first top 10 finish since he finished in eighth at Watkins Glen International driving for Chip Ganassi Racing in September 2017.

Chilton had been on a 44-race top 10 finish drought, including 43 races with Carlin since the start of the 2018 season.

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The next race on the 2021 schedule is the Honda Indy 200, which is set to be broadcast live on NBC from Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course beginning at 12:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 4.