Aside from the fact that he made his way from the middle of the pack to the front on two separate occasions, it was not hard to spot Marcus Ericsson and his No. 28 Andretti Global Honda during the 109th running of the Indy 500 back in May.
The bright pink, purple, and orange machine marked the start of the team's new partnership with Allegra, the allergy relief brand which provides effective relief from allergy symptoms with 0% brain interference, keeping users alert and non-drowsy.
As fans may have noticed at Barber Motorsports Park, the Opella brand and leading non-drowsy over the counter (OTC) allergy relief brand is back for year number two with the 35-year-old Swede, who called the partnership a "natural fit", given his own allergy history and past familiarity with the brand even before 2025.
“We’re doing some more activations this year again involving the pit crew,” Ericsson told Beyond the Flag. "We have this challenge if the pit crew beats a certain time, we give special offers through Allegra to customers."
Add us as a preferred source on GoogleIf Ericsson’s pit crew beats the clock during their pit stop, Allegra will "beat it too", unlocking Allegra-specific Walmart deals that allow consumers to take advantage of Express Delivery service and experience even faster non-drowsy relief, with delivery in under an hour.
"It’s a cool thing to again interact with the fans and yeah, Allegra has been really cool like that, to sort of use this as a way to reach out to people and get them to interact with us. It’s one of the fun things about partnering with Allegra.
"For me and many others and a lot of people in my team as well, this time of the year is always tricky. So Allegra has been helpful there for sure."
Allegra primary sponsorship deal enhanced in 2026
After returning at Barber, Allegra is set to be on Ericsson's car in the two upcoming races on the streets of Long Beach, California on Sunday, April 19 and at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course on Saturday, May 9.
"It’s been really fun to represent them," Ericsson continued. "It’s obviously a very big brand, and connecting with me and my team, we know how important it is for us to stay sharp and not get drowsy and stay 100% focused. There are just a lot of things where Allegra and myself and us at Andretti aligned. So it's been a fun partnership. I’ve been really thrilled to have them on again this year and continue that partnership."
Allegra has not confirmed any plans specific to this year's Indy 500, but Ericsson teased that there could be more announcements to come.
"I don’t know any details after [the next two races], but yeah, focusing on these next two," he said. "[We did] Barber, and then the next two, and then I think there will be more announcements after that, from the team side."
Ericsson initially finished second in the Indy 500 a year ago but was dropped to 31st after a post-race penalty was issued to the No. 28 team. He won the race in 2022 and placed second following a controversial one-to-go restart in 2023.
As for the 2026 season, he's off to a strong start, sitting in a seventh place tie in the point standings with three top 10 finishes in four races. He had posted just three top 10 finishes in his previous 20 races coming into the year, and he only finished 15th and 20th in the standings in his first two seasons with Andretti Global.
"It feels really good," Ericsson said of his strong start. "I think we’re off to a strong start. I think we’re eighth in the points after the first four rounds, same points as seventh, and it’s very tight in the championship. So it’s been a good start.
"I’ve worked really hard over the winter. We have worked as hard as a team, but you know, for me it’s been a lot about rebounding after a very disappointing year last year. I’ve done a lot of work on my own side to just be better and sort of be back to the level which I’ve shown to be able to be at in IndyCar in the past."
His hot start included his first pole position of any kind since the 2013 GP2 feature race at Silverstone Circuit. It came in the series' inaugural race on the streets of Arlington, Texas, which marked his 117th career NTT IndyCar Series start.
"It's been great to see that hard work has been paying off, and after a very solid start, even with that, I feel like we really had two races where we should have been on the podium, in both St. Pete and Arlington," he admitted. "I think we had a very good opportunity to be on the podium there, but small things in the execution of the race lost us two potential podium finishes.
"But we still have learned a lot from it and shown great pace. That’s the thing; I feel really great about the start, but it could have been even better. A lot of positives."
All remaining races on the 18-race 2026 NTT IndyCar Series schedule are set to be shown live on Fox.