It was an unusually warm NTT IndyCar Series race weekend at Road America. With those higher temps came additional challenges for the field. Burning tires. Intense cockpit heat. And when mistakes started piling up, fuel management and the juggling of various potential strategies.

Through it all, that IndyCar grid provided a memorable 55-lap showdown around scenic Road America — one that ended with a familiar face up front, but not before he overcame various challenges.

Here are the winners and losers from the XPEL Grand Prix. 

Winner: Alex Palou gets back on track

It turns out those talks of a potential championship challenge were short-lived. 

After consecutive race weekend where he dared to look human behind the wheel – crashing out of Detroit and notching a quiet top-10 at World Wide Technology Raceway – Palou made his way back to victory lane at Road America.

The path there was atypical. Palou was passed en masse early, rarely led the drivers on his own strategy and could have lost to teammate Scott Dixon if a caution had flown late. But the Spaniard never put a wheel wrong, methodically worked his way forward and was on the right strategy when it counted.

There are still potential pitfalls ahead. But if Palou continues to make the most of his strong weekends, no one’s catching him for the title.

Loser: Team Penske takes itself out of contention

Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske

Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Lumen via Getty Images

As has become the trend of the 2025 season, a potentially promising weekend for Team Penske ended with little benefit for the team. This time around, the issues were largely self-inflicted.

Josef Newgarden actually caught a break on Saturday, sneaking into the Fast 12 after Scott Dixon was penalized for qualifying interference. That left all three Penske cars in the second round, with each ultimately starting in the top 10.

Scott McLaughlin jumped from fourth to first over the initial start and restart. Will Power and Newgarden were each in the hunt as well. But things slowly began to unravel in a strategy-swinging, action-packed race.

Power was first to find trouble, making an early enemy of Kyle Kirkwood when he was too late on the brakes and made Kirkwood take evasive action early in the race. Kirkwood paid him back later on and cost Power multiple spots.

Newgarden went on to rise through the field and challenge McLaughlin for position on lap 18. But in doing so, the Tennessean braked too late into turn 5 and forced McLaughlin to make evasive action – a move that ultimately allowed Palou by both drivers en route to victory.

McLaughlin was generally able to avoid chaos from there, but faded to 12th by race’s end. His teammates were less fortunate. Power and Newgarden each spun in the race’s middle stages, with Power losing his No. 12 Chevrolet at the exit of Canada Corner and Newgarden spinning off the final corner. 

Newgarden slid into the inside tire barrier and out of the race, leaving Road America with a 25th-place result. Power was lucky enough to avoid damage in his accident, but was relegated to 14th when the checkered flag flew, largely due to the lost track position.

Winner: Meyer Shank Racing manages the chaos well

Felix Rosenqvist, Meyer Shank Racing

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

You could be forgiven if you hadn’t given Meyer Shank Racing more than a passing glance heading into Sunday’s race. Felix Rosenqvist and Marcus Armstrong were quiet on Friday and Saturday, qualified outside the top-10 and didn’t give any real reason for focus of optimism. 

But when it counted, the teammates turned their fortunes in the right direction. 

Rosenqvist stormed forward in the closing stages, putting himself within sight of eventual winner Palou in the closing laps. The Swedish star ran out of time to chase down Palou, but took second to notch his best finish since Portland in 2023. Armstrong was 17 seconds back from his teammate when the checkered flag flew, but came home a solid fifth.

The results were the best of each driver’s season to date. In Rosenqvist’s case, the run provided a turnaround after a difficult stretch over the past five races. For Armstrong, it was a continuation of a solid run of form that’s seen him notch four top-10s in five races.

Loser: Early mistakes claim Robb, Shwartzman

Sting Ray Robb, Juncos Hollinger Racing

Photo by: Geoff Miller / Lumen via Getty Images

Remember when the storyline in IndyCar was a complete lack of cautions? That’s a non-issue heading into July.

It took just two turns for the IndyCar field to generate Sunday’s first caution. David Malukas was battling inside of the top-five when he ran into the back of Christian Lundgaard, sending Malukas spinning into the gravel trap outside of the corner.

Malukas was beached, bringing out the caution. But his machine suffered only light damage, allowing the Chicagoan to keep rolling once he was assisted back to the racing surface.

The next two to crash weren’t as fortunate. Indianapolis 500 polesitter Robert Shwartzman lost control of his Prema Racing machine and crashed out in Canada Corner on Lap 4. Just six laps later, Sting Ray Robb was caught off guard by the braking Marcus Armstrong ahead and slammed into the concrete barrier on driver’s right in turn 5, crashing hard into the tire barrier.

Both drivers were knocked out of the racing, leaving them 26th (Robb) and 27th (Shwartzman) at day’s end.

Winner: Ferrucci, Foyt do it again

Felix Rosenqvist, Meyer Shank Racing, Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing, Santino Ferrucci, A. J. Foyt Enterprises

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

A.J. Foyt Racing drivers finding their way to the front is starting to become a trend through this middle section of the IndyCar season.

For the fourth-consecutive race, Foyt placed at least one of its teams inside the top-five at day’s end. This time around it was Ferrucci, who rallied in the second half and just managed to stretch fuel to the finish en route to a third-place result. The effort was the Connecticut native’s fourth top-five in a row, an impressive turnaround given that he’d failed to finish better than 11th in the five races that preceded it.

Malukas was less fortunate, starting seventh but dropping to the back after his opening lap gravel adventure. But Malukas’ team played the strategy game well and still salvaged a seventh-place finish at day’s end, giving Foyt a pair of promising runs in Wisconsin.

Loser: Fuel gamble comes up short for Dixon, Rossi

Alexander Rossi, Ed Carpenter Racing

Photo by: Gavin Baker / Lumen via Getty Images

Look: All things considered, a ninth-place effort isn’t bad for Dixon and the No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing team. Dixon had to roll off 25th after being penalized for qualifying interference on Saturday, so that he was even in contention for a potential win and able to salvage a top-10 is impressive.

That said, it could have been so much more. 

Dixon held the lead into the closing stages of Sunday’s race, having found his way to the front with an aggressive fuel-saving strategy brought on by a host of early cautions. Had he caught just one more yellow in the final stint, there’s a good chance that the 44-year-old could have notched his first win of the year.

But the much-needed yellow never came, so Dixon had to surrender the lead with just two laps remaining. He ended up ninth, with Alexander Rossi following in 13th after playing a similar strategy and having to stop with four to go. 

Winner: Have a drink on me, cameraman

Remember one week ago, when a crashed Devlin DeFrancesco was running to pit road to get back in his car and ended up unintentionally leading to a fallen cameraman? 

In Road America, DeFrancesco made up for it with a kind gesture. Early during the Wisconsin ace weekend, the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver found the cameraman – Jimmy Kevin Henslee, better known as “Bama” – and offered him a bottle of bourbon as a present for the unexpected tumble. 

DeFrancesco went on to finish x in Sunday’s race – and while he did have a three-place penalty for blocking at one stage, no cameras were harmed in the making of the run. 

Loser: Timing and scoring takes a siesta

Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global, Louis Foster, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske

Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Lumen via Getty Images

IndyCar’s online timing and scoring were down for the majority of Sunday’s race, both on the series’ website and with this optional timing provider. It ultimately came back to the series website inside of the final 15 laps, but by then much was lost in a race filled with swinging strategies. It’s crucial that any series has functional timing and scoring, but perhaps nowhere more than in IndyCar given its wild strategic fluctuation.

Winner: Shaved ’stache lead Foster to first pole

Louis Foster’s first year in IndyCar has been defined by two things: Solid pace and his Jeff Gordon-esque rookie mustache.

Foster shaved the stache for a good cause on Friday at Road America. 

Thankfully, that wasn’t the only memorable part of the Briton’s weekend. One day later, Foster outdueled Palou to score an impressive first pole. It didn’t ultimately yield a matching raceday result – Foster lost the lead on lap 4 and had to rally through mid-race struggles to salvage 11th – but the 21-year-old has much to be proud of after a weekend where he again showed his potential.