Every driver wants to earn a race victory, and boy, did Christian Lundgaard ever do that Saturday on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

That pass on David Malukas for the Sonsio Grand Prix lead was a thing of beauty, a muscle move we’ll still be talking about at year’s end. Come to think of it, when was the last time a driver had to charge to the outside and force his way to the front as Lundgaard did on Lap 68?

Lundgaard (photo, top) had started his pursuit two corners earlier, pulling alongside in Turn 4, a right-turning configuration that sets up that left/right chicane leading to the Hulman Boulevard backstraight. Lundgaard, who had the hotter tires by virtue of pitting one lap earlier, felt that was his chance to grab the lead, so he attacked the Team Penske driver where he could.

Of course, Lundgaard didn’t complete the pass on his one-time European karting teammate until the exit of Turn 6, and by that time the crowd gathered at the historic facility was duly in appreciation.

“It probably looks more spectacular from the outside than it really did inside the helmet,” said Lundgaard, who estimated seeing the move 50 times on replay before meeting with reporters post-race in the DEX Imaging Media Center. “I knew I had one chance, maybe two, on David at the time.”

Lundgaard said once he got to the outside of Malukas he figured he’d hang there as long as he could and “see how it goes.”

Remarkably, there wasn’t contact between the two.

Said Malukas: “I probably could have been more aggressive, but I wanted to be fair. It was a proper move.”

If this was a preview of the rest of the month at IMS, well, as Lundgaard had said Friday on another topic, “bring it.”

Lundgaard left Malukas behind over the remaining 18 laps to score his first victory in nearly three years, since that street circuit win in 2023 in Toronto. Rightfully, there was significance to Lundgaard winning his first race in papaya colors, but it also was McLaren’s first INDYCAR SERIES win in Indianapolis since Johnny Rutherford won the Indianapolis 500 in 1976.

But this race will be remembered for more than Lundgaard.

The complexion of these NTT INDYCAR SERIES races often turn at a moment’s notice, and this one did when Alexander Rossi’s ECR machine slowed on the front straightaway on Lap 21. As it should have, the yellow flag quickly waved, but it was deemed a local caution at first before becoming a full-course yellow.

Several teams jumped at the chance to make their first pit stop before the pits closed under full-course yellow, but the top two cars in the order – driven by Alex Palou and Kyle Kirkwood – did not. Third-place finisher Graham Rahal called that a mistake.

“I think Palou had as good of a chance (to pit) as we did – he was ahead of us,” Rahal said. “We all took (the opportunity to pit); he didn’t. We took it when we saw (the caution), and he didn’t, which is rare. Those guys don’t make mistakes.”

After pitting, Palou and Kirkwood took the restart in the 19th and 20th positions, respectively, and that effectively cost them a chance to win the race. Palou, who was more than five-tenths of a second quicker than the field in the Firestone Fast Six final round of NTT P1 Award qualifying and led the race’s first 23 laps, was seeking his fourth consecutive victory in the event. Kirkwood was bidding for his first road course victory in 29 series starts.

Alex Palou

But the way Palou and CGR responded helped extend his series lead. The decision to pit on Lap 38 (photo, above) made Palou the first of the contenders to make a second pit stop, and that moved him up in the order. Meanwhile, Kirkwood’s second stop was marred by another Andretti Global mistake, this one costing them eight seconds to Palou when the right front tire took too long to affix.

Lundgaard’s win moved him to fourth in the standings at the one-third mark of the season (this was the sixth race of 18). But Palou also was a winner on this day. By finishing fifth with Kirkwood ninth, Palou’s lead grew to 27 points. Malukas stands third, 52 points in arrears, with Lundgaard fourth, 55 points back.

A season championship is the long goal, but the season’s big goal is next. Practice for the 110th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge begins at noon ET Tuesday. The race is Sunday, May 24. It’s time to earn a place in racing immortality.