Romain Grosjean had his sights set on his first NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory Sunday in the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham.

Marcus Ericsson had other plans.

Ericsson made his final pit stop on Lap 69, handing the lead to the driver of Dale Coyne Racing's No. 18 BMax Honda. Ericsson then maneuvered through the field from seventh place and passed Grosjean for the lead in Turn 6.

Grosjean settled for second place, finishing 7.5305 seconds behind Ericsson. It was his sixth runner-up finish and seventh trip to the podium in 78 starts.

“What happened is that we started on the back foot, reverted to setup on qualifying that we kind of knew better,” Grosjean said. “I think in qualifying -- I'm not going to go into details what happened -- but the red flag really hurt us there. Then in the race, I felt straightaway we had some good pace.”

Grosjean led 28 of 90 laps and knew the biggest challenge would come late. He needed to stretch his final fuel and tires for roughly 37 laps.

“When I saw the Ericsson pitting, I thought there was no way he would catch us,” Grosjean said. “Honda did amazing with us. They worked so well, gave us the exact fuel number to cross the finish line with nothing left in the tank. Nothing much you could do to defend. Not meant to do today. Very happy for Dale Coyne Racing.”

Grosjean came up just short of his first victory since winning a GP2 race in 2011.

“I cried a little -- I'm not going to lie,” Grosjean said. “But control what you can control. I think that comes from Andre Agassi, the book. I did everything I could.”

Dale Coyne Racing engineer Bill Pappas was thrilled with the result.

“It’s huge,” Pappas said. “It’s a monkey of his back and off the team’s back. It’s a great team effort. (Grosjean) did a heck of a job getting the fuel numbers we needed to have to not come back in for a third stop.”

Pappas said the strategy wasn't the team's original plan, but early race carnage prompted an audible. Grosjean stopped on Lap 16, then made his final stop on Lap 53.

“Very happy with my team and my performance,” Grosjean said. “Gives me hope for next week, the Freedom 250 (Washington, D.C. race).”

Palou Extends as Malukas, Kirkwood Falter

Alex Palou started 11th, the deepest he'd started a race in nearly two years, and he moved to third in the running order after Ericsson made his final pit stop. Palou then passed Scott McLaughlin for second on Lap 73 and appeared poised to capitalize if Grosjean couldn't stretch his fuel.

Instead, Palou faded to fourth, with Ericsson passing him for second on Lap 84 and Will Power taking third from him one lap later.

“We just had to be less fuel than Marcus (Ericsson) and (Will) Power there,” Palou said. “We just had to save a lot more than them. I could have fought Power a little bit. Marcus, he was on another level there the last 10 laps. I just wanted to keep my position, not lose time and keep Pato (O’Ward) and anybody else from overtaking.”

Palou made his final pit stop on Lap 55 in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. The conservative approach in the closing laps also was influenced by the championship battle.

Kyle Kirkwood entered Sunday as Palou's biggest challenger, 110 points behind. He left Markham 133 points back.

Kirkwood qualified 16th but started 22nd after taking a new engine overnight in the No. 27 Sam’s Club Honda and receiving a six-position grid penalty.

The Andretti Global driver moved to second before the Lap 31 caution for Marcus Armstrong's Turn 5 spin. Kirkwood was one of three drivers who had yet to pit at that point.

He eventually dropped outside the top 10 before crashing on Lap 54. Kirkwood clipped the inside wall in Turn 3 and was sent across the track into the outside wall, ending his day in 21st.

“This one is on me,” Kirkwood said. “We had a fast car. We had everything thrown at us. There’s no radius walls here and I clipped the inside wall.”

David Malukas' day also unraveled late. He hit the wall while running sixth on Lap 83 and made an unscheduled pit stop, finishing 17th. He heads to the season's final four races 137 points behind Palou.

“Just tow link,” Malukas said. “I was struggling with the rear end of the car all day, and then that was the longest run. That was probably my sixth hit on the wall, and yeah, just bent it. So that's on me.”

Palou didn't need to know the details of every incident involving his championship rivals.

“Yes and no,” he said if he wants that information. “Like it doesn't really change much. When I saw Kirkwood crash, he was right in front of me and then Malukas, I mean, if he's been sixth or 15th, he's still behind us, so that was good.”

“We were trying to fight for the win there, and then we saw it was not our day. So yeah, fourth is great.”

Malukas Focused on Second, Nervous About Wrist

Malukas knows the most realistic target now is second in the championship.

With four races remaining and 137 points separating him from Palou, Malukas said the title is no longer the focus. Washington, D.C., is next Sunday, followed by the Aug. 29-30 Milwaukee Mile doubleheader and the Sept. 6 season finale at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

Palou won the last two Laguna Seca races from the pole and the most recent short-oval race July 20 at Nashville Superspeedway. He has won three of the final five street races this season and finished runner-up and fourth in the other two.

“It’s the battle for second now,” Malukas said. “We’re not going to be focusing on that (a championship). I don't even know what Palou would you have to do? You have to like crash every race? I mean, it's done. So, yeah, we just have to look on trying to get that P2, and that’s because the P2 race now is a big battle.”

Kirkwood leads Malukas by four points for second. Christian Lundgaard is six points behind Kirkwood after finishing sixth in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.

Malukas revealed last weekend in Portland that he is dealing with a flare-up of a wrist injury dating to a mountain biking accident in February 2024. The accident left him with a fractured and dislocated wrist and torn ligaments.

The Chicago native has acknowledged he will have to deal with the injury off and on. Portland and Markham were two of those weekends. Last week, he wore wrist wraps, and the team made adjustments to his steering wheel to help.

The next challenge is Washington, D.C., a 250-mile event that will be the longest street race in INDYCAR SERIES history.

“Yeah, for sure,” Malukas said when asked if that makes him nervous. “I mean, it’s going to be pretty handsy. But the thing is, this was the one I was most scared of because of all the right-handers. It's a lot of weight on that left wrist, especially the hairpin.”

“But thankfully for DC, there majority of it is left (hand turns). I won't think like one or two rights. So, I think it's going to be better for us. It's going to be long, but it's going to be left-handers. And then I get to rest for Milwaukee (Mile, oval). That's not really using the left wrist at all. And then it's just Laguna (Seca, season finale road course). So this was the one of surviving.”

Collet Makes Up Ground

Caio Collet pulled his No. 4 Combitrans Amazonia Chevrolet for A.J. Foyt Enterprises down pit lane on the opening lap with damage from contact with Felix Rosenqvist.

Collet started 19th after a difficult qualifying session. He was second-fastest in Saturday's second practice session before finding the wall at the end. The team had to change the bellhousing, hybrid, right-rear suspension and underbody in the few hours between practice and qualifying.

That created logistical issues and miscommunication. The car wasn't filled with enough fuel and Collet stalled on track during qualifying.

“We had a miscommunication inside the team, and we just forgot to put the right amount of fuel,” Collet said. “So I just ended up running out of fuel, but yeah, honestly, they did a really good job with me this weekend rebuilding the car to be able to qualify, and also in the race, just trying to go back there again and save some points.”

The Foyt team refused to give up. Rather than park the car after the opening-lap contact, the crew repaired it and returned Collet to the track.

That decision gained him six positions and could have lasting implications.

Collet will be a free agent at season's end and said he has a couple of options. Both depend on his car finishing in the top 22 in entrant points.

“We had a couple of options before, and we still have,” Collet said. “Just waiting to see what's going to happen with myself in the championship and I'll have a pretty good idea.”

He entered Sunday's race 23rd in the standings, 10 points outside that position. He leaves six behind the No. 21 ECR Chevrolet driven by Christian Rasmussen who finished 23rd after crashing with Scott Dixon on Lap 36.

“Massive,” Collet said of the decision to return to the track. “Big thanks to the team. I just have to see the contact again in the first lap. I really don't know if it was my fault or just a racing incident.

“I think it's overall a really frustrating weekend because we had a lot of pace from the beginning and we just didn't execute a good job.”

Odds and Ends

· Will Power finished third for his second consecutive podium and third time he’s finished there in the last five races in the No. 26 TWG AI Honda for Andretti Global.

· Rinus VeeKay has four top seven finishes in the last six races, including a seventh-place finish in the No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet on Sunday. VeeKay remains 10th in the point standings.

· Scott McLaughlin finished eighth in the No. 3 Gallagher Insurance Team Penske Chevrolet for his fifth top eight in the last six races on the season. He had four in the previous eight.

· Pato O’Ward finished fifth in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet on Sunday for his fourth fifth place finish in five street races this season. The outlier was a fourth place run May 31 at Detroit.

· Kirkwood and Josef Newgarden will fly to New York Monday morning to promote next Sunday’s Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C. Both will be at the Empire State Building Monday and appear on FS1’s First Things First Live. Tuesday, the duo will appear on FOX and Friends in Times Square, then appear at the NASDAQ Opening Bell.