Detroit, Mich. (1 June 2025) – Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) used speed, quick pit work and a spot of good fortune to earn the team’s best-ever Detroit INDYCAR finish as Marcus Armstrong (No. 66 Root Insurance Honda) took a hard-earned sixth-place in Sunday’s Detroit Grand Prix.
Armstrong, who started 9th, struggled early and had fallen all the way back to 25th after teammate Felix Rosenqvist’s (No. 60 SiriusXM Honda) Lap 15 spin, but both cars stayed on the lead lap after the resulting pit stops and in sight of the top 10 as the 100-lap race progressed.
Those stops put both MSR cars at the sharp end of the field at the race’s halfway point as Rosenqvist led Laps 54 and 55 to pace his first NTT INDYCAR SERIES laps of the season while Armstrong ran second as the leaders pitted.
Armstrong ran a short stint on his next set of tires, running just 12 circuits before a seemingly benign stop put him in reach of a podium. With 33 laps to run, Callum Ilott’s crash sent the majority of the field down pit lane for the final time while Armstrong’s previous stop left him able to stay out and take the Lap 74 restart in third place. He yielded three positions on a subsequent restart, made necessary by a crash on the previous green flag, but settled into sixth with eyes on climbing back into contention when things went bad for his stablemate.
Running 13th, Rosenqvist’s day ended on Lap 81 after he was slammed into the wall by the stricken car of Louis Foster, who had a suspension failure that kept him from braking in the turn and drove hard into the back of Rosenqvist. The Swede was seen and released for the infield care center following evaluations. The incident was the first DNF of the season for the No. 60 machine.
The crash brought out a red flag and set the stage for a 10-lap sprint to the finish, and Armstrong was equal to the task, fighting off the rest of the field and maintaining the sixth spot, giving him top-10 results in each of the three races held on the 1.645-mile street course. The result was MSR’s best in Detroit in INDYCAR competition – counting the downtown and Belle Isle courses – eclipsing an eighth-place result posted by Rosenqvist a year ago.
The top 10 was the team’s ninth of the year and unofficially moved Armstrong up five positions in the season standings. Rosenqvist’s 21st-place finish leaves him in fifth place in the standings after seven of the year’s 17 races.
The team will have a week off to prepare for the demanding summer stretch prior to the two-day Bommarito Automotive Group 200 weekend at the 1.25-mile World Wide Technology Raceway oval. The race is a rare Sunday night race, beginning at 8 p.m. ET on FOX. SiriusXM will also host live IndyCar Radio coverage on XM Ch. 218.
Meyer Shank Racing Driver Quotes:
Marcus Armstrong: “Happy to get some points on the board. Honestly it was a tough day because I didn’t feel that we had a lot of grip. But we did a fantastic job on strategy, so I have to give kudos to everyone on the 66 stand for putting me in position to be up there in the end.”
Felix Rosenqvist: “I’m a bit bruised and have some pain in my right knee, but apart from that I am feeling, OK. It was a big hit, so we’ll monitor it throughout the next week just out of precaution, but there are no fractures or anything like that. It’s a shame the race ended that way; I think we were on course for another top ten result today.”