Armstrong delivers another result with fifth place finish

Elkhart Lake, Wisc. (22 June 2025) – Road America had long been a house of horrors for Meyer Shank Racing (MSR), but like most of the 27-car field today, those memories are in the rear-view mirror for the Ohio-based team after putting put both its drivers in the top five for the first time in its NTT INDYCAR SERIES history at Sunday’ XPEL Grand Prix of Road America to break a 54-race streak without a podium finish.

Felix Rosenqvist (No. 60 SiriusXM Honda) used a fast car and solid pit strategy to score MSR’s best finish since Simon Pagenaud placed second at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in 2022, coming up just 2.1 seconds behind championship leader and race winner Alex Palou after 55 grueling laps around the 4.048-mile Road America layout.

Rosenqvist’s second-place run was his best of the year, but wasn’t the only cause for celebration for MSR as Marcus Armstrong (No. 66 Spectrum Honda) followed a similar pit strategy as his teammate and steamed home with a season-best fifth-place finish. The results are the best-ever by two MSR drivers in the same event and is the third straight top-10 result for Armstrong.

The 90-degree day in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin was nearly 20 degrees above the normal temperature for the series’ annual visit, but the heat wasn’t the only thing above normal in the first half of the race. Aggression ramped up with the temperature, causing four caution periods in the first 24 laps of the race, scrambling pit strategies throughout the field.

The MSR strategies and crisp pit stops put both drivers at the sharp end of the field just after the halfway point and saw Rosenqvist lead laps for the third consecutive race leading to his final pit stop with 13 laps to run. Armstrong pitted one lap later and quick pit work on both cars put them in contention as the rest of the field had to slow to save fuel, or pit to ensure they could finish.

Rosenqvist moved into second with two laps to go and halved his deficit to Palou over the last trip around the Road America layout before settling for second. The finish moved the Swedish driver into a tie for fourth in the championship points after nine of the year’s 17 races.

MSR will have a break next week before heading to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for the July 4-6 Honda Indy 200. A Friday afternoon practice launches the weekend, with qualifying set for Saturday at 2:30 p.m. E.T.  Sunday’s race starts at 1:00 p.m. and will be carried live on FOX. Sirius XM Radio will also carry live coverage of all sessions on IndyCar Radio, XM Ch. 218.

Meyer Shank Racing Driver Quotes:

Felix Rosenqvist: “We had really good pace. The SiriusXM Honda was just phenomenal and we deserve it. We’ve had some bad luck the last few races and really haven’t had a good go. It’s a great comeback and it’s been a while since I’ve been on the podium and we finally got what we deserved this year.”

Marcus Armstrong: “It was a good race—we stuck to our plan, I thought that we did a very good job with the strategy.  Unfortunately we got pushed off track a couple of times by some people who were way off the pace. But we kept our cool, saved some fuel, and came back through. It was a good weekend, and we are just gaining some momentum with these top tens, and now we are heading to MSR’s home track at Mid Ohio so hopefully we can keep that up.”