Marcus Ericsson registered the top overall finish for Chip Ganassi Racing at Iowa Speedway today, earning a personal-best P4 result at the 7/8-mile track.
The Kumla, Sweden, native executed the third-most on-track passes (75) of anyone in the field, charging hard after beginning the race from P10. He now sits fifth in the standings with 307 points, but remains in striking distance just 21 points away from breaking back into the top-three.
Since the start of last season, Ericsson and the No. 8 Huski Ice Spritz team have achieved the series’ best average finish (4.88) across the eight oval races.
Scott Dixon piloted the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda to a P6 finish after facing early adversity. The one and only caution in the race fell at an inopportune time, forcing a restart on lap 165 of 250, as he was making a run to return to the lead lap. Dixon is positioned third in the championship chase (328 points) with six more races to go.
Alex Palou secured a P8 finish in the No. 10 American Legion Honda and remains the championship leader by a margin of 98 points. Takuma Sato finished just behind Palou in P9, moving forward two positions over the course of the race in the No. 11 Deloitte Honda.
Up next: NBC will air the second 250-lap race at Iowa Speedway tomorrow, Sunday, July 23, starting at 2:00 p.m. ET. The green flag is scheduled for shortly thereafter at 2:30 p.m. ET.
Marcus Ericsson
No. 8 Huski Ice Spritz Honda
“It was a tough race, as it always is here, with a lot of overtaking and defending. There are just a lot of things happening in these types of races. I think all of us on the No. 8 Huski Ice Spritz Honda team did a really good job. I think we had a solid day and this always takes a team effort between pit stop strategy and balance, and we did well with all of that. P4 was a good result. We want a bit more, of course, but the good thing is we’ll get another chance tomorrow.”
Scott Dixon
No. 9 PNC Bank Honda
“On that first stint, we just had a lot of oversteer and it got worse very quickly. From that point on, we were okay and caught the leaders on the second stint. But by that point, we were a lap down. We stayed with them and kept going long, while others went short. We were maybe a top-five car, so it’s a little frustrating because we had hoped for more. I think if we can get the consistency down on stint two we’ll be okay for tomorrow. Starting a little bit further back in tomorrow’s race, but that shouldn’t matter too much.”
Alex Palou
No. 10 American Legion Honda
“Pretty happy with P8. It could have been a little bit better, but it’s an improvement from last year. We’ve made some progress, so I am looking forward to the debrief here to make some adjustments for tomorrow. We’ll have another shot at the PeopleReady Force for Good Challenge where we can help The American Legion save more veterans’ lives.”
Takuma Sato
No. 11 Deloitte Honda
“It was a tough race. I thought the car was working well for the first half of the stint, but as soon as we hit degradation, we were struggling a bit. We’ll look at the balance, but all in all, the team worked very well and the pit stops were great. P9 is a bit of a pity, but we learned a lot and we can come back even stronger tomorrow.”
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
