Lundgaard On Portland: ‘There’s Only Things To Be Proud Of’

Christian Lundgaard (Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment photo)

PORTLAND, Ore. – Although he wanted a win Sunday at Portland Int’l Raceway, Christian Lundgaard was still able to earn a second-straight runner-up finish in NTT IndyCar Series competition.

Lundgaard came home one place behind race winner Will Power, collecting his third top 10 in the last four weeks. After a similar result at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca two weeks ago, the Arrow McLaren driver continued his recent hot streak on the road courses.

“It sucks finishing second twice. But at the end of the day, I’m happy to be in the situation that we’ve been in with our No. 7 car this past weekend at Portland,” said Lundgaard. “We’ve shown so much pace. We were fastest in practice one, seventh in practice two, and won the pole for the race. Obviously, we had our grid penalty, but we still fought hard and raced our way up to finish second.”

The 24-year-old was penalized at the start of the race for unapproved engine changes his team made before qualifying. While his first pole start of the season would’ve been a major help, he had to start three rows deeper in the field and work his way back up to the front.

Even with the six-position grid penalty, Lundgaard fought up to fifth place in just the opening 10 laps. Then after falling back to 15th due to early pit strategy throughout the field, Lundgaard was able to climb back inside the top 10 after finding more pace to make passes.

With fuel, tire, and pit strategy all playing a factor on the nearly two-mile road course, Lundgaard’s No. 7 team executed an efficient 7.1-second pit stop on lap 80 which jumped him further up in the top 10.

Due to a better handling car and the advantage of key track position, he was then able to keep himself inside the top five from then on, giving a spirited chase to Power in the closing laps.

As slower lap traffic held up the leader and eventual winner, Lundgaard closed in several times to within a half second of Power, all while defending furiously to keep season rival Alex Palou behind him.

Lundgaard and Palou nearly touched inside of five to go while battling for the runner-up honors, allowing Power to streak away. Though Lundgaard held his position to the end, Palou won the war by clinching the championship with two races to spare.

It didn’t have the Dane too down afterward, however.

“I think there’s only things to be proud of considering where the team was last year. We were first and second in qualifying,” he noted. “Last year none of the cars transferred through [segment one of qualifying]. The trajectory the team is on is only upward and I’m excited for the years to come.”

All of Lundgaard’s top fives this season since March have been podium finishes, underscoring his consistency in battling among the top runners in the sport.

“We were the worst on fuel compared to Will and Alex. Obviously, we were also worse on tires even with the fuel disadvantage,” Lundgaard said, referencing what he felt kept him out of victory lane. “The track is so difficult with dirty air, you really can’t do much. I think that also played a factor into why no positions were really exchanged at the end of the day.”

Although he hasn’t won a race this season, the Hedensted, Denmark native has shown consistency, allowing him to rank fourth overall in the series standings.

With two races left in the 2025 season, he sits 13 points behind Scott Dixon for third, which would be a career-best after he was outside the top 10 in 11th last year.

Now the IndyCar Series takes a scheduled week off before closing out the season with a pair of ovals, visiting the Milwaukee (Wis.) Mile on Aug. 24 and Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway on Aug. 31.

Last season’s doubleheader at Milwaukee saw Lundgaard finish ninth and 12th in the two races. But he has two top 10s on ovals this season, with a recent sixth-place effort in race two of the doubleheader at Iowa Speedway in July.

Coverage of the Snap-On 250 from Milwaukee is slated for Sunday Aug. 24, at 2 p.m. ET on FOX, the IndyCar Radio Network, and SiriusXM IndyCar Nation, channel 218.