The Grand Prix of Road America is historically one of IndyCar’s marquee road course races, and for good reason.

This picturesque Wisconsin track poses a unique challenge for drivers, with four miles of twisting turns to deal with on every lap.

In a rare week where the drama in the buildup may have outpaced the race itself, we still got some intriguing on-track chess moves and our sixth different winner in seven championship races.

So without further ado, let’s get into the winners, losers, and storylines from this weekend.

Power finally snaps his winless streak

As a unit, Team Penske dominated the day, combining to lead over 60 per cent of laps and sweep the podium. As individuals, however, that meant an extended civil war, with all three looking viable to win it.

Ultimately, it was Will Power’s faction who won, as their call to have him stay out longer and overcut the other Penskes on the final pit stop positioned him to inherit the lead late and cruise to victory.

After a winless 2023 – his first such season since 2006, when he drove the Team Australia No. 5 to Rookie of the Year honours in the Champ Car World Series – Power wanted a return to Victory Lane more than anything in the world.

After three runner-ups in the first six points races, he finally got one. Forget just hanging in the top five, Power’s in this title race to win it, and with such a huge monkey off his back, there’s no telling how high he’ll climb.

Newgarden goes from second-worst to second-best

After a major post-500 hangover in Detroit, where he finished 26th of 27, and a brutal Fast 6 crash here in Wisconsin, it wasn’t clear how well Josef Newgarden would do today.

But when he caught a lucky break on the first turn, he immediately ran with it, and his momentum stayed high all day long.

While Power’s smart call kept Newgarden off the top step, Joey Plants still led ten commanding laps on his way to the silver, scoring a massive haul for both himself and Chevrolet in the process.

With many of his best opportunities still ahead in the late-season gauntlet of ovals, a couple more road and street runs like this could be exactly what Newgarden needs to position himself for a year-end surge.

McLaughlin peaks early, still finds the podium

Rounding out the Penske trio, Scott McLaughlin finished worst among his teammates with a drive many others would kill for.

The New Zealander was an even bigger benefactor of the starting chaos than Newgarden, avoiding contact entirely and taking first place from Kyle Kirkwood once the yellow flag cleared away.

McLaughlin would go on to lead the most laps of the day, the third time he’s done so in the last five races. But as with the Indy 500, once the lead slipped from Scotty Mac’s grasp, he could never quite get it back.

While Power’s overcut led to victory, McLaughlin’s undercut led to him settling for the bronze.

Still, it was a much-needed rebound after his torrid Detroit, and it re-rails his title ambitions at a point where they could’ve easily flown completely off the track.

Palou survives the Ganassi carnage

After qualifying all five of their cars in the top 12, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Sunday went down the toilet almost immediately, starting when Marcus Armstrong spun out rookie pole-sitter Linus Lundqvist on the first turn.

But while all his teammates fell over the course of the day, Álex Palou rose to the occasion—despite not quite being fast enough to challenge the Penskes and defend his local crown, he still led three laps and finished fourth, the best among Honda drivers.

As a result, the Spanish shark stays firmly in the championship hunt, and if he smells blood in the water, expect him to eat the competition for lunch.

Herta salvages sixth

If anyone could have broken up today’s Penske podium, it was Colton Herta.

The Andretti star qualified on the front row, led the most laps of any non-Penske driver and had enough pace that he should have, by all means, been a threat for the win.

But all the way back on the first turn, a punt and spinout thanks to Newgarden meant that Herta had to scramble to an alternate strategy and spend the whole day playing catch-up, and he wound up finishing sixth, just behind teammate Kyle Kirkwood.

With Power’s victory, Herta is now the biggest name without a win this season, and he’ll want to rid himself of that extra pressure as fast as he can.

Grosjean and O’Ward leave their teams’ feud behind

The biggest story of the week, by far, was the falling-out between Arrow McLaren and Juncos Hollinger Racing.

After a spot of contact in Detroit between McLaren’s Théo Pourchaire and Juncos’s Agustín Canapino, fierce online flame wars ensued between fans.

When Canapino’s camp failed to sufficiently condemn the death threats his fans sent Pourchaire’s way, McLaren stood behind their rookie and broke off their financial alliance with Juncos.

Canapino subsequently took a step back from the No. 78 car for the weekend, citing mental health reasons, meaning that 19-year-old Nolan Siegel got to make up for his Bump Day elimination before the Indy 500 by filling in as Canapino’s substitute.

But while fans would have to wait for an on-track confrontation between Pourchaire and Canapino, the teams’ top guns had a much more gentlemanly fight in Wisconsin, as Romain Grosjean passed Pato O’Ward on the final lap to claim seventh place.

This marks Grosjean’s best finish with Juncos, as well as the best Road America result in team history.

Meanwhile, O’Ward’s eight-spot made him once again best among McLarens, keeping him in striking distance of his fellow title contenders.

Rahal and Rosenqvist lead the charge from the back

Usually, qualifying in the back rows means you’re in for a rough ride, but that wasn’t necessarily the case today, as many of the worst qualifiers moved significantly up the field by the race’s end.

Both Meyer Shank drivers had strong days – Felix Rosenqvist led three laps and finished eight places above where he started, while Hélio Castroneves, in likely his final non-500 appearance, climbed like Spider-Man to move from dead last to inside the top 20.

Sting Ray Robb made an even bigger leap, going up nine spots, while Pietro Fittipaldi matched that to end 16th.

But the biggest and most impressive mover of this cohort, by far, was Graham Rahal, who started 24th, suffered a lock-up and spin in the opening havoc, but clawed his way back to run as high as second place and collect his second top-10 finish in as many months.

With all of Rahal’s best results so far coming on road courses, don’t be surprised if this trilogy of circuits we’ve just started turns out to be his best stretch of the season.

Miscellaneous Misfortunes: just say “no” to smoking reds

Alexander Rossi ran in or near podium position in a fair chunk of the early going and seemed at least on track for another top-10 until a fateful tyre swap.

The alternate tyres were worse than the primaries for most of the day, and Rossi became an unfortunate victim, as his reds shredded so fast that he had to pit again just five laps later, dooming him to the worst finish among McLarens for the day.

Meanwhile, Scott Dixon initially looked like he could keep his streak of top-fives alive, especially when it seemed like we’d get another storm of yellow flags like his victory in Detroit last week.

But while he did post the fastest lap of the day to earn a bonus point, the Iceman’s hopes melted in the midgame, when one of his alternates overheated, blistered beyond belief, and forced him back into the pits for an extra stop.

This, among other miscues, sent Dixon to his first finish outside the top 20 without a DNF since his penalty-induced choke at the 2022 Indy 500.

The Sicko’s Guide to DNFs: Ganassi’s young guns drown in the Great Lakes

It wasn’t a fun day to be a young driver at Chip Ganassi today, and Kyffin Simpson may have had the toughest pill to swallow.

When he ran into fellow rookie Christian Rasmussen down a straight, Rasmussen’s usual bad luck finally inverted, as their collision sent Simpson screeching through the gravel and into a concrete wall, thwarting Simpson once again as he attempts to catch teammate Linus Lundqvist for the Rookie of the Year lead.

Meanwhile, Marcus Armstrong, whose collision with Lundqvist wasted the latter’s pole and started a downward spiral for virtually the entire team, suffered further punishment with 20 laps to go, when his transmission blew out and forced the young Kiwi to limp into pit lane and out of the race.

While his podium last week in Detroit proves he’s got the talent to hang here in IndyCar, this marks his third DNF of the year, and it’d be in his best interest to stop that number from climbing any higher.

Championship Collage: Power lifts Chevy up as Australia, Brazil surge

On top of scratching a two-year itch, Power’s victory also brings him to the top of the Astor Cup standings for the first time this year.

But while he absolutely deserved this reward for his consistency throughout the season, he won’t be able to rest on his laurels, as Álex Palou sits just five points behind, and Scott Dixon remains six points behind Palou.

Meanwhile, Scott McLaughlin rockets up to fifth, as his win at Barber breaks the tie with Kyle Kirkwood, while Alexander Rossi takes a worrying four-place tumble down to ninth.

In the Manufacturers’ Cup chase, Chevrolet will be very pleased with that all-Penske podium, as it helps them once again retake the lead from Honda.

The Detroit bowties now sit with one more win, one more pole, and 16 more points than their adversaries, all advantages that will sit precariously in the balance when we return to Honda’s home state of California for the final time this season.

Finally, in our official unofficial Nations Cup standings, Power’s victory also pulls Australia up to third place, behind the US and a still-leading New Zealand.

This means Spain joins the Netherlands in losing a place, while France and Italy both move up one.

But the day’s big winner on this front is actually Brazil, as Pietro Fittipaldi’s nine-place climb to 16th pulls them ahead of both Argentina and the Cayman Islands.

Future Flames: do you know the way to Monterey?

If you need something to tide you over while we wait for the next Grand Prix, we’ve got a bit of a French excursion going on.

Next weekend, Scott Dixon and Álex Palou will headline IndyCar’s seven representatives in this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, which promises to be one of the most competitive and exciting runnings to date.

After that, we’ll reconvene for the Grand Prix of Monterey at the iconic Laguna Seca course.

This marks the midway point of the season, not only because of the timing but because it’s the last race before IndyCar switches to a new hybrid engine formula, which could significantly alter the balance of power around the paddock.

In the meantime, McLaren’s Théo Pourchaire might be under attack on multiple fronts – not only will Agustín Canapino presumably return to his seat, but the man Pourchaire replaced, David Malukas, is finally back as a full-time driver for Meyer Shank Racing.

He’ll be hungry to prove the Orange Arrows were wrong to cut Malukas loose.

With drama up and down the grid, and all signs pointing to another NorCal classic, this is one Grand Prix you won’t want to miss.