Santino Ferrucci seizes best-ever IndyCar finish after timely caution in Detroit

A timely caution can be the difference between a memorable weekend and a total write-off on any given NTT IndyCar Series race weekend. Thankfully for Santino Ferrucci and A.J. Foyt Racing, luck was on their side in Detroit.

Ferrucci took over the race lead after catching a break from a caution flag and put together a spirited drive from there to secure a career-best finish of second, from 21st on the grid for Sunday’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix.

“Huge, huge shoutout to this whole team,” Ferrucci said. “We were struggling in qualifying. I struggled. I made a lot of mistakes. I was really hard on myself yesterday, because I felt like it was all me. Pit stops were phenomenal. The stand was amazing - I mean, perfect strategy. I just got lucky with that yellow.”

The Connecticut native found himself in the midpack after pitting on lap 65 of 100 when Prema Racing’s Callum Ilott lost a wheel shortly after making a stop of his own. That elicited a full-course yellow from race control, bunching the field back up after a lengthy green-flag run.

Santino Ferrucci, A. J. Foyt Enterprises

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

At the time of the caution, only three cars outside of Ilott had made what proved to be their final stops: Ferrucci, Kyffin Simpson and Marcus Armstrong. That meant the rest of the field had to stop during the caution flag, allowing the trio to cycle through to the front of the field.

That was a lucky break, but there was still a challenging final stint separating Ferrucci from success. Holding onto the lead from there would ultimately prove to be too difficult. The dominant Kyle Kirkwood charged past the top three in consecutive laps and took the top spot away from Ferrucci with 22 laps remaining.

Had the race played out green from there, Ferrucci wasn’t sure he’d have been able to hold onto a podium spot. But fortune again fell his way when a heavy shunt between Felix Rosenqvist and Louis Foster brought out a red flag with 17 laps remaining.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to see a red flag,” Ferrucci admitted. “Because I was really struggling. I don’t know what I did with the tires, but I couldn’t get them to come back to life.”

Thankfully for Ferrucci, the stoppage allowed him a chance to cool his tires off and refocus. He got the best of a three-car battle with Colton Herta and Will Power from there to hold on to a huge result for his No. 14 team, bringing home the lone podium result for the main race sponsor — Chevrolet — at day’s end.

“Man, I’m just happy to bring Chevrolet on the podium,” a smiling Ferrucci said.

It was his second-career podium and first since the , carrying forward momentum from a fifth-place run in the Indianapolis 500. Ferrucci leaves Detroit 10th in the championship standings, between Andretti Global’s Herta and Marcus Ericsson.