Meyer Shank Racing’s Marcus Armstrong Earns First INDYCAR Podium of 2025

Newton, Iowa (13 July 2025) –Marcus Armstrong (#66 Spectrum Honda) had been one of the most consistent drivers in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES over the last two months, but lamented he hadn’t yet scored a big result. The Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) driver solved that issue on a sunny Sunday in Iowa, earning his first podium of the season with a third-place finish in today’s Farm To Finish 275 Presented by Sukup.

The New Zealand-born driver started 12^th but partnered a heavy right foot and strong pit stops by his MSR crew to climb through the field in the 275 laps around the 0.875-mile oval of Iowa Speedway. His first podium finish for MSR was the second of his INDYCAR career and extended a career-high streak of seven top-10 finishes.

The finish highlighted the year’s sixth double top-10 for the Ohio-based team as Felix Rosenqvist (#60 Sirius XM Honda) came home in seventh place, overcoming a slow mid-race pit stop to rebound for his eighth top 10 of the 2025 season.

Continuing to build on what is the best season in its INDYCAR SERIES history, MSR scored its second podium result of the year, marking the first time the team has scored multiple podium finishes in the Series. Its 17 top-10s extends the highwater mark for the team, and both drivers have held top 10 positions in the Series standings for three straight races.

But while the team was strong today, the Fates played a role. A Lap 177 caution set up a restart with 84 laps to go, which lead to some teams trying to make it to the end without a final pit stop. At that point, Armstrong was running a solid P5, while a misstep on Pit Lane had dropped Rosenqvist – who had started second – to P14.

But as the hard-charging pace emptied fuel tanks quicker than expected, Armstrong was among a small group that was holding out hope. Armstrong had climbed to second and Rosenqvist was seventh as others pitted when a fortuitous caution flag flew with less than 25 laps left. This pinned most of the field a lap down and allowed the leaders to pit for much-needed fuel.

Armstrong and Rosenqvist battled in tight quarters over the final 11 laps, with Armstrong completing a Honda-powered sweep on the podium, and Rosenqvist finishing seventh. The results further entrenched the duo in the top seven of the Championship standings, with Rosenqvist holding sixth and Armstrong improving to a season-best seventh.

The murderous summer stretch of five races in four weeks marches on. The series heads to Canada for Sunday’s Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto, which takes place on the long-time street course around Exhibition Place. Things start with a 3 p.m. ET practice on Friday, leading into a 2:30 p.m. Saturday qualifying session that can be seen on FS1. Sunday’s race starts at Noon and will be live on FOX as well as on Sirius XM Channel 218.

Meyer Shank Racing Driver Quotes:

Marcus Armstrong: “Yeah, we made it happen. I was confident we were going to have a good day because yesterday, we were finding our feet towards the end of the race. We’d been saving fuel for two races now, waiting for a situation like what happened there at the end. So I was very happy when I saw that yellow. But overall, Meyer Shank Racing has done an amazing job and the No. 66 Spectrum Honda crew has done a great job in pit lane. We’re just getting better every single race. I’m gelling with my crew better and better every race. But this Championship is so, so competitive. You need to be on it every single session, every single lap. And we’re getting there…slowly, but we’re getting there.”

Felix Rosenqvist: “Turned out to be a decent points day for us at least. Both days we kind of had big blunders in the pits. Today though we were fast and I feel like I was driving way better, so that was exciting. Good recovery for us at the end and big congrats to Marcus on his first podium with MSR! Hopefully we can keep the momentum rolling.”