A 23-year-old New Zealander, Armstrong was in the mix late for a possible win despite starting 19th and being stuck in a multi-car incident that was triggered by Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Christian Lundgaard in Turn 3 on lap 53 of 100.
In some ways, the incident prompted a pit stop on lap 56 - the last of his four - that was on the same strategy as Chip Ganassi Racing team-mate Scott Dixon, which prompted a massive fuel number to make it to the end.
When the last of eight cautions came out on lap 63, Armstrong was able to cycle up to second in the running order behind the six-time IndyCar champion as others dove to pit lane for service. He held position but fell roughly 3s behind Dixon in the early part of the stint. However, that changed further into the run as he closed to within a few car lengths of Dixon, who was busy being thwarted by Colton Herta’s attempt to stay on the lead lap.
Once Dixon got by, though, the lead widened and Armstrong was left falling in the clutches of the charging No. 28 Andretti Global Honda of Marcus Ericsson, who took second on the penultimate late. Armstrong was left coasting to third, and ran out of fuel right as he crossed the finish line.
“I'm very pleased,” Armstrong said. “In my opinion, it's been a long time coming, even though this is my second season.
“Yeah, it was a difficult one. Obviously it was pretty chaotic. I think being a strategist today was more stressful than being a driver. I have to give a big shout-out to my strategist, ^ Taylor Kiel. He always places me perfectly to maximize the situation we found.
“Ultimately on the last stint, I was having to achieve quite a big fuel number, as was Scott. But Scott does what Scott does. I actually ran out of fuel as I came across the line. So we timed it perfectly. Otherwise I would have fought Marcus a little bit harder in the end. It was necessary just to sort of coast in and take the podium.”
Reasons for the chaos
As far as the chaotic race, which featured 47 laps under caution, Armstrong noted part of that cause was how the tires and the track conditions did not mesh well.
“It's very slippery,” Armstrong said. “For whatever reasons the tires this season have been very let's say robust. You can't really generate temperature. Even towards the end of the stint it's not like they're in the right window. I think a lot of the mistakes are also caused by the fact that the tire is not working early in the run, especially when they're cold.
“I know I've taken some margin. If you brake where you think you should brake, occasionally you just drive straight through someone. I'm sure that's happened, as well.”
And Armstrong, who now sits 13th in the championship standings with three top 10 finishes in six points-paying rounds, also noted the desperation by others to make optimistic passes.
“I'm sure mistakes today also were not by the intention of the driver trying to lunge everyone, but because he didn't have the grip to stop. I'd say that is one thing,” Armstrong said.
“A lot of the moves today were very ambitious. Honestly, the braking distances are quite long. I think that's quite inviting. Yeah, perhaps it needs a bit of a rethink.”
