Perseverance Pays Off for Linus Lundqvist
Linus Lundqvist sporting his new team colors at Portland International Raceway.
Photo credit Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment
In a matter of weeks, Linus Lundqvist’s life has done a 180.
Jobless after winning the 2022 INDY NXT by Firestone championship, Lundqvist jumped at the chance to fill-in for Meyer Shank Racing driver Simon Pagenaud at the Nashville street race following the Frenchman’s crash at Mid-Ohio.
Fast forward a few weeks and the 24-year-old Swede has signed a multi-year contract to drive for 15-time INDYCAR champions Chip Ganassi Racing beginning in 2024.
“It's unbelievable,” Lundqvist said. “Still, today, I have difficulty to put into words how much this means. I'm incredibly thankful to Chip and [Managing Director] Mike [Hull] and everybody involved who are making this happen.
“Firstly, it's a dream to even be an INDYCAR driver, but to be able to do it with a team like Chip Ganassi Racing, it's unbelievable.”
As the reigning INDY NXT champion, Lundqvist was disappointed in not being able to put together a deal with Dale Coyne Racing for an INDYCAR program for 2023. But Lundqvist wasn’t about to give up.
“Well, I'm not going to lie, I was bummed out, and I kind of sat at home asking myself, okay, I've done everything that I possibly could, but we still haven't had a chance. Am I going to give up?
“I said, no, that's not me, that's not who I am. So I decided I'm going to do everything I possibly can to still try to remain in the game and give myself a shot and persevering and reminding people that you're here for a reason. That helped.
“Then when I did get the opportunity, I think we did the most out of it, and that's why I'm sitting here today.”
Lundqvist on the streets of Nashville.
Photo credit Travis Hinkle/Penske Entertainment
While the Ganassi deal seems like it came out of the blue, Lundqvist maintains it was anything but.
“I've been harassing this team [Ganassi] for about two and a half years' time about getting me a deal. It started a very long time ago, and I think obviously during last winter, a bit disappointed with not only Coyne, but any team. I was trying like crazy to find a spot. Wasn't able to do that.
“Tried to do everything that I could to kind of remain still in people's mind and at the forefront of this team process, and when the opportunity came to do Nashville, obviously I grabbed it and tried to do the best I could, and after that some more serious talks started to happen.
“Obviously here we are a couple of weeks later.
“It's been intense, but at the same time, this started a very, very long time ago.”
Lundqvist’s performance at Nashville, where he qualified 11th and set the race’s fastest lap before crashing out 12 laps from the end of the race, was a game changer. Team principals were now calling Lundqvist instead of the other way around.
“I kept talks in with a lot of teams. Like I said, I've been harassing these team principals, each and every one of them, for the last couple years, and I didn't stop doing that.
“The only difference was maybe at Nashville it was the other way around where all of a sudden they were calling me instead of me calling them, and obviously that kept on happening throughout Nashville and after Indy and into Gateway [St. Louis], as well.”
Photo credit Chris Owens/Penske Entertainment
Going from being without a without a ride to landing one in INDYCAR’s strongest team, Lundqvist feels like his life has suddenly been turned upside down.
“100 percent. My life has done a 180, in only a couple of weeks.
“I know how this business works in the sense of I knew the pressure and the opportunity that I had going into Nashville that if we were to perform, I was going to do myself and my career a huge favor.
“But it's the same the other way around; if I would have gone in and didn't perform, then that's probably the end of my career. I knew the pressure that I had going into it, and I did everything that I could to prepare myself for it and do the best job that we could.
“I think that is one of the bigger reasons that we sit here today.
“I also don't believe that's the full reason. I want to believe that the effort and work and results that we put in years prior to this and maybe me harassing Mike and Chip over these last couple of years have actually paid off. I want to believe a combination of all that made this happen.”
For up-and-coming drivers like Lundqvist, some teams may look at how much money a driver can bring. If a team has the funding required, it may not be a factor in signing a young driver. In Lundqvist’s case, it seems his deal with Ganassi is more the latter than the former.
“Yeah, the money side and the budget side of racing is always there. I think in INDYCAR you've got -- not a 50/50 split, but I think probably a few more of the teams have fully sponsored cars which obviously give them a little bit more freedom and doesn't require the driver to bring in sponsorship, which is good.
“I think a lot of the teams basically said that obviously you've done well in the junior series, but a lot about it is timing, as well, because even when you have the result and even though from the outside it looks like everything might work out, there are other things happening and other outside factors that can decide those decisions.
“I think now when we had the opportunity at Nashville and in Indy and kind of show for real what we have in the big series, I think they kind of took a second look at us and said, hey, this guy, he's a proven race winner in the lower series, and he seems to be able to handle himself in INDYCAR, and I think that's kind of what made the final decision to kind of tip them over.”
Team co-owner Mike Shank and Linus Lundqvist at Indianapolis.
Photo credit Chris Jones/Penske Entertainment
Lundqvist views the three races he did for Meyer Shank Racing as beneficial before taking on the full schedule next season.
“Having done these three races this year has helped me tremendously, and in almost an ironic way, this year seems to have prepared me the best possible way for next year, so I'm extremely thankful for the opportunity that I have with Meyer Shank Racing.
“I was happy as well that we were able to do Nashville, a street course, Indy, a road course, and then Gateway [St. Louis], a short oval, and then having tested at Texas [Motor Speedway with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing] earlier this year, a superspeedway. So we've ticked a lot of boxes this year.
“I would have liked to have ticked all of them and been racing full-time, but if not, this turned out to be the second best way, and hopefully, like I say, next year I've already done a few races and have that under my belt.
“I have the relationship with Honda, know how they work. I'm looking forward to getting stuck into it now with Chip Ganassi Racing and all these new people I'm going to be working with.”
After everything that happened since the final race of last season at Laguna Seca, and now with a multi-year deal with a championship calibre team, Lunqvist says he feels vindicated.
“100 percent, and I think that's also what makes it the more sweeter in that sense. We've been finding -- not only after Laguna but for many, many years, this is the first time ever in my career that I've actually known that I'm going to be racing full time next year, and obviously as part of a multiyear deal I know that I'm going to be racing for a few years ahead of me, which is something unbelievable.
“Every year that I've gone into in the past has been like, I don't even know if I'm going to finish the season. To be in this position, to be racing in INDYCAR together with this team, yeah, my life has made a drastic change in the last couple of weeks.”