The NTT IndyCar Series held its exhibition race on Sunday afternoon at The Thermal Club in Riverside County, California, for the $1 Million Challenge. This exhibition race was divided into two ten-lap heat races with six drivers advancing to the 20-lap main event. Then, 12 drivers competed in the main event where the winner would win the million bucks.
Felix Rosenqvist of Meyer Shank Racing won the pole for the first Heat Race. Rosenqvist was able to hold onto the lead from Scott McLaughlin. On the opening lap, Scott Dixon hit Romain Grosjean sending him skidding across the track hitting Rinus VeeKay before VeeKay made contact with Christian Lundgaard. Lundgaard was able to continue the race and Dixon was issued a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact.
When the race resumed, Rosenqvist kept the lead from McLaughlin. In the back of the field, Will Power and Kyle Kirkwood battled for the ninth position with Power winning the battle. Rosenqvist led all ten laps to win the first Heat race ahead of Scott McLaughlin by .4971 seconds.
Heat 1 Finishing Order:
| Position | Driver | Interval |
| 1. | Felix Rosenqvist | – |
| 2. | Scott McLaughlin | .4971 |
| 3. | Josef Newgarden | 1.7664 |
| 4. | Christian Lundgaard | 6.3835 |
| 5. | Agustin Canapino | 8.7479 |
| 6. | Colton Herta | 15.8230 |
| 7. | Nolan Siegel | 16.4113 |
| 8. | Santino Ferrucci | 17.0148 |
| 9. | Will Power | 17.8747 |
| 10. | Kyle Kirkwood | 21.4089 |
| 11. | Sting Ray Robb | 21.7870 |
| 12. | Scott Dixon | 25.7655 |
| 13. | Rinus VeeKay | DNF |
| 14. | Romain Grosjean | DNF |
Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing started the second Heat race on the pole. On the fourth lap, Pato O’Ward passed Tom Blomqvist for sixth place. Alex Palou led all ten laps to win the race over Marcus Armstrong by 5.3375 seconds. There were no cautions in the second heat race.
Heat 2 Finishing Order:
| Position | Driver | Interval |
| 1. | Alex Palou | – |
| 2. | Marcus Armstrong | 5.3375 |
| 3. | Graham Rahal | 18.0911 |
| 4. | Linus Lundqvist | 18.9634 |
| 5. | Pietro Fittipaldi | 19.7151 |
| 6. | Alexander Rossi | 20.3456 |
| 7. | Pato O’Ward | 21.0031 |
| 8. | Tom Blomqvist | 23.1783 |
| 9. | Callum Ilott | 23.3908 |
| 10. | Christian Rasmussen | 24.1938 |
| 11. | Kyffin Simpson | 25.8233 |
| 12. | Marcus Ericsson | 26.5815 |
| 13. | Colin Braun | 28.8333 |
In the main event, Felix Rosenqvist and Alex Palou started on the front row with Palou getting a massive jump ahead of Rosenqvist for the lead. Graham Rahal’s day would end on lap 9 with mechanical failure. Palou led the first ten laps before halftime.
However, Pietro Fittipaldi was disqualified for the second half of the main event for failure to follow the directions of IndyCar in regards to not filling the car up with fuel at the start of the race. Before the second half of the main event started, Christian Lundgaard restarted in the back for emergency service in a closed pit.
When the second half of the main event started, Alex Palou pulled away from Scott McLaughlin. In the back, Colton Herta had a great afternoon starting in 11th place and making his way up to fourth place. Alex Palou dominated the main event leading all 20 laps to win the $1 Million Challenge over Scott McLaughlin by 5.7929 seconds. Palou won a total of $500,000.
Main Event Finishing Order:
| Position | Driver | Interval |
| 1. | Alex Palou | – |
| 2. | Scott McLaughlin | 5.7929 |
| 3. | Felix Rosenqvist | 9.7587 |
| 4. | Colton Herta | 13.1126 |
| 5. | Marcus Armstrong | 15.0938 |
| 6. | Linus Lundqvist | 16.1064 |
| 7. | Alexander Rossi | 16.5393 |
| 8. | Josef Newgarden | 17.6675 |
| 9. | Christian Lundgaard | 19.7073 |
| 10. | Agustin Canapino | 20.4100 |
| 11. | Graham Rahal | DNF |
| 12. | Pietro Fittipaldi | DNF |
The NTT IndyCar Series resumes the 2024 season on Sunday, April 21, 2024, from the streets of Long Beach, California, for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach at 3 pm on USA Network and Peacock. Subscribe to Fubo to watch all of the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series season. Purchase tickets for all IndyCar races today on StubHub and Viagogo.
