Hy-Vee-sponsored Christian Lundgaard stops at Grimes Hy-Vee ahead of 108th Indianapolis 500

IndyCar driver Christian Lundgaard made an appearance during a meet-and-greet and autograph session Tuesday afternoon at the Grimes Hy-Vee store.

A Denmark native, Lundgaard is in his second season driving the No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Last year he finished eighth in the championship standings, highlighted by winning the pole in the Indy Grand Prix on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and winning the Toronto Grand Prix.

There is no more important month on the IndyCar schedule than the "Month of May" in the lead-up to the Indianapolis 500 on May 26. Lundgaard will be back on the track this weekend for the Indy Grand Prix during practice and qualifying Friday before the race on Saturday.

Lundgaard said Tuesday that he and his two teammates have a great chance to win the pole again this year. Practice and qualifying for the Indy Grand Prix will be held Friday in Indianapolis.

"As a team we know that we're strong around the GP," Lundgaard said. "I'm not really too worried in terms of performance. We know that the car is good enough to be on pole. The question is, are we going to execute?"

Lundgaard started third and finished sixth on April 28 in the Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, the best finish for him among the three IndyCar points races this season. In his first two Indianapolis 500s Lundgaard finished 19th in 2023 and 18th in 2022.

Last year Lundgaard and his Team RLL teammates struggled simply to make the field of 33. But entering the month the team showed more speed at an April test.

"It was embarrassing and it simply wasn't good enough," Lundgaard said. "Basically our entire focus has been put on to make sure that the 500 was better for this season. Looking at the numbers we should be in pretty good shape."

West Des Moines-based Hy-Vee has spent millions of dollars sponsoring IndyCar since 2020. The chain wants to expand into states such as Indiana, Tennessee and Kentucky where IndyCar is popular. Hy-Vee will be the title sponsor for four of 17 races on the schedule this year.

The company is finishing construction of a new warehouse in Cumming, which will allow expansion to proceed, Hy-Vee CEO Jeremy Gosch told trade publication Progressive Grocer in February.

Lundgaard signed die-cast replicas of his cars, signed photos and took pictures with a few dozen fans who showed up between noon and 1 p.m. Tuesday.

For the third straight year, Hy-Vee will sponsor the IndyCar doubleheader at Iowa Speedway in Newton. Races are scheduled for 7 p.m. on July 13 and 11 a.m. on July 14.

Iowa Speedway is the bumpiest oval the series races on, Lundgaard said.

"The short ovals are super-intense because there is so much happening at all times," Lundgaard said. "It's so compact, and it's close racing. It's pack-racing and pit sequences. The strategy plays a big part. So It brings a more interesting aspect to it, which I think a lot of us enjoy, but are also worried because it also creates chaos."

Philip Joens covers retail, real estate and RAGBRAI for the Des Moines Register. He can be reached at 515-284-8184, pjoens@registermedia.com or on Twitter @Philip_Joens.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Christian Lundgaard stops at Grimes Hy-Vee before Indianapolis 500