BROOKLYN, Mich. – Saturday’s IndyCar iRacing Challenge event at the virtual Michigan Int’l Speedway was an afternoon of déjà vu of sorts for Team Penske.

It marked the second week in a row that one of owner Roger Penske’s drivers found their way to victory lane thanks to a strategic call made near the mid-point of the event.

However, unlike Scott McLaughlin’s well-timed pit stop that allowed him to leapfrog the frontrunners a week ago at Barber, this time it was an early caution period that eventually allowed Simon Pagenaud to stretch his fuel late and cruise to victory in the Chevrolet 275.

Pagenaud was among the last of the lead-lap cars to make a it stop under green during a service cycle right around the halfway point of the event, ducking off the banking and onto pit lane at lap 45 with his virtual No. 22 DXC Technology Dallara-Chevrolet.

From there, he went into conservation mode as the race remained green the rest of the way, ultimately picking off positions one by one as cars dropped like flies late in the race when their gas tanks ran dry.

Finally, when the Andretti Autosport pair of Ryan Hunter-Reay and Zach Veach peeled off for splash-and-go stops at laps 81 and 84, respectively, it was Pagenaud who was there and ready to strike.

The Frenchman and reigning Indianapolis 500 champion assumed the race lead from Veach with three to go and held serve to the finish, eventually crossing the line with a massive 13.388-second margin of victory over runner-up and teammate McLaughlin in the end.

It was Pagenaud’s first Indy car win on an oval – albeit virtually – since his Indy 500 breakthrough last May.

“I cannot believe this just happened,” exclaimed Pagenaud. “Wow, that is incredible. All the credit to Ben Bretzman (race engineer) and my Team Penske teammates. We worked together to understand fuel consumption. And I have to say it’s a pleasure to bring the DXC car into victory lane this year.

“I was actually thinking about (staying in the back to avoid wrecks) during the race. I was really thinking that I lost it,” he continued. “We were just saving fuel and out of trouble. At the start of the race we were trying to avoid it and got ran into. I qualified in the back and went with ‘option B,’ which was saving fuel and tires as well.”

Behind Pagenaud and McLaughlin, retired NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt Jr. – on the same fuel strategy as Pagenaud after pitting on the same lap – completed the podium.

The pair that dominated Saturday’s race, Will Power and Sage Karam, couldn’t make it to the finish on fuel after pitting three laps earlier compared to Pagenaud and had to make late dives down pit lane as a result.

Power and Karam finished fourth and 14th, respectively, at the two-mile Michigan oval.

Graham Rahal filled out the top five, followed by Jack Harvey, Alexander Rossi, Hunter-Reay, Ed Carpenter and Alex Palou.

Sunday’s race ran caution-free from lap six to the finish, but was marred by a multi-car accident coming to the initial green flag when Oliver Askew clipped the right-rear tire of Scott Dixon’s car and sparked a massive melee that swept up more than a dozen cars.

It was a crash eerily reminiscent of the start of the 1996 U.S. 500 at Michigan during the early post-split days of CART.

The results:

1. Simon Pagenaud [22], 2. Scott McLaughlin [4], 3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. [18], 4. Will Power [4], 5. Graham Rahal [11], 6. Jack Harvey [28], 7. Alexander Rossi [14], 8. Ryan Hunter-Reay [29], 9. Ed Carpenter [13], 10. Alex Palou [5], 11. Zach Veach [23], 12. Kyle Kaiser [7], 13. Conor Daly [27], 14. Sage Karam [9], 15. James Davison [17], 16. Dalton Kellett [21], 17. Felipe Nasr [3], 18. Tony Kanaan [25], 19. Marcus Ericsson [1], 20. Sebastien Bourdais [31], 21. Felix Rosenqvist [6], 22. James Hinchcliffe [19], 23. Santino Ferrucci [24], 24. Josef Newgarden [16], 25. Patricio O’Ward [20], 26. Robert Wickens [10], 27. Max Chilton [15], 28. Colton Herta [30], 29. Marco Andretti [26], 30. Scott Dixon [12], 31. Oliver Askew [8].

Lead Changes: 18 among nine drivers.

Lap Leader(s): Marcus Ericsson 1-5, Will Power 6-9, Sage Karam 10, Will Power 11-13, Sage Karam 14-21, Will Power 22, Sage Karam 23-29, Will Power 30-31, Sage Karam 32-38, Will Power 39-40, Felipe Nasr 41, Alexander Rossi 42-43, Simon Pagenaud 44-45, Sage Karam 46-71, Will Power 72, Alex Palou 73-76, Ryan Hunter-Reay 77-80, Zach Veach 81-82, Simon Pagenaud 83-85.

Laps Led: Sage Karam 49, Will Power 13, Marcus Ericsson 5, Simon Pagenaud 5, Ryan Hunter-Reay 4, Alex Palou 4, Alexander Rossi 2, Zach Veach 2, Felipe Nasr 1.

Hard Charger(s): Jack Harvey (+22)

Cautions: One for four laps

Margin of Victory: 13.388 seconds

Time of Race: 53 minutes, 50.180 seconds

Average Speed: 189.463 mph

Fastest Lap: Dale Earnhardt Jr. 223.596 mph (32.201 seconds)

Pole Speed: Marcus Ericsson, 219.747 mph (32.765 seconds)