Indy cars will keep coming back to Elkhart Lake. As for Milwaukee, 'it'd be impossible.'

ELKHART LAKE – The IndyCar Series will return to Road America through 2021, but don't expect a second date in Wisconsin again. 

George Bruggenthies, the track’s president and general manager, announced a three-year extension Sunday before the Koher Grand Prix, and afterward described the weekend as “perfect” with great weather, a huge crowd and good news about the future.

Then Bruggenthies quashed the idea of the series ever going back to the Milwaukee Mile, at least with Road America’s involvement.

Several years ago, Bruggenthies investigated the possibility of promoting or co-promoting a race at the oval at State Fair Park in West Allis to keep IndyCar there. IndyCar last ran at Milwaukee in 2015. The series just lost another oval with the announcement last week that Phoenix would not return, but that doesn’t change Bruggenthies' interest.

“It’d be impossible,” he said. “Do you know what kind of investment you’ve got to do at the Mile to support an IndyCar Series (race)? I think it’s at least 15 to 20 million (dollars) to get up to standards. I don’t think it’s going to happen there.”

Road America does not announce attendance, and Bruggenthies said he won’t see final numbers for weeks, but he characterized Sunday’s crowd as larger than last year’s and close to that of 2016. IndyCar returned three seasons ago after eight years away. That crowd was estimated at more than 50,000.

“This is much bigger than the '90s,” he said, hinting at inflated estimates of that era.

“We have more access for people to go. We didn’t have all these campsites. We have over 1,600 campsites, and we were full.”

RELATED: Josef Newgarden wins Road America IndyCar race

The race will hold approximately the same date, although it could shift by a week to avoid a conflict with the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Bruggenthies said. No title sponsor is in place yet. The Sheboygan-based Kohler Co. backed the first three races.

Trouble for Rossi: On more than one occasion this year, young Andretti Autosport driver Alexander Rossi has stolen the show without winning the race.

Such may have been the case again Sunday, as he got into it with a pair of contenders. Early in the race, he banged wheels with familiar foe Robert Wickens in Turn 5 while holding the Schmidt Peterson Motorsports driver for a spot in the top five.

Later on, Rossi caused former Andretti teammate Takuma Sato to wave his fist in anger as Rossi forced him into the grass while making a pass on the inside of Turn 6.

“The thing with Alex is he puts himself in situations where if the other person doesn’t give, they’re going to crash," Wickens said. "He’s just that kind of guy.

“At one point, he should sit down and rethink how he’s approaching the problem.”

Both incidents were reviewed by race stewards, and no action was taken. Sato finished fourth and Wickens fifth.

Repairs on the left front suspension of Rossi's car resulted in a long stop that left him 16th at the finish.

Familiar feel: Newgarden kicked off his assault on the rest of the Verizon IndyCar Series and eventual romp to the championship with a runner-up finish at Road America last year. Are we about to watch the same movie play out again?

After a string of his five worst results, Newgarden turned in a methodical and dominant drive to his series-best third victory of the season. He moved to fourth in the standings, 50 points behind Scott Dixon with Ryan Hunter-Reay and Alexander Rossi tied for second between them.

“I think we just take it one race at a time,” he said. “I don't know that we need necessarily the exact same sort of stretch as last year. But a good, consistent five or six races, that will put us up nicely to challenge in (the season finale in) Sonoma.”

Mixed bag for Penske: While Newgarden was enjoying one of the best races of his life, Team Penske mates Simon Pagenaud and Will Power endured a tougher Sunday.

Power lined up alongside Newgarden on the front row, but his car didn’t come up to speed on the start. The team diagnosed a broken header, and he completed just two laps to finish last in the field of 23. The Indianapolis 500 winner has fallen out of four of the 10 races this season.

Pagenaud was hurt by a qualifying session that put him 14th on the grid but salvaged a finish of seventh.

“We had a blast today,” he said. “Coming from starting 14th to finish seventh on a track like this with no yellows is pretty outstanding. Very proud of my team.

“I would like to have been up front more, but it was pretty good where we finished.”

Not what he wanted: Veteran Tony Kanaan finished his record-extending 293rd consecutive start with a disappointing 14th-place finish. His streak dates to June 2001.

“We missed on the setup,” Kanaan said. “No excuses. We need to get better.”

Pirelli World Challenge: A week after winning his class in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Porsche driver Michael Christensen pulled away for a 2.210-second victory over Alvaro Parente.

“It was great to be back in front again after yesterday was not too great,” said Christensen, who was fifth in the first of two rounds of the weekend. 

“I knew I just had to stick with Alvaro through Turn 1 and I thought that I would have a good shot. I knew our car would be decent. He decided to defend himself into Turn 5, which was good for me because then I could get a run on him out of 5.”

Parente won Saturday.

The GTA class leaders put on the race of the day with 17-year-old Parker Chase edging Saturday winner Martin Fuentes by 0.008 of a second in an Audi R8.

“The (GTSA class) traffic really helped out in my favor, and coming around to (Turn) 14 he was slower than me,” Chase said. “I got a better run off 14 and just went for it. There wasn’t much room but it was what I had to do. … We were side-by-side down the whole front straight, and I didn’t know who won.”

Ian James completed a weekend sweep in GTS, as did Mark Klenin in GTSA.

Indy Lights: An optimistic move on the third lap opened the door for Victor Franzoni, and the 22-year-old Brazilian drove “the best race of my career” for the rest of a caution-free 20 laps for his first victory in the series.

Franzoni, who finished third Saturday, shot into the lead in Turn 5 when Santi Urrutia tried to dive beneath leader Pato O’Ward. As they banged wheels and ran off track, Franzoni got them both.

“They’re fighting for the championship; he had to try something, and he knew it maybe would be the only chance he had,” said Franzoni, the 2017 Pro Mazda champion. “He tried, and I was in the position that, OK, they tried, it didn’t work so it’s mine.”

Colton Herta worked his way to second but was 8.9153 seconds behind at the checkered flag, ending his four-race winning streak. Birchwood native Aaron Telitz got by O’Ward late in the race to take third. Urrutia finished seven laps down in his damaged car, last in the field of seven.

USF2000: Rookie Jason Kirkwood made an outside pass on Lucas Kohl on the final lap in a race plagued by cautions to complete a weekend sweep. Kaylen Frederick finished second.

Jim Ayello of the Indianapolis Star and USA Today Network contributed to this report.