Josef Newgarden celebrates after winning Saturday night’s NTT IndyCar Series race at Gateway Motorsports Park. Photo: Joe Skibinski
Josef Newgarden earned his second victory of the season by winning the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 on Saturday night at World Wide Technology Raceway in a race that shuffled the NTT IndyCar Series championship deck.
Newgarden drove his No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet to victory by 0.5397 of a second over Pato O’Ward’s No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP. O’Ward didn’t enter Victory Lane, but he also was a big winner of the night by taking the championship lead by 10 points over Alex Palou, who placed 20th after being eliminated in a three-car accident early in the race.
Newgarden leaped from fourth to third – 22 points behind O’Ward – with his third career victory on this 1.25-mile oval and his 20th overall career win. He averaged 135.245 mph, leading 138 of 260 laps in the final oval race of the season.
“I couldn’t ask for much more,” Newgarden said. “Everyone did a great job. I’m thrilled. We’ve got to keep going. We know this is going to be a climb, but this goes a long way tonight.
“Any win is important for the year. Wish we had a couple more to this point and were in a different position, but we’ve always got to fight with where we’re at and what we’ve got in our hands.”
There are three races remaining in the season, all on road and street courses on consecutive weekends in September on the West Coast. The next event is the Grand Prix of Portland on Sunday, September 12 at Oregon’s Portland International Raceway.
O’Ward used smart aggression all night to avoid incidents that triggered six caution periods, including five in the first 65 laps. He scored his eighth top-five finish in 13 races this year.
“It was a very solid points day for us,” O’Ward said. “I think we maximized what we could have gotten out of our car and our race.”
NTT P1 Award winner Will Power finished third, and Scott McLaughlin gave Team Penske three of the top four finishing positions by placing fourth.
Sebastien Bourdais finished fifth, tying a season best, in the No. 14 A.J. Foyt Racing Chevrolet. Formula One veteran Romain Grosjean finished 14th in his oval racing debut, completing 259 of 260 laps.
Newgarden took the lead for good under caution on lap 203 when Bourdais, on a different fuel strategy from other lead cars, entered the pits for his final stop. Newgarden maintained a gap anywhere from seven-tenths to one second over O’Ward after the restart on lap 210.
O’Ward closed to within a half-second in the closing five laps but ran out of time to challenge Newgarden for victory.
The complexion of the championship race changed dramatically on lap 65 during a restart, when six-time and reigning series champion Dixon, Palou and Rinus VeeKay were involved in a crash in turn 1.
VeeKay’s Chevrolet hit the rear of Dixon’s Honda at the apex of turn 1 in a thicket of traffic during the restart, sending both cars into a spin into the SAFER Barrier. VeeKay’s car collected Palou’s Honda en route to the wall, eliminating Palou in 20th and VeeKay in 21st.
Palou had climbed into 10th place after starting 21st due to a nine-spot grid position penalty because of an unapproved engine change after last Saturday’s race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
“I thought I was on the outside, and suddenly I got hit,” Palou said. “I had plenty of room with Scott, and Scott had plenty of room with the guy in front, and we just got hit. There was no space there. I don’t know where he (VeeKay) wanted to go.
“It was hard to get up to the top 10. We just wanted to have a clean race, we just wanted to get some points, and I thought we had a good race car. Nothing we could do today. It’s just a shame it played out like that.”
“I’m very sorry for Alex and Scott,” said VeeKay. “I had a really good restart on the inside of Alex and behind Scott. I get into turn 1, and I was really focusing on Scott, just to stay behind him, and it just kind of stacked up. I tried to slow down, but we’re in oval spec, and I think just before I hit Scott, I’m even locking up the fronts. Unfortunately, everybody knows how it happened. All night, people have been checking up, which for everyone is pretty annoying.”
Dixon’s Chip Ganassi Racing crew repaired his car, and he returned to the race to try to gain points. Dixon dropped out late in the race in 19th place, 160 laps down. He dropped to fourth in the standings, 43 points behind O’Ward.
It was the first time Dixon failed to finish a race since this event in August 2019, ending a streak of 28 consecutive races running at the finish.
Marcus Ericsson finished ninth to stay fifth in the standings and keep his championship hopes flickering, 60 points behind leader O’Ward.
Andretti Autosport’s tough season continued with more heartbreaking misfortune. Colton Herta entered the pits in the lead on lap 186, but the driveshaft broke in his No. 26 Honda as he exited the pits, ending his night. He was credited with 18th place after leading 101 laps, second only to Newgarden.
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Alexander Rossi was running in the top five for part of the race and appeared to be a threat to Newgarden when he hit the SAFER Barrier in turn 2 on his out lap after his final pit stop on lap 201. Rossi placed 17th.
NTT IndyCar Series
World Wide Technology Raceway – Madison, IL
Bommarito Automotive Group 500 – August 21, 2021
1. (3) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 260, Running
2. (5) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 260, Running
3. (1) Will Power, Chevrolet, 260, Running
4. (11) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 260, Running
5. (18) Sebastien Bourdais, Chevrolet, 260, Running
6. (16) Takuma Sato, Honda, 260, Running
7. (13) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Honda, 260, Running
8. (4) Simon Pagenaud, Chevrolet, 260, Running
9. (6) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 260, Running
10. (15) Jack Harvey, Honda, 260, Running
11. (20) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 260, Running
12. (24) Dalton Kellett, Chevrolet, 260, Running
13. (17) Tony Kanaan, Honda, 260, Running
14. (14) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 259, Running
15. (19) James Hinchcliffe, Honda, 243, Running
16. (10) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 211, Mechanical
17. (7) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 200, Contact
18. (2) Colton Herta, Honda, 185, Mechanical
19. (8) Scott Dixon, Honda, 100, Contact
20. (21) Alex Palou, Honda, 64, Contact
21. (23) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 64, Contact
22. (22) Ed Carpenter, Chevrolet, 54, Contact
23. (9) Graham Rahal, Honda, 4, Contact
24. (12) Ed Jones, Honda, 2, Contact
Winner’s average speed: 135.245 mph
Time of Race: 2:24:10.9404 Margin of victory: 0.5397 of a second
Cautions: 6 for 49
Lead changes: 11 among 6 drivers
Lap Leaders: Power, Will 1; Herta, Colton 2-57; Bourdais, Sebastien 58-67; Newgarden, Josef 68-132; Pagenaud, Simon 133; Bourdais, Sebastien 134-137; Newgarden, Josef 138; Herta, Colton 139-183; Newgarden, Josef 184-197; O’Ward, Pato 198; Bourdais, Sebastien 199 – 202; Newgarden, Josef 203-260
Point Standings: O’Ward 435, Palou 425, Newgarden 413, Dixon 392, Ericsson 375, Herta 324, Pagenaud 320, Rahal 319, Power 315, Sato 279.
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