Josef Newgarden completes the spin and win, takes fifth Gateway victory

Despite the controversial late-race restart, Josef Newgarden held on to pick up another oval win. (Photo: Joe Skibinski | Penske Entertainment)

MADISON, Ill. — In the style of 1985 Indianapolis 500 champion Danny Sullivan, Josef Newgarden recovered from a mid-race spin to win the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway.

The two-time Indy 500 champion from Team Penske stormed back, utilizing the chaotic closing stages of the race combined with a controversial late-race restart to claim his first win since his thrilling victory in the month of May at the historic 2.5-mile Indiana track.

If there were any race the hangover would end for Newgarden, it was bound to be at Gateway. Coming into this weekend, Newgarden had gone to Victory Lane four times in the St. Louis area.

The driver of the No. 2 PPG Chevrolet got his first Gateway win in 2017 when the NTT IndyCar Series returned to the 1.25-mile short oval, then went on a three-year run from 2020 to 2022. 

“The team needed this”, Newgarden said. “They’ve done a great job on the No. 2 PPG Chevy specifically, they’ve done a really good job. They’ve given me race-winning cars throughout the year, even past Indy, but they haven’t materialized. 

“It’s nice to get another one on the board. But this team did an amazing job.  We’ve had fast cars right from the start. I’m just proud to have the PPG car back in Victory Lane with Team Chevy.”

His fifth win came with more Hollywood magic than any before. Starting third, Newgarden remained in line with his Penske teammates throughout the opening half of the competition. 

His day almost ended on Lap 196 when losing control while battling Andretti Global’s Colton Herta and teammate Scott McLaughlin on the exit of Turn 2. In a lazy slide, quick hands and light feet on the throttle kept him out of the wall, and amazingly, still in the fight.

Will Power was not pleased with teammate Josef Newgarden’s antics on a late-race restart. (Photo: Paul Hurley | Penske Entertainment)

More drama occurred with 10 laps to go when Arrow McLaren’s Alexander Rossi got into the back of Will Power to cause a multi-car crash as Newgarden led the field back to green. Both Power and Rossi were quick to place the blame on Newgarden, believing he was intentionally slowing the field to gain an advantage on the restart. 

“I think the leader (Newgarden) went real late and then checked up, and then someone checked up in front of me and I just got pounded,” Power said. “Man, a tough points night for us. He’s supposed to go in between (turns) three and four, but he just waited, then he stopped. 

“Then he waited and then he stopped. I knew that was going to happen. I knew when he checked up again and I checked up, I was going to get pounded and that is exactly what happened.”

However, Newgarden has a different view of the incident compared to his teammate.

“It was definitely late,” Newgarden said. “I was trying to go as late as I could. It’s not that different of a restart I’ve done before. I’ve done a lot of restarts from the front. It’s not that different from other restarts that have gone late.”

Race control decided not to penalize Newgarden for the incident. Newgarden had a strong restart after the red flag and cruised off into the St. Louis sunset for his 31st career IndyCar win.

On The Podium

Although he did not win the race, Scott McLaughlin had another strong performance on an oval. (Photo: Joe Skibinski | Penske Entertainment)

Scott McLaughlin was glued to teammate Josef Newgarden the entire race. Coming off his maiden oval win in the first race of the doubleheader weekend at Iowa, the Kiwi carried his strong pace from the Hawkeye State to Gateway.

Rolling off from his season-leading fourth pole position, with 67 laps lead on the night, McLaughlin traded the lead with the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet of Will Power.

Later on, McLaughlin was glued to the gearbox of Newgarden. Unable to get by the No. 2 PPG Chevrolet on the final restart, McLaughlin finished 1.72 seconds behind Newgarden for his sixth podium of the year.

“I don’t think I was the best car by any means,” McLaughlin said. “Once the race started coming to us, I felt we had a really good chance there. The last yellow was good for us, then all the kerfuffle at the end. Ultimately it was just nice to bring home excellent points.”

Those points keep McLaughlin in the fight for the Astor Cup, who leaves Gateway fifth in the championship, 73 points back. He also remains on the GRID Ranking leaderboard in 17th place, with a score of 11.76.

Not far behind him was a hard-charging Linus Lundqvist. Having a quiet Saturday night, the Chip Ganassi Racing rookie slowly pushed his way forward after starting in 18th. 

Some strong pace in the closing laps saw Lundqvist going head-to-head with Colton Herta, besting him for the second podium of his young IndyCar career. 

“We knew we had good pace in the car,” Lundqvist said. “The American Legion Honda was fast, especially when we got some clean air…Towards the end, we had five or six laps to kind of let it go. I knew that a podium was on the cards and we got it done.”

Well outside of the championship battle, Lundqvist remains a near lock for the Rookie of the Year Award, who holds a 71-point lead over fellow rookie and teammate Kyffin Simpson.

Outside The Steps

Once again, David Malukas showed potential to win at Gateway, but a late-race crash dashed his hopes this time around. (Photo: Joe Skibinski | Penske Entertainment)

Meyer Shank Racing’s David Malukas has gathered an impressive list of results in his few trips to World Wide Technology Raceway. The Chicago kid had not finished outside of the podium at Gateway entering the weekend. 

Saturday night seemed like it could have been the night he would be on the top step, after starting on the front row and bringing the fight to Team Penske. But heartbreak occurred with 20 laps remaining. 

While trying to pass on the inside of Will Power, the two banged side-pods, sending Malukas tail first into the outside wall of Turn 2. 

This caution helped put Colton Herta into contention. One of the biggest movers of the day, Herta rocketed his No. 26 Gainbridge Honda from 25th to third. However, the final spot on the podium was snatched by Linus Lundqvist. 

The No. 8 team’s strategy allowed the driver of the American Legion Honda driver to pounce on Herta, who was still saving fuel. However, that did not mean he would make it an easy fight for Lundqvist, after forcing the rookie down the track on the backstretch with five laps remaining.

Race control deemed Herta’s move as blocking, and penalized him which resulted in a fifth-place finish.

Herta’s penalty meant fourth place went to championship points leader Alex Palou. Another quiet night inside the top 10 is exactly what the doctor ordered for the Chip Ganassi Racing driver as the Spaniard stayed out of the chaos and picked up an important top five.

Palou leads Herta by 59 points entering Portland. 

GRID Ranking

The 2024 GRID Ranking is the eighth year of the world’s premier motorsport ranking and was initially released on Sunday, April 7.

Next, the NTT IndyCar Series heads to the Pacific Northwest for the final road-course race of the 2024 season. The BitNile.com Grand Prix of Portland will get underway Sunday, Aug. 25 at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network.

Results: 2024 Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway