Yahoo Autos Josef Newgarden's NTT IndyCar Win at WWTR Turns Championship into Four-Car Shootout
Two-time IndyCar champion Josef Newgarden earned a career-high fifth win of the season.
Newgarden’s triumph came at the price of teammate Scott McLaughlin who, had the rain not eventually stopped, would have taken the win instead as he was leading when the race was red-flagged.
Will Power leads Newgarden by just three points in the championship, while Scott Dixon is 14 points back and Marcus Ericsson is 17 points back.
Josef Newgarden endured early adversity, a two-plus hour rain delay and a final 35-lap shootout once racing resumed to win Saturday’s long day’s journey into night, a.k.a the Bommarito Auto Group 500, at WorldWide Technology Raceway in suburban St. Louis.
The two-time IndyCar champion earned a career-high fifth win of the season as he closes in on what he hopes will be a third championship.
“I think this 2 car crew has been very patient with me,” Newgarden said. “I’ve lost my cool probably a couple times in closed doors out of frustration for us.
“I feel like we’ve had small miscues timing-wise. That’s not really anybody’s fault, it’s just sometimes you’re wrong time, wrong place. I feel like it’s happened a lot this year. It kind of happened again tonight. I felt like we put ourselves in position, it’s time to close and again a barrier that got in front of us again.”
But Newgarden’s triumph came at the price of teammate Scott McLaughlin who, had the rain not eventually stopped, would have taken the win instead as he was leading when the race was red-flagged.
“Scott McLaughlin wanted to win, too,” Newgarden said. “He drove me super fair at the end there. It’s a big night for Team Penske. We just had to have a good start. I knew Scott was going to be good at the end there and had a great restart and I just tried to work the high lane.
“It worked earlier for me and I tried to do it at the finish there and we had enough to get by him. Scott was no slouch this weekend. He easily could have won this race, so you have to give him credit, but I’m glad we were able to come back out on top.”
As it turned out, Newgarden took the lead early in the race’s restart and held on, just barely holding off a great late-race surge by 20-year-old rookie David Malukas of Dale Coyne Racing, who finished a career-best second.
“We ended up getting around (Pato) O’Ward and a lapped car and then I said, ‘Oh my God, they’re Penskes,’” Malukas said of the two cars that remained ahead of him in the closing laps. “Two laps to go, I went to the outside lap, it worked so well (to get him around McLaughlin). If I would have done it sooner, I may have had something for Newgarden.
“Overall, that is a win for me, a win for the team, they all deserved this oh, so much. It means so much. We started off this season a bit rough but ever since the month of May, we’ve just been getting better and better. We knew a podium was in sight. It feels so good to finally get it and there’s still two more races to go. It’s only up from here.”
McLaughlin settled for third, followed by Pato O’Ward and Malukas’ teammate, Takuma Sato in what was the fifth and final oval race of the season.
“That’s racing, it’s oval racing, we love it and want more of it,” McLaughlin said. “(Malukas’) move on the last lap is a credit to him. He’s a phenomenal kid and I hope he goes far.
“I’m feeling good. I’m loving IndyCar and I’m proud of everything. … I’m really proud to do it for the team, working with some real good people and have some real good teammates. I’m excited for what the future holds.”
Sixth through 10th were NTT IndyCar Series points leader Will Power, Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson, Scott Dixon, defending series champ Alex Palou and Graham Rahal.
You can’t help but feel for McLaughlin. Had he won, he would have been only 23 points behind Power with two races remaining, Sept. 4 at Portland and the season and championship finale Sept. 11 at Laguna Seca.
IndyCar Top Contenders
Two Races Remaining
Will Power 482
Josef Newgarden 479
Scott Dixon 468
Marcus Ericsson 465
Alex Palou 439
Instead, Power leads Newgarden by just three points, Dixon is 14 points back and Ericsson is 17 points back. Still in it mathematically, but they’ll have to hope for a miracle in the last two races are Palou (-43), McLaughlin (-54) and O’Ward (-58).
This is the tightest championship battle in the last 20 IndyCar seasons.
Also of note, this was the 14th IndyCar race held at WWTR and Team Penske drivers have now won seven of them.
Does WWTR Have IndyCar Future?
Will WWTR be back on the IndyCar schedule next year? One has to question that after what has been one of the most popular races on the schedule had a dismal fan turnout, which is particularly disappointing considering it was a late Saturday afternoon race.
The Bommarito Auto Group has been a great and loyal supporter of the track, being the entitlement sponsor since IndyCar returned to WWTR in 2017. But one has to question the return on investment the automotive dealership group is getting in light of all the empty seats that were visible.
In fact, the 1.25-mile oval track holds an estimated 75,000 seats, of which maybe half were filled Saturday, if that. The number of empty seats were stark, particularly on USA’s TV telecast.
This is the second straight race and track that had a dismal turnout. Two weeks ago on the temporary street course in downtown Nashville, in the second IndyCar race to be held there, fan attendance was also far from last year’s debut race sellout. TV viewership also waned.
Harvey's Forgettable Season
Jack Harvey was so excited and optimistic when he left Meyer Shank Racing after last season and moved to Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.
Unfortunately, Harvey’s season of expectation in 2022 has turned into a season of discontent.
The 29-year-old Brit wrecked on Lap 144 of Sunday’s race, essentially ending his day. He returned after repairs, but finished 24th, third from last in the 26-car field, 21 laps down.
Thus far in the first 15 races this season, Harvey’s best finish has been 10th at Nashville, his only top-10 finish.
Harvey came into the race 21st in the IndyCar driver standings; he finished last season with Meyer Shank 12th in the standings. In fact, Harvey likely will end up 2022 with his worst full-time season finish in IndyCar.
Time to start thinking—and hoping—about 2023, Jack. It’s lucky you signed a multi-year deal with RLL after last season.
But Wait, There's More
Poor pit strategy cost Alexander Rossi a decent day. Rossi was told to stretch his fuel mileage as much as possible, which he obediently did, while knocking on the top 10. Unfortunately, he ran out of fuel coming onto pit road on Lap 126 and coasted without power into his pit spot. His team could not immediately re-fire his Honda and after extensive work, what could have been a promising day ended in a disappointing 25th-place finish, 34 laps down.
This was team owner/driver Ed Carpenter’s final race of the season. The 41-year-old Carpenter, who finished 22nd, only competes in oval races. In his four other oval starts this season, Carpenter finished 13th (Texas), 19th (Indy 500), and 25th and 17th at both races at Iowa. Saturday was his 196th career start in the IndyCar Series, with three wins, nine podiums and four poles. There have been rumors that Carpenter may hang up his steering wheel after this season, or at the very least compete just in the Indianapolis 500—ala guys this season like Tony Kanaan, Marco Andretti, J.R. Hildebrand and Sage Karam—but there’s been no official word of that from the Carpenter camp. Time will tell.
The Numbers
Results Saturday of the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline NTT IndyCar Series event on the 1.25-mile World Wide Technology Raceway, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):
1. (3) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 260, Running
2. (12) David Malukas, Honda, 260, Running
3. (4) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 260, Running
4. (7) Pato O'Ward, Chevrolet, 260, Running
5. (8) Takuma Sato, Honda, 260, Running
6. (1) Will Power, Chevrolet, 260, Running
7. (2) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 260, Running
8. (6) Scott Dixon, Honda, 260, Running
9. (5) Alex Palou, Honda, 260, Running
10. (16) Graham Rahal, Honda, 260, Running
11. (11) Colton Herta, Honda, 259, Running
12. (9) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 259, Running
13. (18) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 259, Running
14. (21) Jimmie Johnson, Honda, 259, Running
15. (17) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 259, Running
16. (26) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 259, Running
17. (20) Kyle Kirkwood, Chevrolet, 258, Running
18. (24) Dalton Kellett, Chevrolet, 258, Running
19. (19) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 258, Running
20. (13) Simon Pagenaud, Honda, 257, Running
21. (22) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 257, Running
22. (25) Ed Carpenter, Chevrolet, 256, Running
23. (15) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 244, Running
24. (14) Jack Harvey, Honda, 239, Running
25. (10) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 226, Running
26. (23) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 53, Mechanical
Race Statistics
Winner's average speed: 149.231 mph
Time of Race: 02:10:40.1827
Margin of victory: 0.4708 of a second
Cautions: 2 for 22 laps
Lead changes: 13 among 10 drivers
Lap Leaders:
Power 1 - 58
Ericsson 59
Rosenqvist 60
Grosjean 61 - 62
Power 63 - 123
O'Ward 124 - 126
Sato 127 - 148
Power 149 - 157
O'Ward 158 - 164
Newgarden 165 - 206
Malukas 207 - 210
Rahal 211 - 212
McLaughlin 213 - 224
Newgarden 225 - 260
Updated Point Standings: Power 482, Newgarden 479, Dixon 468, Ericsson 465, Palou 439, McLaughlin 428, O'Ward 424, Rosenqvist 340, Rossi 335, Herta 334, VeeKay 305, Rahal 302, Pagenaud 294, Grosjean 291, Lundgaard 283, Malukas 272, Daly 256, Castroneves 239, Sato 239, Johnson 194, Ilott 190, Harvey 184, DeFrancesco 177, Kirkwood 157, Kellett 120, Tony Kanaan 78, Carpenter 75, Santino Ferrucci 71, Tatiana Calderon 58, JR Hildebrand 53, Juan Pablo Montoya 44, Simona De Silvestro 26, Marco Andretti 17, Sage Karam 14, Stefan Wilson 10
