It took a spin, a phenomenal pitstop and the possibility of some heated conversations in the team truck later in the evening, but Josef Newgarden led Scott McLaughlin home for a Team Penske 1-2 in Saturday night’s NTT IndyCar Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway.
Newgarden capitalized on a perfect late restart coupled with a minor glitch for McLaughlin, whose hybrid refused to deploy, to seal his second victory of the season.
“The team has done a great job,” Newgarden said. “Nice to get another win on the board.”
McLaughlin led the bulk of the race, but the key moment came on the second-to-last restart when the pair – running a slightly different strategy to the cars behind – swooped in for a splash of fuel and, crucially, a new set of tires. That gave them an immediate advantage over their rivals, and a phenomenal 5.1s stop from the No. 2 crew allowed Newgarden to move into a lead that he’d hold for the remainder of the race.
Linus Lundqvist finished third in the No. 8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda thanks to a late pass on Colton Herta, although the latter will be more than pleased with fourth after a qualifying crash condemned the No. 26 Andretti Global Honda to starting from the second-last row.
So, why was it a Newgarden vs McLaughlin showdown at the end? The answer lies in the last couple of stoppages. On lap 241, David Malukas was battling Will Power for fifth on the road but potentially the race lead once the various strategies were factored in. Malukas dived to Power’s inside and was squeezed onto the inside curb, sending the No. 66 Meyer Shank Honda spinning across the track and into the wall.
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“I had a run, I set it up, I went down the inside… I braked, I slowed down, I gave him as much room as I could and he gave me a tap,” an emotional Malukas told NBC Sports.
“He came by and screamed at me… Man, you had a whole second lane you could have gone up there. I thought it was a good move. If he’d just stayed in the second lane we would have been fine.
“It was just such a good weekend for us. I really wanted that result.”
Once that was cleaned up, the field was lining up for the restart with 10 laps to go when what looked like a slow launch from Newgarden up front caused a chain reaction that resulted in Alexander Rossi launching his No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet off the back of Power’s car. Romain Grosjean got caught in the aftermath, while further back, Jack Harvey was also knocked into a spin. Red flag.
How the chaos unfolded with 8 laps remaining.
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One didn’t need to be particularly gifted in interpreting body language to register Power’s displeasure as he clambered from the car and returned to pitlane.
“The leader,” said Power diplomatically when asked who was responsible for the incident. “Whoever is leading, where you’re supposed to go between [Turns 3 and 4], he went, he stopped, he went, he stopped… I knew that was going to happen as soon as I checked up, because he checked up again. I knew I was going to get pounded.
“Man, disappointing. We had such a good car. We get to the last two laps of the last two races and have bad luck. I do not know why they would just keep backing up. I do not understand it.”
Herta’s radio transmission suggested he agreed: “That’s dirty from Newgarden; he stopped and started and stopped and started — that should be a penalty.”
Newgarden saw it differently.
“The worst part about that is the No. 12 [Power] not making it home,” he said. “I watched it on the TV and it kind of looked like the green momentarily went out before I went, and it caused a big accordion. I hate that that happened. The last thing you want with 10 to go is to cause a mess.
“I was trying to go as late as I could, at the end of the zone. I wouldn’t have done anything different.”
The first of the less consequential cautions came early when Ed Carpenter (No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet) and Katherine Legge (No. 51 Dale Coyne Racing Honda) found themselves on the same piece of track on lap nine. That rarely works out well, and in this case it ended Legge’s day on the spot.
Shortly after the restart, Carpenter’s teammate Rinus VeeKay got crossed up on lap 17, catching out Conor Daly, who tagged VeeKay’s rear and was pitched into a 360 spin. The pursuing Kyle Kirkwood (No. 27 Andretti Global Honda) had nowhere to go but into the back of Daly’s No. 78 Juncos Hollinger Chevy, and he in turn was rear-ended by Daly’s JHR teammate Romain Grosjean. Kirkwood took the brunt of the damage on that occasion.
A spell of green flag running was interrupted again on lap 86 when Kyffin Simpson lost the rear of the No. 4 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda through the Turn 3/4 section and backed it into the wall.
Mechanical gremlins also had their say in the evening, most notably when what appeared to be hybrid issue ended what looked like a promising day for Marcus Ericsson and the No. 28 Andretti Global Honda. A suspected engine problem eliminated Pato O’Ward earlier on, while an unspecified issue brought an early close to Graham Rahal’s race.