MADISON, Illinois – In the shadow of the Gateway Arch, Josef Newgarden remained steadily consistent Saturday night to win the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway. The Hendersonville, Tennessee native wheeled his No. 2 Sonsio Team Penske Chevrolet across the line by just over half a second ahead of Mexico’s Pato O’Ward and his No. 5 Arrow Electronics Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet.
The victory was Newgarden’s second win of 2021, the 20th of his career and his third victory at the track just east of St. Louis.
“I couldn’t ask for much more,” said Newgarden, who led 138 of 260 laps, the most of any driver. “Everyone did a great job. I’m thrilled.”
Perhaps more importantly, the win puts Newgarden into the thick of the fight for the NTT IndyCar Series championship with three races to go. He moved from fourth to third and is now 22 points out of the lead.
“We’ve got to keep going,” said Newgarden. “We know this is going to be a climb, but this goes a long way tonight.”
It’s certainly a change of fortune for Newgarden, who spent much of the first half of this season enduring a string of bad luck while in position to win multiple races.
“Any win is important for the year,” said Newgarden. “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.”
O’Ward reaped the benefits of his runner-up finish, as he inherited the championship points lead after previous points leader Alex Palou’s night came to an end at Lap 65 in a crash with Rinus VeeKay and Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon in Turn 1.
“It’s a very big points day for us,” said O’Ward, who now leads the championship by ten points over Palou, “but, man, it’s so tight. There’s still three races to go, 150 points on the table. We’re going on the right path.”
O’Ward used the style of smart aggression to his advantage, not going over the edge, but just aggressive enough to stay up front.
“In a perfect world, it’s not ideal that Josef beat us,” O’Ward said, “but the guy had everything to win. He had so much pace and I honestly didn’t have anything to challenge him.”
For Alex Palou, it was the second rough week in a row after the impressive young Spaniard’s engine failed at Indianapolis late in the race while he was running fourth. At the time of the crash with Dixon and VeeKay, Palou had climbed to tenth after starting 21st because of a grid penalty stemming from an engine change.
“I thought I was on the outside, and suddenly I got hit,” said Palou of the accident. “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 (VeeKay) wanted to go.”
Rinus VeeKay was apologetic toward both Dixon and Palou post-accident.
“I get into Turn 1, and I was really focusing on Scott, just to stay behind him,” said VeeKay, “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.”
Will Power, the previous week’s winner and pole-sitter for Saturday’s race, completed the podium, followed by teammate Scott McLaughlin, the race’s top rookie.
Sebastien Bourdais used an alternate strategy from the leaders to his advantage, tying his season-best finish of 5th.
Meanwhile, Romain Grosjean, a ten-year Formula 1 veteran, finished 14th in his oval track debut, one lap down, after running as high as eighth midway through the race.
Two Andretti Autosport drivers faced misfortune of their own. Colton Herta, who was Newgarden’s best challenger for the win, broke a driveshaft during a pit stop that put him out of the race, while Alexander Rossi crashed in Turn 2 after running in the top 5 for most of the night.
The NTT IndyCar Series now takes two weeks off before finishing off the 2021 campaign on a 3-week West Coast stretch, beginning Sept. 12th at Portland International Raceway.