Newgarden holds off Ericsson for a declarative victory at WWTR

It took more than three hours to complete, but after two red flags for rain, a costly roll of the dice by polesitter Alex Palou, and a ton of laps led by Marcus Ericsson, Josef Newgarden made another statement as the IndyCar Series’ best oval racer rocked World Wide Technology Raceway with a declarative victory in the No. 2 Team Penske Chevy.

It was the two-time champion’s sixth win at WWTR, and while the trip to victory lane didn’t come easily, it was a classic Newgarden performance as he passed Ericsson in the No. 28 Andretti Global Honda. Ericsson led 114 of the 260 laps but had no answer to reel Newgarden in and reclaim the lead as he crossed the finish line 0.6s behind the Penske driver.

“This team right here, Team Chevy, we had everything we needed tonight with Team Penske,” Newgarden said. “Great job to the group. It was a methodical night. We had a good car at the start. It wasn’t perfect and it came to us just as we needed, as we tweaked on it. It was a track position race. You have to give a lot of credit to Marcus [Ericsson]. He was incredibly strong. I don’t think there was much between us. It was a matter of who was going to get positioning on each other, and that’s what is going to seal the deal. He drove a great race and certainly could have won this as well. This team did the job tonight, and that’s why we are here.”

It was Ericsson’s best result of the season, which moved him from 12th to ninth in the championship.

“I'm very proud of my performance, of our performance; that was great out there all night, but at the same time, it's tough to be that close and lead that many laps,” Ericsson said. “I thought we had it at some points, but you know, Josef is the best in the business on these short ovals, and I'm proud of the fight we put up. I thought I had something for him in the end, but he was a bit too strong. Still a great result for us. Yeah, I wanted that win.”

Christian Rasmussen got his season back on track after improving 16 spots to take third in the No. 21 ECR Chevy and also spent some time in the lead before trailing Newgarden home by 1.8s.

“I was ripping the top the whole race, you know?” Rasmussen said “My car didn't work super well at the bottom, so I was like, well, gotta rip the top then. So that's what we did. I think we didn't really have, like, the ultimate pace as those other guys did, which we clearly saw there at the end.”

Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Rinus VeeKay also starred as he made daring passes around the outside all night to take fourth ahead of Penske’s Scott McLaughlin in fifth and Andretti’s Kyle Kirkwood in sixth.

Palou led with ease at the start and appeared to be in command until Ericsson chased him down while lapping cars and took the lead just before lap 50. A strange collision between Palou and Nolan Siegel sent Siegel hard into the wall, and while Race Control took no action on the Chip Ganassi Racing driver’s maneuver, his No. 10 Honda didn’t seem to have the same front-running pace after the clash on lap 55.

It was all Ericsson afterwards as Newgarden shot his way to second, and just past the halfway point, the first of two red flags for rain stopped the event. The long delay was lifted and the fight between Ericsson and Newgarden resumed, but the timing of cautions and the red played into the hands of a group led by Ganassi’s Scott Dixon on a different pit strategy. He was in the lead with Palou in second as the two looked to make their final stop — while Ericsson, Newgarden and the others likely needed one more — when light rain resulted in another caution and then went red just as they were due to stop for fuel.

Once the red was lifted, Dixon pulled away and immediately returned for a splash of fuel while the pits were closed, causing him to be ordered to the rear of the field at the restart. Palou, who inherited the lead, tried to circulate under caution to stop for fuel and tires when the pits opened but ran out of fuel just after crossing into pit lane. After coasting the entire length of the lane, he eventually reached his pit box, but the fuel-starved Honda motor would not fire. He lost two laps before it lit and resumed in 19th.

Despite the penalty for pitting for emergency service, Dixon was able to recover to 12th; in hindsight, following Dixon in would have been the more beneficial play, as Palou finished two laps down in 17th.

Elsewhere, Marcus Armstrong led Meyer Shank Racing home in ninth after recovering from being a lap down; teammate Felix Rosenvqist was 14th. Christian Lundgaard led Arrow McLaren on the way with a run to 10th as teammate Pato O’Ward, usually a force on ovals, wasn’t a factor in 11th.

AJ Foyt Racing’s Caio Collet put on a show until his No. 4 AJ Foyt Racing Chevy suffered an engine failure while the rookie was running comfortably in the top five; the Brazilian was in tears after the late-race eruption robbed what could have been his best finish to date.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing rookie Mick Schumacher was its top driver at WWTR after taking 16th. Teammate Graham Rahal crashed on his own, and RLL’s Louis Foster held on throughout the night while losing 10 laps on the way to crossing under the checkered flag in 20th.

It was a classic Newgarden drive where he refused to be denied and forced his way to the front with inch-perfect driving and the kind of resolve that few can match on IndyCar’s ovals. He rose from eighth to sixth in the championship and trails Palou by a manageable 104 points with nine races left — and three of those are on ovals.

Teams get a brief moment to breathe — although some are testing — and then the fight resumes the weekend after next at Road America.

The Bommarito Automotive Group opens with the top three qualifiers of Alex Palou, David Malukas, and Kyle Kirkwood holding station but Dennis Hauger is out before the green flag with a fluid leak.

Lap 10 and it’s Palou, Malukas, and Kirkwood holding station.

Lap 28 and a charging Josef Newgarden takes P3 from Kirkwood. Action is finally starting to happen.

Lap 29 and Marcus Ericsson takes P4 from Kirkwood.

Lap 31 and Palou laps Louis Foster in P23.

Lap 33 and Rinus VeeKay takes P12 from Christian Lundgaard around the outside; Christian Rasmussen does the same move to take P13.

Lap 35 and Palou leads Malukas by 2.0s and Newgarden by 3.0s.

Lap 44 and Newgarden is up to P2, with Ericsson in P3 ahead of Malukas and Kirkwood.

Lap 45 and Palou’s lead is down to 0.5s as the leaders are in traffic.

Lap 46 and Ericsson and Malukas move ahead of Newgarden.

Lap 47 and Ericsson takes P1 from Palou who was unable to lap Sting Ray Robb.

Lap 50 and Scott McLaughlin and Felix Rosenqvist pit.

Lap 51 and Malukas and Newgarden pit and leave side by side with Newgarden exiting first.

Lap 52 and Palou and Kirkwood pit. Slow stop for Palou.

Lap 53 and Ericsson pits.

Lap 54 and Ericsson gets out ahead of Newgarden, Palou, and Malukas.

Lap 55 CAUTION. Palou attempts to pass Nolan Siegel into Turn 1 and hits Siegel’s left-front wheel, which breaks Siegel’s steering arm and sends Siegel hard into the wall. Palou’s car appears to be ok to continue. Will he receive a penalty for avoidable contact?

Lap 62 and the order under caution is Ericsson, Newgarden, Palou, and Scott Dixon, who was leading at the caution and got in to pit and returned in P4. Malukas is P5 ahead of Kirkwood.

Lap 63 and Power pits; no action taken against Palou.

Lap 64 restart and Newgarden challenges Ericsson for the lead.

Lap 69 and Ericsson leads Newgarden by 0.9s and Palou by 1.7s.

Lap 75 and Ericsson leads Newgarden by 0.7s and Palou by 2.3s. Caio Collet is up to P7.

Lap 81 and Collet is up to P6 and VeeKay to P7 as Dixon falls to P8.

Lap 85 and Ericsson leads Newgarden by 0.8s and Palou by 2.9s. Malukas is 5.2s back and Kirkwood is 6.5s down.

Lap 95 and Ericsson leads Newgarden by 0.8s and Palou is dropping fast at 5.2s behind. Malukas is only 6.0s. back, 0.8s shy of Palou.

Lap 100 and Ericsson leads Newgarden by 1.0s and Palou by 6.1s. Malukas is 6.8s down.

Lap 107 and Newgarden pits. Stop takes forever with a front tire change.

Lap 108 and Malukas pits along with VeeKay who beats him out. VeeKay had gotten up to P5 before pitting.

Lap 109 and Ericsson pits.

Lap 110 and Palou pits from the lead. Another slow stop. Slow to insert the air jack.

Lap 114 CAUTION. Graham Rahal crashes in Turn 4. Leaders are Dixon, Power, Ericsson, Newgarden, Collet, Rasmussen, Palou, Kirkwood, VeeKay, and Malukas completes the top 10.

Lap 120 and Dixon pits from the lead. IndyCar Officiating moves Collet to P4. Power leads.

Lap 121 and Power pits from the lead and Newgarden pits as well.

Lap 126 and Kyffin Simpson is stalled on track, out of fuel.

Lap 136 and its still under caution with rain starting to fall.

Lap 137 RED FLAG for rain. The race became official on lap 130 — the halfway point — so if it can’t be restarted, the finishing order would be Ericsson, Collet, Dixon, Newgarden, Power, Rasmussen, Palou, Kirkwood, VeeKay, and Malukas as the top 10. Ericsson’s led 74 laps so far after starting P12.

Lap 138 rolling after a long break under yellow.

Lap 141 and Dixon, Palou, Malukas, McLaughlin, and others pit.

Lap 144 GREEN.

Lap 150 and it’s Ericsson, Newgarden, Collet, Power, Kirkwood, Rasmussen, VeeKay, Dixon, Palou, and Lundgaard.

Lap 155 and Rasmussen takes P5 from Kirkwood.

Lap 160 and Rasmussen takes P4 from Power.

Lap 165 and Ericsson leads Newgarden by 1.8s, Collet by 6.0s, Rasmussen by 6.8s.

Lap 167 and VeeKay takes P6 from Kirkwood.

Lap 169 and VeeKay takes P5 from Power.

Lap 172 and Kirkwood stops.

Lap 174 and VeeKay stops.

Lap 175 and Rasmussen stops.

Lap 176 and Ericsson leads Newgarden by 0.4s as he comes up to lap Robb.

Lap 177 and Ericsson pits as Newgarden takes to lead.

Lap 178 and Newgarden stops.

Lap 181 and Collet pits.

Lap 185 and Dixon leads Palou, McLaughlin, Malukas, Ferrucci, Rosenqvist, Newgarden, Ericsson, Rasmussen, and VeeKay.

Lap 193 and Malukas pits.

Lap 197 CAUTION for rain.

Lap 200 RED FLAG. The running order is Dixon and Palou up front and in dire need of fuel, then it’s Newgarden, Ericsson, Rasmussen, VeeKay, Collet, Kirkwood, Rosenqvist, and Power as the top 10.

Lap 201 and the field is rolling.

Lap 202 and Dixon takes emergency service with a splash of fuel. Palou stays out.

Lap 203 and Palou, Newgarden, and the other leaders pit. Palou runs out of fuel on pit lane and falls to the end of the stoppers.

Lap 207 and Palou loses two laps and falls to P19.

Lap 211 and the order is Newgarden, Rasmussen, Ericsson, VeeKay, Collet, Kirkwood, Power, Malukas, McLaughlin, and Lundgaard.

Lap 212 GREEN.

Lap 216 and Rasmussen takes P1 from Newgarden. Ericsson is P3.

Lap 221 and Newgarden takes P1 back

Lap 222 and Rasmussen retakes the lead. Palou is buried in P19. Best he can do is P18 unless he unlaps himself.

Lap 223 and Newgarden goes back to P1.

Lap 227 and Ericsson takes P2 from Rasmussen.

Lap 228 CAUTION Collet’s Chevy engine which fails and bellows smoke down the backstretch.

Lap 231 and it’s Newgarden, Ericsson, Rasmussen, VeeKay, Kirkwood, Malukas, Ferrucci, Rosenqvist, McLaughlin, and O’Ward.

Lap 234 restart and it’s Newgarden, Ericsson, Rasmussen, VeeKay. And Kirkwood.

Lap 238 and McLaughlin takes P5 from Kirkwood.

Lap 240 and Newgarden leads Ericsson by 0.5s, Rasmussen by 1.2s, VeeKay by 2.0s.

Lap 250 and Newgarden is in command with 0.7s over Ericsson and 1.9s over Rasmussen.

Lap 260 and Newgarden gets his sixth WWTR win and second of the season. Masterful drive by IndyCar’s best oval performer.

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