MADISON, Ill.– Late race contact between David Malukas and Will Power eventually led to a restart where Alexander Rossi went airborne, Power went rogue, Jack Harvey went into the wall and, eventually, Josef Newgarden went to victory lane after the NTT IndyCar Series’ annual visit to World Wide Technology Raceway, commonly known as Gateway, for Saturday’s (Aug. 17) Bommarito Automotive Group 500.
After Newgarden’s pit crew pulled off a 5.1-second stop, the No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet took the lead from Scott McLaughlin on pit road. The field lined up for the lap 251 restart with Newgarden leading McLaughlin, Colton Herta, Power and Rossi.
As the front of the field exited turn 4, chaos erupted behind the leaders as Rossi ran over the back side of Power’s car. The contact lifted the front half of the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet several feet off the ground while sending Power to the inside wall. Romain Grosjean had nowhere to go and piled into the melee as Nolan Siegel had contact with Harvey, sending the No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda into the frontstretch wall.
Tempers flared, fingers were pointed and blame was assessed.
“Whoever was leading, like, where you’re supposed to go in between three and four he just waited then he went and he stopped and he went and he stopped and I knew that was going to happen,” Power frustratingly told NBC’s Dillon Welch on pit road. “As soon as I checked up because he checked up again, I knew I was going to get pounded. Man, so disappointing.
“I do not know why they would just keep backing up and not going. I don’t understand it.”
Rossi echoed Power’s frustrations in his team’s post-race press release.
“I’m so very disappointed with this result,” Rossi said. “I don’t know what anyone can do in that situation when the leader is brake checking the field. It’s heartbreaking for the team as we had a great race going and should have easily finished in the top five or better.”
Power and Rossi’s frustrations were easy to understand. When viewing the restart from the 2018 Indianapolis 500 winner’s onboard camera, the green light shines on and the front of the line is seemingly not accelerating. There is a gap of something between 1 and 2 seconds from the green light turning on to Rossi’s contact with Power.
When viewing the restart from Newgarden’s onboard camera, the two-time Indianapolis 500 winner maintained his speed, only…
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