MADISON, Ill. — Josef Newgarden won for the fifth time at World Wide Technology Raceway on Saturday night, taking the lead during a late pit stop and holding off teammate Scott McLaughlin on two restarts.
Newgarden survived a partial spinout on Lap 196 in the 260-lap race, keeping his No. 2 Chevrolet out of the wall as he turned sideways coming out of Turn 2.
“I pushed a little hard in that moment, made a mistake and then I was so thankful that we didn’t wreck because I knew we could gather this up and still win this race,” Newgarden said.
Newgarden’s incident brought comparisons to Danny Sullivan’s “spin and win” in the 1985 Indianapolis 500.
“Certainly not as beautiful as Danny’s,” Newgarden said. “I mean, he pirouetted.”
Newgarden has been dominant on the track just outside St. Louis, winning for the fourth time in the past five years. His winning streak ended last year, when he crashed with 49 laps to go.
It was a sweep for Team Penske’s No. 2 cars at the track, after Austin Cindric won the NASCAR Cup race this year. The crowd was much smaller for the IndyCar race, with empty swaths of seats in the main grandstand.
Cindric’s father, Tim, is the Penske president and was in the team box for Newgarden’s victory.
“You can’t ignore that final pit stop was a big deal for us,” Newgarden said. “It’s hard to say if it works out if we don’t get that done, but it certainly was a key ingredient to us winning the race.”
Newgarden has 31 career victories, also winning Indianapolis 500 this year.
Defending series champion Álex Palou extended his points lead after his closest pursuer, Will Power, was knocked out in a late crash after leading more laps than anyone else.
Power was in fourth place coming to a restart with nine laps to go when Alexander Rossi rear-ended him. Power faulted teammate Newgarden for getting in and out of the gas while rounding Turn 4 to prepare for the restart.
“I don’t know why — I do not know why — he would just keep backing up and going, not going,” said Power, who ended up 18th and fell to fourth in the points race. “I do not understand it.”
Newgarden admitted he “was trying to go as late as I could” but insisted it was within the rules and consistent with other restarts across his career.
“The last thing I’m trying to do is cause a wreck,” Newgarden said, suggesting race control might have hit the green light a moment before he actually accelerated. “Believe me, the last thing I want is for Will to get hit.”
Palou…
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