Newgarden's Record IndyCar Win
Josef Newgarden claims record sixth Bommarito 500 victory after rain-delayed race.
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Josef Newgarden won the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway for a record sixth time at the track, holding off Marcus Ericsson by 0.6613 seconds after 260 laps. Ericsson led a race-high 114 laps from a 12th-place start, but Newgarden took track position late during a rain-plagued night that featured multiple red flags and stretched into Monday morning. Newgarden also drew attention for recovering from a recent leg injury, but still completed the final stretch successfully as Christian Rasmussen finished third and Rinus VeeKay and Scott McLaughlin rounded out the top five. The rain chaos and evolving strategy hurt several leading contenders: Alex Palou, the pole sitter, ended 17th and two laps down after a fuel issue, while Scott Dixon and Palou both saw their races end after Dixon ran low on fuel and received a penalty amid the second red flag. Despite the late charge, Ericsson settled for second, describing the result as bittersweet after leading so long.
Key Points
1
IndyCar moved the lone Sunday-night WWT Raceway race up by 20 minutes to try to beat incoming storms, and the first red flag came on Lap 137, lasting 38 minutes while drivers briefly exited their cars.
2
Newgarden’s win elevated him to 9th on IndyCar’s all-time wins list (34th career victory, tied with Al Unser Jr.), and he said it’s “one of the more fun places that we go to race” because he “love[s] short track racing.”
3
Newgarden was still recovering from a recent Indy 500 leg injury, wearing a boot to help with walking outside the car, and he added that the rain made the closing stages feel “almost [like] a casino with some restarts.”
4
Earlier in the race, Alex Palou led the opening 46 laps before an incident involving Palou and Nolan Siegel at Turn sent Siegel “hard into the wall,” a caution that was one of four throughout the race.
5
After finishing second, Marcus Ericsson said the difference late was track position—“Josef is good around these tracks. He got track position on us at one of the stops…Yeah, it’s just hard to get around him,” while still calling the result bittersweet.
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