IndyCar: Newgarden wins rain delayed Bommarito Automotive Group 500

After 129 minutes of stoppage for moisture on the track on lap 218, the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 was resumed.  Josef Newgarden passed his teammate Scott McLaughlin on Lap 225 of 260 during the final restart and crossed the finish line ahead of rookie David Malukas 35 laps later.

Newgarden, from Nashville, Tennessee, drove to his series-leading fifth victory of the season in the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet by 0.4708 of a second over rookie David Malukas, whose spirited charge after the race restarted fell just short in the No. 18 HMD Honda but still resulted in a career-best finish.

This is Newgarden’s fourth win of the season and his third consecutive win at the World Wide Technology Raceway.  The American led 78 laps tonight.

Will Power led the most laps today, 128, but was passed during a restart by Pato O’Ward on Lap 158 and never got the lead back.

Newgarden passed the Arrow McLaren driver O’Ward on lap 165 for the lead.  He had an almost 7-second lead before he was held up coming into the pits on Lap 195 by Christian Lundgaard.  He lost the lead after his pit stop on Lap 207.

Dale Coyne Racing’s David Malukas waited to make a late pass on Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin on lap 259 to take the second spot on the podium, his first in IndyCar.  The young 20-year-old rookie led 4 laps tonight.

“We ended up getting around O’Ward and we ended up getting past a lapped car, and they (pit box) said, ‘You see them in front,’ and I saw two Penskes, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God, they’re Penskes!’ They were tough.”

Scott McLaughlin led 12 laps during the race, but could not hold off his teammate, who passed him on the final restart on Lap 225.  This is his seventh career podium.

It appeared pit strategy and traffic may have foiled Newgarden just before the rain arrived.

McLaughlin pitted from second on Lap 207. Newgarden stopped one lap later from the lead but followed rookie Christian Lundgaard in the No. 30 Mi-Jack Honda into the pits, with Newgarden’s pit in lap clocking in at 1.065 seconds slower than McLaughlin’s. McLaughlin kept the lead when Newgarden blended back to the racetrack after his stop, holding the front until the red flag.

The championship race remains close. Seven drivers are still mathematically eligible to win the title, with just 58 points – only four more than the maximum awarded at one race – separating leader Power from seventh-place O’Ward.

Up next is the Grand Prix of Portland on Sunday, Sept. 4 at Portland International Raceway. The season ends with the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey on Sunday, Sept. 11 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

Winner’s Quotes

JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 PPG TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – RACE WINNER

RANGE OF EMOTIONS AND WINNING AGAIN AT WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY RACEWAY? “All I can say is that this 2 car crew has been very patient with me. I’ve lost my cool probably a couple of time in closed doors just out of frustration for us. I feel like we’ve had small miscues timing-wise. That’s not really anybody’s fault. Sometimes you’re wrong time, wrong place. I feel like it’s been happening a lot this year. It kind of happened again tonight. I felt like we were in position and it was time to close. There was a barrier that got in front of us again, but fortunately we were able to get back out. I was so happy we could finish this race. Scott McLaughlin, he wanted to win too and I love that about us. We have a good relationship obviously. Each of us want to win but we he drove me super-fair there at the end, and we had a good fight.

“I can’t thank PPG and Team Chevy enough. Team Chevy absolutely crushed it with fuel mileage, reliability, power… everything you want from an engine. It’s a big night for everyone at Team Penske.”

HOW WERE YOU ABLE TO GET BY ON THE RESTART? “We just had to have a good start. I knew Scott was going to be good at the end there, and he had a good restart. I just tried to work the high lane. The high lane worked earlier for me and I tried to do it again at the finish there. We just had enough to get by him. He was no slouch this weekend. He was very, very good. Scott has done an amazing job. He could have easily won this race himself, so you have to give him credit. But I’m glad we were able to come back out on top. We’re going to have a lot more races together, that guy and I.”

THAT WAS NOT EASY. “It was tough at the end. I felt like it was getting ripped away again. We hung in there and had a good restart. Scott (McLaughlin) wasn’t easy to beat tonight. He was super-fast so you have to give it him. But I felt like we were in position with the final stop. This PPG car was on rails tonight for sure. We just needed to get into position, and we did that. Team Chevy, I can’t forget them… it was a big fuel mileage race in the first half of this thing, and I feel that Team Chevy absolutely crushed it as far as reliability, fuel mileage and the whole deal. They are a big part of why we were able to win.”

AFTER 25 INDYCAR WINS, DOES WINNING STILL HIT YOU THE SAME? “It’s pretty cool. It’s almost gotten harder. For sure, the competition has gotten more difficult. But internally and mentally, it’s gotten harder for me because I’ve come into this without ever believing I’d had have a career in motorsports. To have a career with a top-line team in a top-line series like INDYCAR with Team Penske… the more success you find, the more you want it. The more disappointing it is when it slips away. There is a mental shift that has to happen there. I’ve been so lucky to be here. I love working hard, love working with the people I do, and I want to do it for as long as I can.”

Race Results

Race Statistics
Winner’s average speed: 149.231 mph
Time of Race: 02:10:40.1827
Margin of victory: 0.4708 of a second
Cautions: 2 for 22 laps
Lead changes: 13 among 10 drivers

Lap Leaders:
Power 1 – 58
Ericsson 59
Rosenqvist 60
Grosjean 61 – 62
Power 63 – 123
O’Ward 124 – 126
Sato 127 – 148
Power 149 – 157
O’Ward 158 – 164
Newgarden 165 – 206
Malukas 207 – 210
Rahal 211 – 212
McLaughlin 213 – 224
Newgarden 225 – 260

NTT INDYCAR SERIES Point Standings: Power 482, Newgarden 479, Dixon 468, Ericsson 465, Palou 439, McLaughlin 428, O’Ward 424, Rosenqvist 340, Rossi 335, Herta 334, VeeKay 305, Rahal 302, Pagenaud 294, Grosjean 291, Lundgaard 283, Malukas 272, Daly 256, Castroneves 239, Sato 239, Johnson 194, Ilott 190, Harvey 184, DeFrancesco 177, Kirkwood 157, Kellett 120, Tony Kanaan 78, Carpenter 75, Santino Ferrucci 71, Tatiana Calderon 58, JR Hildebrand 53, Juan Pablo Montoya 44, Simona De Silvestro 26, Marco Andretti 17, Sage Karam 14, Stefan Wilson 10