IndyCar St Louis: Newgarden wins after controversial restart

It was Newgarden's fifth victory at the track formerly known as Gateway, and his second of the 2024 season.

“I think the team needed it,” said Newgarden, a two-time Indianapolis 500 champion.

“They’ve done a great job, on the No. 2 car, specifically, they’ve done a really good job. They’ve given me race-winning cars throughout the year, even past Indy and they haven’t materialized. So, it’s nice to get another one on the board.”

Late-race restart chaos

He reflected on a late restart with less than 10 laps to go, in which a slow launch by him led to cars stacking up and crashing, including team-mate Will Power, who was third, that led to a red flag. Power flipped him off in the aftermath of the crash.

“The worst part about that is obviously the No. 12 (team-mate Will Power) not making it home,” Newgarden said. 

“I hate that that happened at the very end. I mean, I watched it on the TV, it looked like the green went out before I went just momentarily and it caused a big accordion. So, I hate that happened. This is the last thing you want with 10 to go is to create a mess. I wasn’t trying to do that, but this team did an amazing job. We’ve got fast cars right from the start. Just really proud to have the PPG car back in Victory Lane with Team Chevy.”

What is going on!? 😱

This restart pileup takes @12WillPower & @AlexanderRossi out of the race! 💥

🎥 @IndyCar pic.twitter.com/CnSPqXHaOY

— Motorsport.com (@Motorsport) August 18, 2024

A Tennessee native, Newgarden led 17 of 260 laps, finishing 1.7260s ahead of Team Penske team-mate and pole-sitter Scott McLaughlin. 

Chip Ganassi Racing rookie Linus Lundqvist claimed third after a late battle with Andretti Global’s Colton Herta.  

The Race

McLaughlin gets the early jump over frontrow mate David Malukas, but Colton Herta is the early mover after picking up six spots on the opening lap from 25th to 19th. 

Will Power, who started third, made an inside pass on the No. 66 Meyer Shank Racing Honda of Malukas entering Turn 1 on lap 2 to move into second behind Team Penske team-mate McLaughlin. 

Malukas responded on lap 8 with an inside pass by Power off of Turn 4, with the caution coming out the following lap after Ed Carpenter and Katherine Legge came together in Turn 2. Legge remained parked at the inside of the corner, while Carpenter was able to continue on. Legge was left as the first retirement of the race.

A restart on lap 14 saw McLaughlin once again make a clean getaway, but he lost the lead to Malukas into Turn 3 the next lap. McLaughlin fell to third as Power went by. 

The caution returned on lap 17 after Rinus VeeKay got loose off of Turn 2 and stacked up several cars, which led to contact between the Juncos Hollinger Racing duo of Romain Grosjean and Conor Daly and sent the latter into a 360-degree spin with damage. Kyle Kirkwood also collected damage, left to pit for repairs over the next several laps. He eventually returned to the track, 31 laps down. 

Malukas led the field on the lap 27 restart, but lost the lead to Power into Turn 3. 

The combination of an early start and recent caution elevated Herta up to ninth by lap 34. 

Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward, running fifth, called for a suspected engine issue over the radio on lap 41 and opted to pit the next lap. He shut the engine off as the crew looked over the No. 5 Chevrolet before pushing it behind the wall. 

The No. 28 Andretti Global Honda of Marcus Ericsson progressed to fifth after O’Ward’s issue. 

Power in control early

By lap 50, Power built up a lead of 0.757s over Malukas, while McLaughlin continued to hold third at 2s back. 

Pit stops began on lap 60 as championship leader Alex Palou pitted from 10th, along with Herta and the Meyer Shank Racing pairing of Malukas and Felix Rosenqvist. Power and Josef Newgarden pitted the next lap, with McLaughlin stopping for service on lap 63. 

The pit cycle propelled Arrow McLaren rookie Nolan Siegel to the lead temporarily before pitting and making way to team-mate Alexander Rossi. Chip Ganassi Racing rookie Linus Lundqvist also found the top spot before pitting and handing off to Graham Rahal. 

Power reassumed the lead once Rahal pitted, with Malukas 0.684s behind on lap 80. 

The caution came out on lap 86 after Chip Ganassi Racing rookie Kyffin Simpson shunted in Turn 4. 

The rookie goes sliding into the wall!@kyffin_simpson brings out the third caution.

📺: #Bommarito500 on USA and Peacock pic.twitter.com/JdCcfsjxsQ

— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) August 17, 2024

While the pits were open, Ericsson pitted from fifth, along with defending winner Scott Dixon. Malukas, still running second, began reporting a clutch issue while running under caution. 

Power was able to get a clean restart on lap 97 after Malukas spun the tires coming out of Turn 4. 

In a battle among those that pitted, Ericsson was able to get by Dixon with an outside pass off of Turn 2 to move into 13th, and then moved by Siegel to take 12th. Ericsson continued his march up, breaking back into the top 10 after passing AJ Foyt Racing’s Sting Ray Robb on lap 105. 

The lead for Power expanded to 1.4631 by lap 110 over McLaughlin, who took second as Malukas fell to third. 

The second round of pit stops began on lap 119, with Malukas peeling off for service, along with Herta. Power pitted on lap 120, while McLaughlin pitted on lap 122. Rossi took over the lead, while Ericsson, who was expected to only need to stop two more times, elevated to third after making way again for Robb, who took second. 

Ericsson assumed the lead on lap 127 after Rossi and Robb pitted, with Dixon and Siegel vaulting to second and third, respectively.  

Dixon then took the lead as Ericsson fell to third in the approach to lap 140. Ericsson faded down to fifth moments later in a desperate attempt to hit his fuel number. Lundqvist and Santino Ferrucci, who were also on the same pit strategy as Dixon, Siegel and Ericsson, took over third and fourth.

Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske Chevrolet leads at the start (Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images)

Siegel took the lead from Dixon on lap 145. He, along with the rest of the top four, pitted on lap 148, giving the lead to Ericsson, who pitted the next lap. Ericsson was held after his pit stop by several seconds. Meanwhile, Siegel was handed a drive thru penalty after locking the rear tires and speeding on pit road. Ferrucci was also caution with the same penalty, while Ericsson returned after an issue.

The field reset with Power holding a 1.276s lead over McLaughlin on lap 155. The run of pit stops for Malukas, Herta and others began once more at lap 169. Power pitted the following lap, handing the lead to McLaughlin, while Rossi rose to second. Rossi pitted on lap 171, along with McLaughlin. Robb found the lead as a result on lap 172. 

During the shakeup of the pit cycle, McLaughlin was able to move ahead - still second overall behind Robb - of Newgarden, while Power fell down to fourth. Robb eventually pitted on lap 181, moving the Penske trio up 1-2-3. 

Dixon’s hopes of making it on one more stop were derailed after having to pit for an issue. The caution waived on lap 196 after Newgarden, pressing McLaughlin for the lead, spun off of Turn 2 and fell fourth. 

McLaughlin pits on lap 200, along with Newgarden. Power assumed the lead after opting to stay out. 

The new running order put Power in the lead, followed by Malukas, with McLaughlin and Newgarden third and fourth. 

A heartbreaking end for Malukas

Power led the field to the green flag on lap 207. 

Malukas pitted from second on lap 218, with Power in for service the following lap. McLaughlin inherited the lead, with Newgarden second and Rossi in third. 

Palau, running sixth and at a reduced pace to hit a big fuel number in an effort to not pit again, fell a lap down to McLaughlin on lap 225. McLaughlin lapped Herta with 27 laps to go, leaving three cars on the lead lap. 

The caution came out after a side-by-side battle with Malukas and Power ended the former crashing into Turn 2. Power was running on the outside of Malukas and pinched him to the curb, spinning him into the outside wall. 

.@malukasdavid throws it under @12WillPower for the effective race lead it’s all gone wrong! 😱💔 #IndyCar

🎥 @IndyCar pic.twitter.com/fVWQpjlJzr

— Motorsport.com (@Motorsport) August 18, 2024

The caution allowed McLaughlin and Newgarden to pit with 18 laps to go, with both also taking fresh tires. Newgarden got out ahead of McLaughlin after a 5.1s pit stop. Newgarden ended up taking over the lead, with McLaughlin second and Herta third. Power remained fourth. 

A restart with nine laps to go was waved off after a slow run by Newgarden led to contact between Rossi caught the rear of Power and briefly caught air. Grosjean also sustained contact in the crash. The incident led to a red flag with eight laps to go. Power, while climbing over the wall, provided the middle finger salute to Newgarden as he escorted the field down pit lane.

After an extensive cleanup, the stoppage gave way to cars peeling off pit lane once more and then went green flag on lap 254. 

Newgarden got a clean start this time, with a sizeable .0.6s gap over McLaughlin. Herta was under attack from Lundqvist for third and took the spot with five laps to go. 

Newgarden coasted the rest of the way to the checkered flag, while McLaughlin came across second, ahead of Lundqvist in third. Herta and Palou rounded out the rest of the top five. 

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Laps	Time	Interval	Mph	Pits	Points	Retirement
1	J. Newgarden Team Penske	2		260	2:22'28.2772		136.870	4	51
2	S. McLaughlin Team Penske	3		260	+1.7260 2:22'30.0032	1.7260	136.842	5	42
3	L. Lundqvist Chip Ganassi Racing	8		260	+3.7875 2:22'32.0647	2.0615	136.809	5	36
4	A. Palou Chip Ganassi Racing	10		260	+6.0516 2:22'34.3288	2.2641	136.773	4	32
5	C. Herta Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian	26		260	+6.2646 2:22'34.5418	0.2130	136.769	4	30
6	F. Rosenqvist Meyer Shank Racing	60		259	+1 Lap 2:22'34.6343	1 Lap	136.242	4	28
7	N. Siegel Arrow McLaren	6		259	+1 Lap 2:22'36.4998	1.8655	136.212	5	27
8	M. Armstrong Chip Ganassi Racing	11		259	+1 Lap 2:22'38.4123	1.9125	136.182	4	24
9	R. Robb A.J. Foyt Enterprises	41		259	+1 Lap 2:22'38.8118	0.3995	136.175	4	23
10	R. van Kalmthout Ed Carpenter Racing	21		259	+1 Lap 2:22'39.8352	1.0234	136.159	4	20
11	S. Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing	9		258	+2 Laps 2:22'35.1547	1 Lap	135.708	5	20
12	S. Ferrucci A.J. Foyt Enterprises	14		258	+2 Laps 2:22'35.5855	0.4308	135.701	5	18
13	C. Daly Juncos Hollinger Racing	78		258	+2 Laps 2:22'40.1843	4.5988	135.628	4	17
14	P. Fittipaldi Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	30		258	+2 Laps 2:22'43.0743	2.8900	135.582	5	16
15	C. Lundgaard Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	45		257	+3 Laps 2:22'37.6655	1 Lap	135.142	5	15
16	R. Grosjean Juncos Hollinger Racing	77		257	+3 Laps 2:22'41.2126	3.5471	135.086	5	14
17	E. Carpenter Ed Carpenter Racing	20		252	+8 Laps 2:22'44.9806	5 Laps	132.400	9	13
18	W. Power Team Penske	12		250	+10 Laps 2:13'35.4985	2 Laps	140.353	4	15	Accident
19	A. Rossi Arrow McLaren	7		250	+10 Laps 2:13'36.2301	0.7316	140.340	4	12	Accident
20	J. Harvey Dale Coyne Racing	18		249	+11 Laps 2:13'44.4603	1 Lap	139.636	4	10	Accident
21	D. Malukas Meyer Shank Racing	66		238	+22 Laps 2:03'57.2412	11 Laps	144.005	4	10	Accident
22	K. Kirkwood Andretti Global	27		207	+53 Laps 2:06'22.2296	31 Laps	122.853	4	8
23	G. Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	15		161	+99 Laps 1:25'07.1785	46 Laps	141.859	2	8	Mechanical
24	M. Ericsson Andretti Global	28		151	+109 Laps 1:25'00.0321	10 Laps	133.234	2	7	Mechanical
25	K. Simpson Chip Ganassi Racing	4		84	+176 Laps 44'48.6274	67 Laps	140.592	1	5	Accident
26	P. O'Ward Arrow McLaren	5		42	+218 Laps 25'20.3456	42 Laps	124.314		5	Mechanical
27	K. Legge Dale Coyne Racing	51		7	+253 Laps 3'20.9005	35 Laps	156.794		5	Accident
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