Team Penske-Chevrolet’s #2 PPG-backed driver made his first stop on the same lap as polesitter and first-stint leader Rossi, and emerged from pitlane ahead of the Andretti Autosport-Honda, the latter’s cause hindered by having to pause on leaving his pitbox to allow another Penske driver, Scott McLaughlin, to pit just ahead of him.
Thereafter he pulled away from the erstwhile leader, until the middle of the final stint, when Rossi trimmed his deficit to 2.8sec. The field was brought under caution twice in the final 10 laps, allowing the Andretti car onto the tail of the Penske car, but both times Newgarden was able to stretch away around the final corner so that he was unthreatened as he crossed the start-finish line. In fact, Rossi lost out to Ganassi’s Marcus Ericsson on the final restart and finished third.
