Josef Newgarden Retakes Oval Crown with Win at Gateway

By David Morgan, Associate Editor

MADISON, Ill. – The king of the ovals is back on top.

Josef Newgarden ended Sunday night in a familiar place at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway – on top of the podium.

Sunday’s win marks the sixth win for the No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet on the 1.25-mile oval and second of the season, also on an oval at Phoenix Raceway.

After trading the lead back and forth with Christian Rasmussen in the final stages of the race, Newgarden assumed the lead for the final time with 37 laps remaining and held steady on a restart shortly thereafter to return to victory lane once again at the track on the banks of the Mississippi.

“It was crazy. I’m just glad we went the distance honestly. That was the big thing. With the rain, it almost turns it into a casino in some regards,” said Newgarden

“I think the fast cars finished up front going the distance. Marcus was super good. I don’t know that we were much better than him. I think we were very equal. It turned into a track position game at the end because we were so comparable.

“I think we had some strengths on him. I think the team executed a really great race, which is ultimately what delivered the result at the end of the day. They just did a great job. Everyone stayed composed. It was a methodical win.”

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Marcus Ericsson led the most laps on the night (114) and looked to be in the catbird seat for his first win since 2023, but just didn’t have quite enough for Newgarden in the end and would have to settle for a runner-up finish.

“It’s definitely bittersweet after leading that many laps, having a great car underneath me. We drove all the way to the front, was feeling really good up front,” said Ericsson.

“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.

“Bittersweet, but the Honda was great all night. Thought I drove really well. A good result for us. But yeah, of course you want that win when you’re that close to it.”

Rasmussen would round out the podium finishers, falling to third behind Ericsson in the final stint for his best finish by far on the season, equaling his finish at this track a year ago, where he also finished in third.

“I mean, like I think we had a third-place car today. I couldn’t hang with those guys there at the end. I was super strong I would say later in the stints, and we didn’t really have a lot of deg, but I just didn’t have that ultimate pace,” said Rasmussen.

“Whenever we were all on kind of newer-ish tires, I couldn’t hang. But again, very happy with a third-place finish here today. I think it’s a good way to start building some momentum for the rest of the year.”

The remainder of the top-10 went to Rinus VeeKay, who came close to a podium finish in a car that was crashed in practice and Scott McLaughlin making a run to fifth on fresh tires, along with Kyle Kirkwood, David Malukas, Will Power, Marcus Armstrong, and Christian Lundgaard.

Rain wreaked havoc on the night with two different red flags for wet weather, one lasting upwards of 38 minutes that would eventually push the finish of the race past midnight on the East Coast.

When the second red flag for rain came out, it spelled disaster for the nights of Scott Dixon and polesitter Alex Palou, with the two on an alternate fuel strategy trying to get an advantage over the podium finishers.

Dixon would have to take emergency service from the lead, with Palou staying out to assume the lead, but when the field made their way down pit road, Palou’s No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda ran out of fuel and he slowly crawled to his pit box, losing two laps in the exchange.

The two finished the night in 12^th and 17^th, respectively.

After the race, Team Penske president and Newgarden’s race strategist Jonathan Diuguid addressed having to stay heads up when Palou was liming down pit road out of fuel.

“We knew the 9 and 10 were very short on fuel. Scott came in and took emergency service. We were scanning his radios. Said you’re probably not going to make it to the pit box. Josef did his job,” said Diuguid .

“Alex was supposed to pull over to the left, which he didn’t. I think that is something we need to talk about. It caused some more problems for other people. Luckily we were right behind him so it didn’t cost us any time on pit road because we got to be able to get to the pit box and go forward.

“In general, having people run out of fuel in pit lane in the fast lane is not something we need to have going forward.”

Other cautions flew for incidents involving Nolan Siegel and Palou on lap 55, which saw Siegel end up in the Turn 1 wall, while Palou was able to continue on as normal. The contact between the two did not result in any penalty for Palou, though Siegel might have saw it a bit differently.

“I thought there was a lot of room down low. I don’t know if he wanted to run high through the corner or what, but you know, you’ve got to turn in at some point,” said Siegel.

Graham Rahal saw his night come to a crashing halt on lap 114 when his No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda wound up in the Turn 4 wall in a solo spin.

The final caution of the night was a result of rookie Caio Collet’s engine expiring on lap 226, bringing what had been a banner night for the rookie to an early end.

“It’s just hard, said Collet. “I think we did everything right today from the strategy to the driving and everything…it’s racing.”

Prior to his mechanical failure, Collet had been challenging for a podium finish and would have at least been in line for a career best finish, but ultimately finished the night in 22^nd place.

The NTT IndyCar Series will have a weekend off next weekend after a long grind through the Month of May before getting back in action at Road America on June 21 with the running of the XPEL Grand Prix.