Newgarden spins and wins over McLaughlin, Power hurt by restart chaos
A fast stop saw Josef Newgarden overcome Scott McLaughlin in a Penske 1-2 after a dramatic finale to the IndyCar at Gateway.
McLaughlin was in the box seat, but lost the lead on pit road where Newgarden jumped the Kiwi with a faster stop and from there the #2 shot clear despite spinning earlier in the day.
However, it is not without drama as Australia’s Will Power was also in the mix, but got taken out in controversial circumstances.
A failed attempt at a restart headed by Newgarden saw the leaders check up and the third placed Power get taken out by Alexander Rossi, who tripped over the rear wing of the Aussie.
With Alex Palou finishing fifth, it was a costly DNF as Power slipped from second to fourth in the championship.
“I do not know why they just kept backing up, going and not going,” Power said.
“Whoever the leader was between (turns) 3 and 4, he went and then stopped.
“I knew that was going to happen. As soon as I checked up I knew I would get pounded.
“We had such a good car and got to the last 10 laps of the last two races but got pounded.
“It (the championship) is pretty tough from here.”
Newgarden said the timing of the green light made it a confusing situation.
“It is nice to get another (win) on the board. The worst part about that is the #12 (Power) not making it home. I hate that it happened,” Newgarden said in victory lane.
“I watched it on TV and it kind of looked like the green went out before I went.
“It then caused a big accordion and the last thing you want with 10 to go is create a mess.
“I was not trying to do that. I would not have done anything different.”
The reds were waved before a seven-lap sprint to the flag where Newgarden drove clear of McLaughlin.
The Kiwi, who claimed a sixth top three of the year revealed a hybrid issue hurt him in the final restart, which allowed Newgarden to fly home.
“It was a one on one with the team in the pit stops and we lost track position,” McLaughlin said.
“That last restart for some reason my hybrid didn’t work so I could not deploy and get close.
“Overall a really good night and stuck it out. We led a lot of laps and can be proud of the night.”
McLaughlin led the field away but the race only stayed green for seven laps before the first interruption when Katherine Legge and Ed Carpenter came together at Turn 1.
Many took the chance to do an early pit including Dixon, Rossi and Rahul as they went three wide down pit road.
Things fell apart for McLaughlin one lap after the restart as both Malukas and Power swooped past at Turn 3 where the #3 appeared to slow, possibly saving fuel.
Moments after the Kiwi fell to third, Conor Daly spun after contact from Romain Grosjean as the field backed up on the exit of Turn 2.
At the third restart Power wasted no time in attacking Malukas and snatched the lead at Turn 3.
The race finally settled down, but O’Ward was one victim with his McLaren crawling to the lane with a leak causing a Chevrolet power unit failure.
Herta made strong ground, flying from the back to eighth before the cycle of stops started around Lap 60.
Power pitted from the lead two laps later and was followed by Penske teammate McLaughlin a lap later.
The status quo remained amongst the trio with Power half a second ahead of Malukas and McLaughlin was a further second back.
The field was now shuffled up with Siegel leading the way, but the top nine had all pitted early under the Lap 10 caution, but they only stayed out another seven laps before returning to pit road.
This put Power back in charge, but he was unable to grow the gap as the long green flag run was interrupted by spinning Simpson on Lap 86.
Malukas had a slow restart which allowed McLaughlin to instantly make it a Penske 1-2 and Power built a strong 2s lead before the next round of stops were sparked on Lap 118.
Malukas in third was the first to box from the bumper of McLaughlin, who was the last of the leaders to complete the second stop as the order remained the same.
This released the early stoppers, who were led by Marcus Ericsson after the Swede jumped Dixon, but they were in the middle of a wild pack of cars.
Ericsson eventually chose fuel preservation over track position and slipped to fourth in the train that was now led by Siegel before he entered the lane in a cloud of smoke on Lap 148.
However, all hope of a strong result for the McLaren rookie ended by a pit road speeding penalty.
But Ericsson was out altogether with a mechanical drama cutting his race short 100 laps from home.
After building more than a 2s advantage Power pitted on Lap 170, but both McLaughin and Newgarden used the undercut to snatch the lead.
Just when the current Indy500 winner appeared to be making a challenge on his Kiwi teammate, he lost control and half spun at Turn 2.
Critically Power stayed out, while McLaughlin and Newgarden both took the chance to pit under caution.
With 42 to go Power took his final trip to pit road, which released McLaughlin, who was 6s clear of Newgarden.
Behind them Power and Malukas were in an intense fight for the possible effective lead before it ended in tears with 21 to go.
As the Aussie was caught in lapped traffic, the Meyer Shank Racing youngster sensed an opportunity to pounce at Turn 1.
Malukas threw himself down the inside, but Power shut him down. Contact was made which saw Malukas spin on the kerb and fire into the fence backwards.
Under the caution the leading Penske drivers boxed for tyres and Newgarden’s rapid 5.1s stop saw him snatch the lead from McLaughlin as the kiwi lit up his rears leaving the box.
This saw Newgarden leading McLaughlin, Herta, Power and Rossi at the restart where it all went wrong.
As the top four bunched up, it set-up a chain reaction where Rossi tripped over Power’s rear wing.
Both cars then careered into the inside fence and brought out the red.
There was much debate over who caused all the checking up, but third placed Herta was clear stating that it was “dirty from Newgarden, that should be a penalty.”
With seven to go the second attempt at a restart was much more successful with Newgarden immediately jumping clear of McLaughlin, while Lindqvist snared third from Herta.
In a heartbeat Newgarden pulled more than a second clear of McLaughlin and flew home.
IndyCar returns next weekend at Portland.
IndyCar Gateway results
1. (3) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 260, Running
2. (1) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 260, Running
3. (18) Linus Lundqvist, Honda, 260, Running
4. (16) Alex Palou, Honda, 260, Running
5. (25) Colton Herta, Honda, 260, Running
6. (11) Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, 259, Running
7. (20) Nolan Siegel, Chevrolet, 259, Running
8. (10) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 259, Running
9. (24) Sting Ray Robb, Chevrolet, 259, Contact
10. (12) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 259, Running
11. (19) Scott Dixon, Honda, 258, Running
12. (17) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 258, Running
13. (9) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 258, Running
14. (15) Pietro Fittipaldi, Honda, 258, Running
15. (23) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 257, Running
16. (6) Romain Grosjean, Chevrolet, 257, Running
17. (21) Ed Carpenter, Chevrolet, 252, Running
18. (4) Will Power, Chevrolet, 250, Running
19. (13) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 250, Contact
20. (26) Jack Harvey, Honda, 249, Contact
21. (2) David Malukas, Honda, 238, Contact
22. (5) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 207, Contact
23. (14) Graham Rahal, Honda, 161, Mechanical
24. (7) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 151, Mechanical
25. (22) Kyffin Simpson, Honda, 84, Contact
26. (8) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 42, Mechanical
27. (27) Katherine Legge, Honda, 7, Contact
Photo by Michael L. Levitt / LAT Images
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