In a finish that left another Team Penske driver enraged at the winner, Josef Newgarden charged back for a victory at World Wide Technology Raceway after losing control of his No. 2 Dallara-Chevrolet with 64 laps remaining.
Newgarden avoided any damage in the incident and then beat Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin out of the pits on his final stop under yellow. He held on through two restarts and a red flag in the final 20 laps for his second victory this season and first since winning the 108th Indianapolis 500.
“The team needed it,” Newgarden told NBC Sports’ Georgia Henneberry after his series-leading fifth at the track. “They’ve done a great job. On the 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.”
Team Penske remained unbeaten in four oval races this season with Will Power and McLaughlin having won at Iowa last month.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN SPINS, BUT KEEPS IT OFF THE WALL! #INDYCAR
— INDYCAR on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) August 18, 2024
📺 : USA Network and Peacock pic.twitter.com/2lZqWSkc8M
McLaughlin finished second ahead of rookie Linus Lundqvist, who tied a career best taking third.
Extending his championship points lead, Alex Palou took fourth after Colton Herta was dropped to fifth for blocking Lundqvist in the closing laps.
Herta still moved up to second in the points standings as Power (who had entered 40 points behind Palou) finished 18th after getting collected in a massive crash on the Lap 240 restart.
Power was running fourth when he slowed down, and his No. 12 Chevy was rear-ended by Alexander Rossi, whose No. 7 Chevy briefly went airborne.
The race was red-flagged for 15 minutes to clear debris from the wreck, which Power blamed on Newgarden, his Penske teammate for accelerating and decelerating before the green flag.
“He just waited, then he went, he stopped, he went he stopped,” Power told NBC Sports’ Dillon Welch after flashing an obscene gesture at Newgarden.
“I knew that was going to happen as soon as I checked up, he checked up again. I knew I was going to get pounded."o
A birdie is telling us Will Power is NOT HAPPY with his teammate Josef Newgarden. #INDYCAR pic.twitter.com/kknBqDs4iP
— INDYCAR on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) August 18, 2024
Power led a race-high 117 of 260 laps.
“Man, disappointing,” the two-time series champion said. “We had such a good car. We get to the last 10 laps of the last two races and have bad luck, but we keep fighting.
“That’s pretty tough now from here. I do not know why they would just keep backing up and not going. I do not understand it.”
Will Power shared his frustration toward the race leader, his teammate Josef Newgarden. #INDYCAR
— INDYCAR on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) August 18, 2024
📺 : USA Network and Peacock pic.twitter.com/mhL9PZi6XE
On his team radio, Herta said Newgarden’s move was “very dirty” and worthy of a penalty. IndyCar officials reviewed the restart and took no action.
Newgarden told Henneberry “I was trying to go as late as I could at the end of the zone. I’ve done that a lot. I wouldn’t have done anything different.
“The worst part about that is obviously (Power) not making it home,” Newgarden said. “I hate that that happened at the very end. I watched it on the TV, and it kind of looked like the green (light) went out before I went just momentarily, and it caused a big accordion. So I hate that that happened.
“The last thing you want with 10 to go is to create a mess. So I wasn’t trying to do that.”
Power was involved in another incident on Lap 239 of 260 that caused the yellow that set up the restart crash.
David Malukas made heavy contact with the outside wall in Turn 2 after he collided Power while trying to make a pass on the inside. It potentially could have been a pass for the eventual win if the race had remained green (with Power and Malukas set to the finish, and a handful of cars ahead still needing to stop for fuel.
“Power just came by and screamed at me,” Malukas told Henneberry after being released from IndyCar’s medical trailer. “I braked, I gave him as much room as I could other than the curb, and he gave me a tap, and that was it. There’s not much else I can do, and he’s screaming at me.
“Man, you have a whole second lane you can go up there. I would still continue to do the move. I was a good move. If he would have just stayed in that second lane, we would have been perfectly fine. It’s really unfortunate. We had a really good race. Good car. Yeah, it sucks.