Power left seething over ‘really dirty’ race restart

The #12 driver was fourth in the queue behind leader Newgarden, Scott McLaughlin, and Colton Herta when all hell broke loose.

With nine laps to go, Power was rear-ended by McLaren’s Alexander Rossi as the green flag dropped.

Rossi went airborne and Power was sent into the inside wall where both cars wound up together.

Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Conor Daly was an innocent victim in the incident as he piled into Power and Rossi.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver Jack Harvey was involved in a separate incident and the red flag was duly drawn with debris strewn all over the track.

It was unclear whether Newgarden checked up coming to the green flag but Power and Herta claimed as much.

No penalties were delivered by race control for the incident.

“That’s dirty from Newgraden,” Herta could be heard saying on his radio.

“He stopped and started. That should be a penalty. That’s really dirty.”

THEY WRECK ON THE RESTART!

The red flag is out at @WWTRaceway.

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

— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) August 18, 2024

Power extracted himself from his car before pointing the finger at Newgarden as he drove past in the pit lane.

Asked who was at fault, Power replied, “The leader. Whoever was leading.”

He continued, “Where are you supposed to go? In between (turn) three and four, you’re just waiting then he went he stopped he went he stopped and I knew that was going to happen.

“As soon as I checked up because he checked up again, I knew I was going to get pounded.

“Man, disappointing. I had such a good car. We just get to the last 10 of the last two races and have bad luck.

“We’ll keep fighting and see if we can get the Verizon Chevy up there.

“That’s pretty tough now from here but I don’t know why, I do not know why they just keep backing up and not going. I do not understand it. Anyway.”

How the chaos unfolded with 8 laps remaining.

📺: #Bommarito500 on USA and Peacock pic.twitter.com/IjwIB6fpjL

— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) August 18, 2024

Newgarden went on to win the race ahead of Scott McLaughlin.

The Kiwi revealed post-race that his hybrid system would not deploy energy and effectively ended any hopes he had of trying to put a pass on the two-time Indianapolis 500 winner.

Of the penultimate restart, Newgarden said he wouldn’t have done anything differently had he had the chance to do it again.

“The worst part about that is obviously the #12 not making it home,” said Newgarden.

“I hate that that happened at the very end. I watched it on the TV, it kind of looked like the green went out before I went just momentarily and it caused a big accordion.

“I hate that that happened. The last thing you want with 10 to go is to create a mess. I wasn’t trying to do that.

“This team did an amazing job. We’ve had fast cars right from the start and I’m just really proud to have the PPG car back in victory lane.

“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.”

Results: IndyCar Series, Bommarito Automotive Group 500