Newgarden beats McLaughlin in wild spin and win

Initially, it was McLaughlin who led from pole position with Meyer Shank Racing’s David Malukas in tow.

It wasn’t long before drama struck when Dale Coyne Racing’s Katherine Legge collided with owner-driver Ed Carpenter on Lap 9 to bring out the first caution.

McLaughlin led the early going but was challenged by Malukas shortly after the first restart and passed the Kiwi on his inside at Turn 3.

Will Power, who rose to third at the start, shot around the outside at Turn 3 moments later and McLaughlin quickly found himself in third.

The second caution came out on Lap 17 when Rinus VeeKay got loose out of Turn 2 and checked up.

That left Conor Daly with nowhere to go and he too got on the anchors. Andretti Global driver Kyle Kirkwood rear-ended Daly and sent him into a 360-degree spin.

Daly’s Juncos Holinger Racing teammate Romain Grosjean was also caught up in the incident and suffered cosmetic damage to his car.

Kirkwood suffered significant damage that relegated him to the pit lane, though he would return and finish 27 laps down.

Another look at how that incident unfolded between @ConorDaly22, @KKirkwoodRacing and others.

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— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) August 17, 2024

Malukas led the race restart on Lap 27 but it wasn’t long before Power shot to the lead.

Drama struck shortly thereafter for McLaren’s Pato O’Ward who suffered an engine failure on Lap 43.

He wasn’t the only drive to suffer attrition. Marcus Ericsson was forced to stop the #27 when his Andretti Global car cried no more on Lap 151.

Graham Rahal of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing was another to suffer engine issues and retired on Lap 161.

Power effectively led Malukas and Mclaughlin after the first round of pit stops, but a slew of different strategies meant they didn’t take the top three spots back until lap 76.

The third yellow of the day flew on Lap 86 when Chip Ganassi Racing driver Kyffin Simpson backed his car into the Turn 4 wall.

A divergence of strategies meant the leaderboard was skewwhiff for much of the race.

Chip Ganassi Racing, McLaren, and AJ Foyt Racing all tried to go off-strategy. However, Nolan Siegel and Santino Ferrucci had their races undone when they were caught speeding in the pit lane.

Scott Dixon looked like he might pull off a strategy masterstroke but was undone when he fell a lap down and got caught out by a caution.

As the race played out and lap 200 neared, McLaughlin found his way back to the lead through the pit stop sequence with Newgarden chasing.

The key moment came on Lap 196 when McLaughlin and Newgarden came upon lapped traffic.

Newgarden tried to go around the outside of one car but spun as he got into the ‘grey’ marbles.

Fortunately, the gap to the cars behind him meant that he only lost two position.

A SPIN AND SAVE FROM @josefnewgarden!

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

Crucially, McLaughlin and Newgarden pitted while Power and Malukas were among those to stay out.

That set up two clear strategies. McLaughlin and Newgarden looked like they would try and save fuel to the end while Power and Malukas pushed on at full tilt with a plan to pit again.

Power immediately set about stretching his legs after the race restarted with 54 laps remaining.

Malukas pitted with 44 laps to go and Power came in the following lap leaving McLaughlin with a six-second advantage over Newgarden.

A lap down, Malukas and Power came together with 21 laps to go. Power squeezed Malukas into Turn 1 and the AJ Foyt Racing-bound driver spun and hit the wall hard.

HEARTBREAK for @malukasdavid and the No. 66!

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

That gave McLaughlin and Newgarden the incentive to pit under yellow.

That set up a nine-lap shootout to the finish led by Newgarden with McLaughlin, surprise packet Colton Herta third, Power fourth, and Alexander Rossi fifth for McLaren.

There was unbridled chaos on the restart when Rossi climbed over the back of Power and brought out the red flag.

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

THEY WRECK ON THE RESTART!

The red flag is out at @WWTRaceway.

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

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.

Following a lengthy delay, Newgarden led the field to the green flag and eventually cruised home to victory.

Results: IndyCar Series, Bommarito Automotive Group 500