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The Team Penske driver opened up the arc of The Kink a little too much on his final lap, putting his left-front tyre on a wet kerb.
The #2 Chevrolet swapped ends before crunching into the SAFER barrier and briefly becoming airborne, although Newgarden was able to walk away from the wreck.
Penske is preparing a back-up chassis while the two-time Indianapolis 500 champion was left to lick his wounds.
“I’m good, I’m glad I got to see the replay,” he told NBC Sports.
“What happened is what I thought what happened. I feel like an idiot. I got a little bit wide. You can’t do that in this position.
“Look, this is IndyCar. It gets tight. I pushed it a little too far there.
“That was a rocketship car. I don’t know if the lap would have been good enough, but I think it would have been in the realm of something decent.
“I was trying to go for it like everybody and I overstepped.”
By causing another red flag, Newgarden was stripped of his best lap and thus left with no time to his name.
With team-mate Will Power in the same position after spinning and stalling early in the Fast Six, they are set to share Row 3 on the grid.
Newgarden admitted, though, that he simply made a mistake.
“It was slick, but if you don’t drop a wheel on a damp part like I did, you were okay on that last lap,” he explained.
“It was really drying. Look at the lap times. It was getting close to dry conditions.
“It was a mistake on my part that caused that. It’s unfortunate because the car was really good. We were going for it. We were in the Fast Six and could have gotten this car on pole for Team Chevy.
“I’m disappointed to make a mistake for the team. They are going to have a long night, unfortunately.
“I was pushing it. I was going for it.”
