MADISON, Ill.– Late race contact between David Malukas and Will Power eventually led to a restart where Alexander Rossi went airborne, Power went rogue, Jack Harvey went into the wall and, eventually, Josef Newgarden went to victory lane after the NTT IndyCar Series’ annual visit to World Wide Technology Raceway, commonly known as Gateway, for Saturday’s (Aug. 17) Bommarito Automotive Group 500.
After Newgarden’s pit crew pulled off a 5.1-second stop, the No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet took the lead from Scott McLaughlin on pit road. The field lined up for the lap 251 restart with Newgarden leading McLaughlin, Colton Herta, Power and Rossi.
As the front of the field exited turn 4, chaos erupted behind the leaders as Rossi ran over the back side of Power’s car. The contact lifted the front half of the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet several feet off the ground while sending Power to the inside wall. Romain Grosjean had nowhere to go and piled into the melee as Nolan Siegel had contact with Harvey, sending the No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda into the frontstretch wall.
Tempers flared, fingers were pointed and blame was assessed.
“Whoever was leading, like, where you’re supposed to go in between three and four he just waited then he went and he stopped and he went and he stopped and I knew that was going to happen,” Power frustratingly told NBC’s Dillon Welch on pit road. “As soon as I checked up because he checked up again, I knew I was going to get pounded. Man, so disappointing.
“I do not know why they would just keep backing up and not going. I don’t understand it.”
Rossi echoed Power’s frustrations in his team’s post-race press release.
“I’m so very disappointed with this result,” Rossi said. “I don’t know what anyone can do in that situation when the leader is brake checking the field. It’s heartbreaking for the team as we had a great race going and should have easily finished in the top five or better.”
Power and Rossi’s frustrations were easy to understand. When viewing the restart from the 2018 Indianapolis 500 winner’s onboard camera, the green light shines on and the front of the line is seemingly not accelerating. There is a gap of something between 1 and 2 seconds from the green light turning on to Rossi’s contact with Power.
When viewing the restart from Newgarden’s onboard camera, the two-time Indianapolis 500 winner maintained his speed, only accelerating after passing the second patch of grass between the track surface and the pit wall exiting turn 4.
McLaughlin’s onboard camera shows Newgarden accelerating almost instantly after the green light shined from the track condition boxes above the outer retaining wall. The 2019 Bathurst 1000 co-winner tried to anticipate the restart as best as he could.
“I guess my strategy all year in some ways has been to be as close as I can to the car in front,” McLaughlin said in the post-race press conference. “Most people are like that because you’re limiting the concertina effect that you have. I was right up Josef’s gearbox.
“It’s not up to me to review. It’s an INDYCAR thing. Personally I think he (Newgarden) restarted very late. That was probably more the problem. I just wish we did a restart like we did on the last restart ’cause I think we potentially could have had a first, second, third for the team, or first, second, fourth.”
Newgarden accelerated in the middle of turns 3-4 for the race’s final restart to score his fifth win at Gateway ahead of McLaughlin, Linus Lundqvist, Alex Palou and Herta.
As for the caution that brought out the controversial restart, Power and Malukas were fighting side-by-side into turn 1 for fourth place when the pair had some light contact that sent Malukas spinning into the outside wall. The No. 66 Meyer Shank Racing Honda was out on the spot as Power continued with 21 laps to go in the 260-lap race before being taken out himself in the final melee.
About the author
Christopher DeHarde has covered IndyCar racing and the Road to Indy for various outlets since 2014. In addition to open wheel racing, DeHarde has also covered IMSA and various short track racing events around Indiana. Originally from New Orleans, DeHarde moved to the Indianapolis area in 2017 to further pursue a career as a motorsports writer.
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