Short track racing for the NTT IndyCar Series begins this Sunday (June 15) at the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at Worldwide Technology Raceway at Gateway. It’s the first of four short tracks the series will compete on this year and will, hopefully, put on just as good of a racing show as last year’s race.
The 1.25-mile oval, with its differing turn 1-2 and 3-4 dimensions, is challenging for teams and drivers as they search for the best balance in their cars. Set up well for the narrow first and second turns, and they’ll pay the price on the other side of the racetrack with an ill-handling car, and vice versa.
This is the 17th time that an American open-wheel series has raced at the track outside St. Louis and it comes with a recent change. Previously scheduled for daytime running, the series, FOX Sports and the promoter agreed to shift the start so it becomes the first Sunday primetime event for IndyCar.
Oval racing is always better under the lights, and with an aero package that produced a great product last year, then the series will start the summer stretch, with six races over the next seven weekends, relatively strong.
Last Year
A classic spin-and-win was the name of the game at the 2024 running of the Bommarito 500. Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden took his second win of the year, and series-leading fifth at Gateway after spinning from second place. He kept it off the wall and recovered quickly when the yellow was immediately thrown.
The race wasn’t without controversy as a critical restart knocked championship contender and race front-runner Will Power out — more on that later.
Besides the great recovery by Newgarden, the other big story was the aero package that the INDYCAR series mandated for the event. With the combination of tires, hybrid power and aero pieces, the series put on one of the best oval races in recent memory as cars overtook repeatedly and handled lap traffic. This was further backed up with another great showing at Milwaukee. It seemed the short oval package, lacking since the universal bodywork was introduced in 2018, had been saved.
Josef vs. Pato
A consistent battle that has been fought on IndyCar’s ovals over the last three years has been between Newgarden and Pato O’Ward. They’ve finished one-two six times, and have been a constant force to take the wins. Between them, they have 13 victories out of the 20 oval races since 2021 when O’Ward won at Texas Motor Speedway for the first time. Doing the math, that equals 65% winning percentage between them.
O’Ward had mechanical issues last year at Gateway while Newgarden took the win. Expect one of them to be in the hunt for victory, if not both. They need it.
First Oval Since Indy
Championship leader Alex Palou is still sitting safe atop the points standings, regardless of his DNF at Detroit 2 weeks ago. He is returning to an oval for the first time since breaking into the win column on that type of track at Indianapolis. How does he fare with that extra boost of confidence?
Since joining Chip Ganassi Racing in 2021, he has slowly worked to tame the oddly shaped Gateway. Over the last three runnings, he has improved his finishing position from the previous year, notching a career-best fourth in 2024.
It’s safe to say, Gateway doesn’t scare the points leader.
Lil’ Dave’s Best Track
While the Chicago native David Malukas calls Milwaukee his home track, he’s found a second residence at the one located near St. Louis, but on the Illinois side of the Mississippi. In his first two starts at Gateway, he earned his best result — second place — followed by a third-place run in 2023. Then he returned last year in a new, temporary ride with Meyer Shank Racing, fresh off a new deal to race 2025 with AJ Foyt Racing and it looked like a sure win was coming.
He was battling with Power late, while not for the lead, it was for the eventual top spot once things cycled to them. Depending on who you ask, either Malukas was too antsy or Power a little less forgiving, and the American ended up crashing after trying an inside pass, ruining a great race.
With that memory in tow, Malukas can light the night sky outside St. Louis on fire on Sunday. He’s in a great stretch, perhaps the best of his IndyCar career. In the record book, a 14th is all that will show by his name for Detroit, Malukas was on track for back-to-back top fives before being penalized for his contact with Palou.
Considering his great result at the series’ first oval stop at Indy, he is looking at a possible win this weekend.
Penske-on-Penske Crime
When Power left Gateway in 2024, he wasn’t very pleased with teammate Newgarden when he delayed gassing it on a late restart as the leader. The field bunched up and Power was caught in an ensuing melee, crashing and ending his race. He then shared some choice words for the driver of the No. 2 Chevrolet, as his frustration in trying to catch Palou in the title fight slipped through his hands.
Right now, he’s the best Team Penske car in the championship fight, sitting fifth in points, and he won this race in 2018. But if Power wants a good result, he’ll have to steer clear of any further Penske-on-Penske crime.
Who Needs An Oval Win?
With Palou off the list of drivers needing validation by winning on an oval, and Colton Herta clearing his name at the 2024 Nashville season finale, it’s Kyle Kirkwood’s turn. The Andretti Global driver has four career wins, but all on street courses. At the race Herta won, Kirkwood earned his best oval result, a fourth. To fight for the title, he will need to do better than that to catch Palou.
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What Else?
Christian Lundgaard is sitting fourth in the title fight and earned his best oval result with his seventh at Indianapolis. Does he beat that this weekend?
Scott Dixon’s year has been awfully quiet. He’s winless so far, but the two-time winner at Gateway can have a surprise run at the oval, continuing a streak of 23 years with at least one victory.
The other Team Penske driver, Scott McLaughlin, hasn’t finished worse than fifth in his four runs at Gateway. He took two short oval wins in 2024 and can easily add his third this weekend.
Frontstretch Predictions
I’m going to take my gas off a bit and not pick Palou for this one. While he is the last oval winner, that 65% winning rate since 2021 makes me lean toward the duo of Newgarden and O’Ward.
- O’Ward — he cashes in and takes the win over his oval rival.
- Newgarden — the best way to get his season going again is to run well at one of his bread-and-butter tracks.
- Palou — you know he isn’t going to fade away quite yet.
The 260-lap Bommarito Automotive Group 500 gets underway Sunday, June 15, at 8 p.m. ET on Fox.
Tom is an IndyCar writer at Frontstretch, joining in March 2023. Besides writing the IndyCar Previews and frequent editions of Inside IndyCar, he will hop on as a fill-in guest on the Open Wheel podcast The Pit Straight. A native Hoosier, he calls Fort Wayne home. Follow Tom on Twitter @TomBlackburn42.