With the clock ticking toward the midnight hour, Josef Newgarden won for sixth time at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway on Sunday (June 7) night, beating Marcus Ericsson to the line by a .673-second margin of victory to win the NTT IndyCar Series’ Bommarito Automotive Group 500.
Newgarden held tightly to the lead on a restart with 22 laps to go ahead of Ericsson and Christian Rasmussen on the way to the win, one that also saw Newgarden and Rasmussen swap the lead multiple times between a restart with 48 laps to go and a caution with 36 remaining as rookie Caio Collet’s engine expired, ending a night in which he spent a good portion of time in the race’s top 10.
“We had everything we needed [Sunday] with Team Penske, so a great job to the group,” Newgarden said “We had a good car to start, and it just came to us when we needed it. This team did the job tonight, and I think that’s why we’re here.”
Ericsson led a race-high 114 laps, finishing second. The Swede was a force early, charging from a 12th-place starting spot to the race lead 47 laps into the 260-lap race.
“I felt we had it at some point, but [Newgarden] is the best in the business on these ovals,” Ericsson said. “I thought I had something for him, but he was just too strong. I wanted that win.”
Rasmussen, who battled for the lead in the final 50 laps, gained 16 spots over the course of Sunday night, the best of all drivers. It was also Rasmussen’s first podium finish of 2026.
“I was ripping the top the whole race, my car did not work super-well at the bottom, so I was like, ‘well, you’ve got to rip the top.’ That’s what we did,” Rasmussen said. “We didn’t really have the ultimate pace like those guys did, which we clearly saw at the end. I just couldn’t hang with them. Even though I was falling back a little bit, we came back strong at the end. We had a third-place car and got third place. We’ve had a horrible year so far, so getting a podium is a good way to turn that around.”
Rinus Veekay and Scott McLaughlin rounded out the top five with the top 10 being filled out by Kyle Kirkwood, David Malukas, Will Power, Marcus Armstrong, and Christian Lundgaard.
Sunday marked a rare misstep for Alex Palou and the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing team. Palou started on the pole and led most of the first 50 laps before having to rally back as a result of contact on the 56th lap with Nolan Siegel.
Palou’s bid for a finish near the front would eventually end by way of running out of fuel with 56 laps to go under caution, losing positions that’d result in a finish of 17th.
The race came amid the backdrop of looming weather. On-track action was halted twice due track conditions, but that weather would give way for the late duel for the lead between Newgarden, Rasmussen and Ericsson.
2026 IndyCar Bommarito Automotive Group 500 Results
The NTT IndyCar Series makes its way back to the road course on June 21 for the Xpel Grand Prix at Road America at 2 p.m. EST on FOX.
Brad joined Frontstretch.com in 2020 and contributes to the site's 5 Points To Ponder column and other roles as needed. A graduate of the University of Georgia's Henry W. Grady School of Journalism and Mass Communication, he has covered sports in some capacity for more than 20 years with coverage including local high school sports, college athletics and minor league hockey. Brad has received multiple awards for his work from the Georgia Press Association.
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