2022 IndyCar at WWT Raceway: Josef Newgarden goes high, makes it three wins in a row at the track

Newgarden puts himself into the picture for the driver's championship with his fifth win on the IndyCar Series season

It took a little while, but once Josef Newgarden powered into the lead at the Bommarito 500, none of the objects in his mirrors were really closer than they appeared.

Newgarden, racing not only the other 25 cars in the field but also rain clouds that were closing on the track, made the most of a late strategy call by Team Penske to sprint away from those cars that had decided to not pit on the race's only caution, making the most of his fresh tires and fuel load to gap the field.

A second caution wiped out that lead. Once again, Team Penske split their pit stops with Scott McLaughlin coming in first and Newgarden a lap later, with Newgarden just missing coming out on the track ahead of McLaughlin due to a slightly slower pit stop caused by Newgarden being held up by Christian Lundgaard pitting ahead of him.

By the time the pit stops had cycled off that caution, McLaughlin was out front, Newgarden second and the rain right on top of them as a third caution quickly became a red flag and the field pulled into pit lane to wait out the rain.

The threat of rain forced the IndyCar Series to move the race at World Wide Technology Raceway up from its 6.30 p.m. start to 6.01 p.m., and it was constantly on the minds of the strategy chiefs along pit lane as things unfolded and pole-sitter Will Power of Team Penske powered away from the field.

It was Power's show early on, and the championship points leader looked like he was on his way to a maximum points haul sorta day -- until the first caution of the day flipped the script.

"It was that yellow," Power said. "I thought it would help us. The team didn't tell me what the number was if we didn't pit, and if they had I would've said, 'no, let's pit.'"

Instead, Power stayed out as the race leader as Team Penske split their strategy for the first time by bringing in Newgarden and McLaughlin. Power was never able to recover from that strategy call as his teammates ran away from the field. Returning from the two-hour rain delay, McLaughlin got a terrific jump on the restart, but it only delayed the inevitable. Newgarden got a run inside him, went past like he was shot out of cannon, then managed the gap to the finish.

McLaughlin then had to go on the defensive against rookie David Malukas, who somehow managed to make it work on the outside lane to get past for second on the final lap.

So that rainbow after the rain passed led to a checkered flag at the end of it for Newgarden, who just improved his chance of ending up with that pot of gold for the winning the driver's championship.

Now, the series turns westward for the final events on the calendar: the Grand Prix of Portland on Sept. 4 and the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey on Sept. 11.

Unofficial results

1. Josef Newgarden, Team Penske
2. David Malukas, Dale Coyne Racing
3. Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske
4. Pato O'Ward, Arrow McLaren SP
5. Takuma Sato, Dale Coyne Racing
6. Will Power, Team Penske
7. Marcus Ericsson, Chip Ganassi Racing
8. Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing
9. Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing
10. Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
11. Colton Herta, Andretti Autosport
12. Devlin DeFrancesco, Andretti Autosport
13. Romain Grosjean, Andretti Autosport
14. Jimmie Johnson, Chip Ganassi Racing
15. Helio Castroneves, Meyer Shank Racing
16. Felix Rosenqvist, Arrow McLaren SP
17. Kyle Kirkwood, A.J. Foyt Enterprises
18. Dalton Kellett, A.J. Foyt Enterprises
19. Christian Lundgaard, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
20. Simon Pagenaud, Meyer Shank Racing
21. Callum Ilott, Juncos Hollinger Racing
22. Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing
23. Conor Daly, Ed Carpenter Racing
24. Jack Harvey, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
25. Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport
26. Rinus VeeKay, Ed Carpenter Racing
    

What we learned

Will Power came out of the Bommarito 500 still at the top the table in the drivers standings with 482 points, but Josef Newgarden jumped to second at 479. Scott Dixon slipped to third at 468 but is still within striking distance, as is his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Marcus Ericsson at 465, but time, or rather races, are running out for both.

After that, defending series champion Alex Palou (439), Scott McLaughlin (428) and Pato O'Ward (424) will all need a lot of help to really end up on the top step at the end of the season.

With only Portland and Laguna Seca left on the calendar, Power must remain Mr. Consistent. Race wins and podiums would be nice, but more importantly finishes of 13th and 26th, such as he had last year, must be avoided at all costs.

Palou finished last year strong with a win at Portland and a second place at Laguna Seca, and he would likely need to win at both this time out (plus have something happen to those drivers in front of him) to have a chance at successfully defending his series title. 

So, Power's true threats likely lie with Newgarden (fifth and seventh last year at Portland and Laguna, respectively), Dixon (third and 13th), and Ericsson (seventh and sixth), but any bad finish in those final two events will likely scupper their chances if Power finishes in the top five in both.

[Aug 20, 2022 at 10:18 pm ET · Richard Biebrich Jr.]

Power had said during the rain delay that he thought he had enough rubber left to hold position, but apparently that isn't the case. 

[Aug 20, 2022 at 10:17 pm ET · Richard Biebrich Jr.]

Behind the leaders Malukas and Power go side-by-side for lap before Malukas wins that battle, which also allows Sato to work his way around Power, who is now sixth.

[Aug 20, 2022 at 10:14 pm ET · Richard Biebrich Jr.]

And Newgarden powers past McLaughlin in a blink. Newgarden is determined to get that third in a row at this track, but McLaughlin will not simply go quietly into the night.

[Aug 20, 2022 at 10:13 pm ET · Richard Biebrich Jr.]

Track is green-green-green with 36 laps to go. McLaughlin leads Newgarden and O'Ward is on the move.

[Aug 20, 2022 at 10:11 pm ET · Richard Biebrich Jr.]

Ganassi will pit his cars while the yellow is still out, so here come some sticker tires and fuel for Dixon, Ericsson and Palou.

[Aug 20, 2022 at 10:08 pm ET · Richard Biebrich Jr.]

And trouble for Newgarden as he has stalled. 

Team Penske hustles out and gets his Chevrolet-powered racer restarted and he is out on the track.

[Aug 20, 2022 at 10:05 pm ET · Richard Biebrich Jr.]

Pato O'Ward, running third, has a few lapped cars between him and the top 2 runners McLaughlin and Newgarden, so look for O'Ward to be aggressive right at the restart as he will want to jump the lapped cars and start nipping at Newgarden's rear tires as soon as he can.

[Aug 20, 2022 at 9:55 pm ET · Richard Biebrich Jr.]

Drivers are being strapped into their cars, so it looks like things are going to get rolling again at Madison, Ill. soon.

[Aug 20, 2022 at 9:08 pm ET · Richard Biebrich Jr.]

Race control has told the teams they are clear to approach their cars in preparation for an anticipated restart.

[Aug 20, 2022 at 8:47 pm ET · Richard Biebrich Jr.]

On top of that, the tires will be cold and need to come up to temperature. The track will be cooler now that the sun has gone down, and that won't help bring the tires up to temp straightaway.

Good news: The lightning hold has been lifted.

[Aug 20, 2022 at 8:44 pm ET · Richard Biebrich Jr.]

Should we go back to racing at WWT Raceway, the drivers will be on a completely different track from what they were racing on not long ago.

Rain has washed away a lot of the rubber and marbles on the track, and what the rain didn't get the jet dryers most certainly blew off as they circled trying to get the track dry.

[Aug 20, 2022 at 8:17 pm ET · Richard Biebrich Jr.]

The rain has lightened but lightning has been sighted. So the track is under a 30-minute clock marking that lightning strike to the next.

[Aug 20, 2022 at 7:55 pm ET · Richard Biebrich Jr.]

The red flag is out and the cars will be called to pit lane as the rain is getting heavier.

[Aug 20, 2022 at 7:54 pm ET · Richard Biebrich Jr.]

Lap 215 and sprinkles have brought out the second caution of the race.

There are a lot of pit crew strategists down there exhaling in relief.

[Aug 20, 2022 at 7:53 pm ET · Richard Biebrich Jr.]

The pit cycle has finished with Rahal pitting, and McLaughlin rolls into the lead with Newgarden half-a-second behind him.

O'Ward and Power are next. Malukas is back out in fifth followed by Ericsson, Sato, Dixon and Rahal.

And the caution is out.

It's rain.

[Aug 20, 2022 at 7:50 pm ET · Richard Biebrich Jr.]

McLaughlin will pit as Team Penske keep Newgarden stays out for at least one more lap.

McLaughlin is back out on the track and here comes Newgarden.

And Newgarden comes back out on the track just behind McLaughlin.