IndyCar Road America: Power ends win drought to lead Penske 1-2-3

A two-time IndyCar Series champion, Power was running third ahead of the final pitstop, but used the overcut to jump his team-mates to cycle to the lead and score a 3.2609s victory at the 4.014-mile, 14-turn natural terrain road course.

It was the 42nd win of Power’s career, moving him into a tie for fourth all-time with Michael Andretti. It also marked the first win for Power since Detroit in June 2022.

Josef Newgarden was second, ahead of team-mate Scott McLaughlin, who led a race-high 18 of 55 laps, in third.

Story of the Race

Trouble struck right on the opening lap as pole-sitter Linus Lundqvist was hit from behind by Chip Ganassi Racing team-mate Marcus Armstrong, putting both into a spin and triggering a chain reaction as Andretti Global’s Colton Herta also spun after being tagged by Newgarden.

Those buried deeper in the pack were forced off course, but some, like Graham Rahal, ended up among those to spin after contact. Armstrong received a drive-thru penalty for avoidable contact as a result.

During the sequence of events, Andretti’s Kyle Kirkwood, who was on the outside of Lundqvist as the incident took place, assumed the lead.

Numerous drivers dove to pit road to swap off the softer alternate tyres to the preferred harder primary compound, including Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward, Rahal and Nolan Siegel, who was substituting for Agustin Canapino in the Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet.

Patricio O'Ward, Arrow McLaren Chevrolet (Photo by: Art Fleischmann)

The restart on lap 4 saw Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin draft Kirkwood and make a pass for the lead into Turn 1. The caution returned the next lap for debris, which appeared to be the strakes that came from Herta’s Honda as he went over the curbing. Herta spun shortly after contact from Lundqvist.

A restart on lap 6 was met with another caution almost immediately after rookies Christian Rasmussen and Kyffin Simpson tangled, with the former tagging the back of Simpson’s Chip Ganassi Racing Honda and sending him into a spin and hard into the barrier in Turn 14, destroying the left-front in the process.

McLaughlin led the field to another restart on lap 10, who managed to build up a lead of over 2.3s over Kirkwood over the next five laps. McLaughlin pitted on lap 17 after building over a 4s lead, handing off the lead to Newgarden as Kirkwood also pitted.

Newgarden, along with team-mate Will Power, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon, O’Ward and Siegel stopped on the following lap. Upon coming out of the pits, Newgarden rejoined alongside McLaughlin, who made the pass entering Turn 1.

At this time, defending race winner Alex Palou delivered another of his overcut strategies, staying out for an additional lap and cycling out behind McLaughlin, Newgarden, Power and Dixon.

Palou managed to fend off Kirkwood, who dropped dramatically during the pit sequence, on lap 20 and then managed to push by Dixon on lap 21 to assume fourth – with Felix Rosenqvist and Lundqvist yet to make their respective stops and running 1-2.

Dixon, on the less desired alternates, began dropping dramatically in the running order and came to pit road on lap 23 once he fell past the top 10. There were massive blisters on the left-rear tyre shown after the stop.

Both Rosenqvist and Lundqvist also pitted, which elevated McLaughlin back to the lead and with a 3.5s advantage over Newgarden.

Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske Chevrolet (Photo by: Art Fleischmann)

McLaughlin pitted on lap 31, swapping from the harder primary tyres to a set of alternates. Newgarden and Power stayed out for an additional lap, with the latter also moving to the same tyre strategy as McLaughlin. Newgarden was able to remain on the harder primaries, having run alternates earlier.

The battle for the lead was met as McLaughlin caught his team-mates as they exited the pits. Power attempted to protect the spot, but McLaughlin made the pass and then got by Newgarden. Data showed McLaughlin made up 0.769s on Newgarden in total time between pitting and the out-lap.

Meanwhile, Palou managed to pull off another overcut before pitting on lap 33; returning in fourth among the frontrunners on the same pit sequence but 7.7s behind the trio of Penskes.

Newgarden’s run on the preferred tyre came into play as he caught and passed McLaughlin to take the race lead entering Turn 1 on lap 36. A replay showed Newgarden making a ‘hang loose’ hand gesture and looked over at his team-mate as he made the pass.

McLaughlin then dove to pit road on lap 43 and swapped to the primary compound. Newgarden was catching the backmarker of Siegel and decided to dive to pit lane on lap 44, while Power opted to stay out and assumed the lead.

Newgarden returned but had a sizeable advantage over McLaughlin of roughly 3.5s. Power was called in on lap 45 and moved off the alternates. He returned with an advantage of his own – roughly 0.3s – over Newgarden to vault from third to first with the overcut move on his team-mates.

With 10 laps to go, it was Herta in the lead by virtue of not making his next stop. However, the battle that would cycle up for the win was between Power and Newgarden, with each holding 25 and 24 seconds of push-to-pass, respectively.

Herta pitted on lap 48, officially leaving the battle for the win between the three Penske drivers.

Power held a 1.6s lead over Newgarden with six laps to go. The lead for Power expanded to 3.5s with two laps remaining and he brought it home from there.

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Laps	Time	Interval	Mph	Pits	Points	Retirement
1	W. Power Team Penske	12		55	1:45'00.0267		137.619	3
2	J. Newgarden Team Penske	2		55	+3.2609 1:45'03.2876	3.2609	139.019	3
3	S. McLaughlin Team Penske	3		55	+8.0148 1:45'08.0415	4.7539	136.646	3
4	A. Palou Chip Ganassi Racing	10		55	+16.7118 1:45'16.7385	8.6970	136.185	3
5	K. Kirkwood Andretti Global	27		55	+24.8662 1:45'24.8929	8.1544	138.394	3
6	C. Herta Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian	26		55	+28.3782 1:45'28.4049	3.5120	137.698	5
7	R. Grosjean Juncos Hollinger Racing	77		55	+29.2710 1:45'29.2977	0.8928	138.565	3
8	P. O'Ward Arrow McLaren	5		55	+30.3109 1:45'30.3376	1.0399	136.249	4
9	M. Ericsson Andretti Global	28		55	+35.6260 1:45'35.6527	5.3151	139.950	3
10	G. Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	15		55	+42.8394 1:45'42.8661	7.2134	137.667	4
11	C. Lundgaard Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	45		55	+46.4444 1:45'46.4711	3.6050	138.564	3
12	L. Lundqvist Chip Ganassi Racing	8		55	+46.8107 1:45'46.8374	0.3663	138.863	5
13	T. Pourchaire Arrow McLaren	6		55	+54.5282 1:45'54.5549	7.7175	138.072	3
14	F. Rosenqvist Meyer Shank Racing	60		55	+59.2412 1:45'59.2679	4.7130	134.314	3
15	S. Ferrucci A.J. Foyt Enterprises	14		55	+1'03.7336 1:46'03.7603	4.4924	137.602	3
16	P. Fittipaldi Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	30		55	+1'04.7161 1:46'04.7428	0.9825	138.137	3
17	R. Robb A.J. Foyt Enterprises	41		55	+1'08.4389 1:46'08.4656	3.7228	138.233	3
18	A. Rossi Arrow McLaren	7		55	+1'15.0426 1:46'15.0693	6.6037	136.844	3
19	H. Castroneves Meyer Shank Racing	66		55	+1'15.6918 1:46'15.7185	0.6492	138.025	3
20	C. Rasmussen Ed Carpenter Racing	20		55	+1'19.0701 1:46'19.0968	3.3783	137.640	4
21	S. Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing	9		55	+1'24.4754 1:46'24.5021	5.4053	138.371	4
22	L. Ghiotto Dale Coyne Racing	51		55	+1'40.1612 1:46'40.1879	15.6858	138.273	6
23	N. Siegel Juncos Hollinger Racing	78		54	+1 Lap 1:45'10.1790	1 Lap	137.844	5
24	R. van Kalmthout Ed Carpenter Racing	21		53	+2 Laps 1:45'21.9506	1 Lap	137.380	3
25	J. Harvey Dale Coyne Racing	18		51	+4 Laps 1:46'28.2869	2 Laps	131.125	3
26	M. Armstrong Chip Ganassi Racing	11		35	+20 Laps 1:10'34.4531	16 Laps	128.050	5		Mechanical
27	K. Simpson Chip Ganassi Racing	4		5	+50 Laps 13'08.8502	30 Laps	83.908			Accident
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