Will Power was left seething in St. Louis, calling out Josef Newgarden for the restart chaos at Saturday's race at World Wide Technology Racway, with nine laps to go.
After Power lead the race-high 117 of 260 laps, he was lined up fourth behind Newgarden, fellow teammate and polesitter Scott McLaughlin, and Andretti Global’s Colton Herta. As the field rolled through Turns 3 and 4 in anticipation of the green flag, Newgarden continued to patrol at a dramatically slower pace than seen previously throughout the five previous restarts.
The pace was so slow, McLaughlin’s nose was firmly pressed on Newgardens' gearbox as the frontrunners stacked up. Once the green flag returned, others further back in the field were quicker to react than those at the front. In turn, it triggered a chain reaction that saw Power getting run over from behind by Alexander Rossi, who ended up catching air in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.
The crash left the pair parked together at the inside wall between the race track and pit lane. Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Romain Grosjean and Dale Coyne Racing’s Jack Harvey also received damage as a result of the incident, which brought out a red flag.
What is going on!? 😱
— Motorsport.com (@Motorsport) August 18, 2024
This restart pileup takes @12WillPower & @AlexanderRossi out of the race! 💥
🎥 @IndyCar pic.twitter.com/CnSPqXHaOY
Herta called over the radio shortly after the incident, stating, “That’s dirty by Newgarden,” while also calling for a penalty that never happened.
Power, meanwhile, climbed out of the cockpit of his race car, walked across the inside wall and flipped off Newgarden, who was bringing the field down pit lane as a race stoppage was called due to the resulting debris littered across the front stretch from the incident.
Power immediately called out Newgarden (the leader) as the cause.
“Where are you supposed to go? Like, in between [Turn] 3 and 4, he just waited then he went and stopped. He went, he stopped," he said. “I knew that was going to happen as soon as I checked up because he checked up again. I knew I was going to get pounded. Man, disappointing. We had such a good car. Like we just get to the last 10 laps of the last two races and have bad luck.
“We’ll keep fighting and see if we can get the Verizon Chevy up there. That’s pretty tough now from here. I don’t know why. I do not know why they would just keep backing up and not going. I do not understand it.”
A birdie is telling us Will Power is NOT HAPPY with his teammate Josef Newgarden. #INDYCAR pic.twitter.com/kknBqDs4iP
— INDYCAR on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) August 18, 2024
Newgarden went on to win the race, his fifth at the 1.25-mile oval, while Power ended up 18th. Coming into the weekend, Power was second in the championship standings — only 49 points behind leader Alex Palou. The early retirement relegated Power to fourth at 66 points behind Palou (443-377) with four races remaining.
Newgarden: "I was trying to go as late as I could"
When asked about the restart in the post-race press conference, Newgarden said the start was definitely late.
“I was trying to go as late as I could, which is not -- sometimes people go really early, sometimes they go in the middle, sometimes they go kind of late, and sometimes they go really late," the Indianapolis 500 Champion shared. “It's not that different of a restart I've done before. I've done a lot of restarts from the front. It's not that different from other restarts that have gone late.
“I don't know that I'd change much. If anyone, especially on our team, wants to look at the data, you're going to see a very consistent speed.”
Newgarden, who led 17 laps, was shown a replay of the restart during the red flag and furthered his point of view.
“What looked like happened is it went green momentarily before I went, just momentarily,” he said. “I'm talking like half a second or a second.
“If it's just that slight difference in timing. If race control goes green and I haven't gone yet for just a second, I think people were trying to jump, which we've had a problem with, to be honest. We've had a problem with jump-starts the last two years. It's a constant topic in the driver meeting.
“If there's just a slight miscue there, I think people are very on edge on these restarts trying to get the run. It looked like it (was) miss-timed in the back, at least with one individual, and that's what caused a problem.
“From my side, it's the last thing you want to happen at the end. I don't want to create a wreck. I was not trying to do that. That was not my intention. I don't know that I'd do much different because it's how I would do a restart.
“I did the same speed. The next time through I just went a little sooner. It looked like the green going slightly early was the big miscue. That's my take seeing it from the car, just going off live. Yeah, that's how I saw it.”
IndyCar's stance on the restart
Following the race, IndyCar provided background on Race Control’s decision to not penalize Newgarden. It was mentioned he reached the end of the restart zone and had not accelerated as Race Control activated the green condition, rather almost simultaneously, as Newgarden accelerated. The procedure was viewed as standard should the leader not accelerate within the designated zone to allow the race to resume. According to IndyCar, the speed of Newgarden’s No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet was constant at 80 mph, which was always monitored by Race Control via live telemetry.
McLaughlin, who finished runner-up to Newgarden as part of a Team Penske 1-2, gave insight to what he witnessed through the restart.
“My strategy all year in some ways has been to be as close as I can to the car in front,” said McLaughlin, who led 67 laps this weekend. “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 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.
“It’s not up to me to judge that. From my perspective, it didn’t need to happen. But I’m also not driving the 2 car, and no one else is but him.
“Ultimately, we all make decisions. He thought that was the right restart to make. It sucks for everyone behind us. He got the win. Doesn’t really matter for him. Will is crashed out, and a few others.
“Yeah, it sucks I guess for the spectacle at the end.”
