Newgarden charged to the front in the early stages of the 250-lap race on the 7/8-mile oval, passing his team-mates Will Power and Scott McLaughlin in one fell swoop on lap 32 as they got balked in traffic.
Newgarden again led the majority of the race, as McLaughlin and Power proved strong at different points of the event. In the final stint, Arrow McLaren’s Felix Rosenqvist emerged from the pack as a challenger to Newgarden – until he got delayed by lapped cars inside the final 45 laps.
Rosenqvist’s shot at victory was restored by a late-race restart, but Power lunged past him to grab second, ahead of Alex Palou, with Rosenqvist salvaging fourth from McLaughlin.
As he did 24 hours earlier, Power led the field to green, leading team-mate McLaughlin and surprise second-row starters David Malukas and Ed Carpenter.
Marcus Ericsson was the huge mover at the start, rocketing to third from 10th, anticipating the initial start and then shooting around the outside of a clutch of cars. Behind, Pato O’Ward rose to sixth from 11th, running side by side with Newgarden over the opening laps, as they both passed Carpenter with ease.
The leaders began lapping cars as early as lap 15. The race briefly settled down with Power leading McLaughlin, Ericsson, Malukas, Newgarden, O’Ward, Scott Dixon and Carpenter, with series leader Alex Palou passing Colton Herta for ninth on lap 20.
Newgarden passed Malukas for fourth at Turn 3 on lap 22, and then dealt with Ericsson four laps later – banging wheels as Ericsson got trapped behind a lapper. Up ahead, Newgarden’s Penske team-mates Power and McLaughlin duelled over the lead.
McLaughlin briefly grabbed the lead on lap 30, allowing Newgarden to get a run on both of them. He passed both of his team-mates through Turns 1 and 2 two laps later, again as they tripped up in traffic, while McLaughlin got the better of Power by lap 34.
Malukas was on a tear, passing Ericsson and Power – the latter falling back to sixth behind Dixon. But Malukas had nothing for O’Ward, who took his third on lap 38, nor Dixon who passed him for fourth.
Power was the first of the leaders to stop on lap 53, which brought in Newgarden and McLaughlin two laps later. Ericsson and Felix Rosenqvist led laps in the pit cycle, while Malukas suffered a poor first stop but somehow moved ahead of O’Ward.
After that sequence, Newgarden led McLaughlin by 3s, with Power 5s further back. Dixon then overtook Power for third on lap 66, while O’Ward repassed Malukas for fifth and Ericsson also moved past Malukas a few laps later. Palou fell outside of the top 10 by one quarter distance, also falling off the lead lap, complaining about the grip from his tires on this stint.
O’Ward got ahead of Power for fourth on lap 85, with Ericsson following suit moments later, just before the first caution of the race, as Agustin Canapino scraped the wall at Turn 2 after getting onto the marbles. That saved a number of cars who were a lap down, including Palou.
The race restarted on lap 107 in the order Newgarden, McLaughlin, Dixon, O’Ward, Ericsson and Power. Kyle Kirkwood was now up in the top seven, ahead of Malukas, Herta, Romain Grosjean, Alexander Rossi and Palou.
O’Ward made a poor restart, getting swamped by Ericsson and Power – the latter jumping up to third to make it a Penske 1-2-3 again, as McLaughlin attacked Newgarden for the lead – briefly getting ahead into Turn 1 – but was rebuffed. Dixon fell back to fourth, battling with Ericsson behind Power. O’Ward then got in on the act, passing Ericsson on lap 123.
At half distance, Newgarden led McLaughlin by 0.5s with Power, Dixon, O’Ward and Ericsson in tow. O’Ward lost spots to Ericsson, Kirkwood, Malukas and Herta as he struggled for grip in this stint and pitted early for new rubber on lap 145. Takuma Sato slapped the wall at Turn 2 and, although he didn’t bring out a caution, he did need to pit for a new toe link.
McLaughlin triggered the second round of pitstops on lap 149, with Newgarden and Power reacting on the following tour. Newgarden retained the lead by 2.6s, while O’Ward ran third ahead of Power and Dixon, but not for long.
Catastrophe was narrowly avoided when Sting Ray Robb lost his left-rear wheel at Turn 3 and everyone avoided it as it rolled onto the racing surface. Leader Newgarden, along with Rossi and Conor Daly, was one of several drivers to just miss it while traveling at 150mph. That caused the race’s second yellow, which caused a split in the strategy, as McLaughlin and O’Ward pitted again.
The restart on lap 169 was in the order Newgarden, Power, Dixon, Herta, Rosenqvist, Ericsson, Malukas and Rossi, with McLaughlin and O’Ward rejoining ninth and 10th respectively but on fresher rubber. Herta and Rosenqvist jumped ahead of Dixon, with Rosenqvist soon establishing himself in third.
McLaughlin stormed through as O’Ward got stuck behind Malukas, the Kiwi moving his way through to fourth by lap 182, as Newgarden kept a rejuvenated Power at bay out front.
The final round of green-flag pitstops began with 55 laps to go, Power losing time as cars around him pitted as he was ready to leave. That allowed Rosenqvist up to second, and he became the surprise challenger to Newgarden – getting on to his tail, with the other Penskes of Power and McLaughlin trailing behind him.
Rosenqvist was right with Newgarden when he got stuck behind Graham Rahal, who blocked him despite being 3 laps down, costing the Swede 2s. Rosenqvist got further blocked by a lapped Kirkwood, costing him another 2s and gifting Newgarden an easier path to victory.
Palou worked his way up to fifth, ahead of Herta, the battling Dixon and O’Ward, and Ericsson. In the closing laps, O’Ward tumbled again to the bottom of the top 10.
The yellow flew again with 11 laps to go as Ryan Hunter-Reay hit the wall at Turn 4, and IndyCar took the lapped cars out of the way of the leader and the pits remained closed.
That led to a three-lap shootout to the finish on old tires, with Newgarden rocketing away as Rosenqvist was jumped by Power and ran wide at Turn 1, losing spots to Palou and McLaughlin.
Rosenqvist came back at McLaughlin to grab fourth on the final lap. Dixon was fifth, ahead of Herta, Malukas and Ericsson.
