A hopeful return to form for race leader Josef Newgarden was undone in an instant after a vicious mid-race crash with rookie Louis Foster.
Foster was running five cars ahead of Newgarden on lap 131 of Sunday’s race when his No. 45 washed up into the outside wall in the dirty air behind Santino Ferrucci in turn 4. Unable to control his damaged machine, Foster spun down into the inside wall on the front stretch.
With the race still green six seconds later, Newgarden was running in the wake of 12th-place Rinus VeeKay as the pair came upon Foster’s spinning car. The Team Penske star made a last-second attempt to dodge Foster to the inside, but rammed right into his stricken machine as Foster clattered into the wall.
Terrifying crash at @WWTRaceway as race leader @josefnewgarden flies upside down after contact with the spinning car of @_LouisFoster 💥 Both are OK 🙏 #IndyCar
— Motorsport.com (@Motorsport) June 16, 2025
🎥 @IndyCarOnFOX pic.twitter.com/XKzT1N1NDM
The contact sent Newgarden’s No. 2 Chevrolet airborne, landing upside-down with the rear on the inside wall. His car then slid, sparks shooting out of it until the machine finally came to a stop right at the start-finish line.
Seconds later, the AMR Safety Team arrived at Newgarden’s car. They quickly turned the machine over, allowing Newgarden to climb out. Foster was also tended too and climbed out of his machine under his own power.
Both drivers were seen and released from the infield care center. Newgarden elected not to comment on the accident. Foster took time to share his side of the crash, pointing the blame at himself.
“I think one (too) many laps, too long trying the high line,” Foster said of the accident. “I got up behind Ferrucci, got a bit of a wiggle. Had wiggles all race there. Just got a bit too high onto the dark stuff. … Got into the marbles and was a complete passenger.
“At that point I bent my toe link. I just couldn’t stop the car from spinning there. Obviously a pretty scary impact for both myself and Josef. Glad he’s okay.”
The pair were the second and third DNFs on the day, following an early accident that eliminated Will Power. Newgarden was classified 25th, with Foster following in 26th. Sunday’s accident continues a difficult year for both drivers, who entered 14th (Newgarden) and 24th (Foster) in the standings with a combined three DNFs in the opening seven races.
It was the second vicious crash in as many races for Foster, who endured another vicious crash in the preceding race at Detroit, colliding hard with Felix Rosenqvist and sliding into a runoff area after suffering a suspension failure.
Surprisingly, the race wasn’t red-flagged. The field carefully worked its way through the debris during the initial cleanup and continued to roll around under yellow as SAFER Barrier repairs were made on the inside wall.
Pit road was finally opened up on lap 142 after Newgarden and Foster were cleared from the infield care center. Green flag action didn’t resume until lap 150, more than 20 minutes after the caution flag flew.
