MADISON, Ill. — Josef Newgarden won for the fifth time at World Wide Technology Raceway on Saturday night, taking the lead during a late pit stop and holding off teammate Scott McLaughlin on two restarts. Newgarden survived a partial spin-out on Lap 196 in the 260-lap race, keeping his No.
2 Chevrolet out of the wall as he turned sideways coming out of Turn 2. “I pushed a little hard in that moment, made a mistake and then I was so thankful that we didn’t wreck because I knew we could gather this up and still win this race,” Newgarden said. Newgarden’s incident brought comparisons to Danny Sullivan’s “spin and win” in the 1985 Indianapolis 500.
“Certainly not as beautiful as Danny’s,” Newgarden said. “I mean, he pirouetted.” Newgarden has been dominant on the track just outside St.
Louis, winning for the fourth time in the past five years. His winning streak ended last year, when he crashed with 49 laps to go. It was a sweep for Team Penske’s No.
2 cars at the track, after Austin Cindric won the NASCAR Cup race this year. The crowd was much smaller for the IndyCar race, with empty swaths of seats in the main grandstand. Cindric’s father, Tim, is the Penske president and was in the team box for Newgarden’s victory.
“You can’t ignore that final pit stop was a big deal for us,” Newgarden said. “It’s hard to say if it works out if we don’t get that done, but it certainly was a key ingredient to us winning the race.” Newgarden has 31 c.