IndyCars - Elkhart Lake: Return to the National Park of Speed

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Sunday at Road America - IndyCar has another nail-biter of a race…

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…as Team Penske’s P2-starter Josef Newgarden finally gets the natural road course WIN he needed to earn a million dollar check for WINNING on all three types of racetracks in one season. Coming in P2 was Marcus Ericsson for Chip Ganassi Racing from his P4 start while P3 went to pole-sitter Alexander Rossi for Andretti Autosport.

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NewgyWIN

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Alexander Rossi led the race with Newgarden closely in tow until the first pit stop, where the Tennesse native got out ahead of the Californian, held up briefly by a car entering the pit ahead of him. After that and through a series of full-course cautions, Newgarden always got a good jump and held the lead. Near the end of the race Rossi began to creep closer and closer to Newgarden but on a final restart following a late caution Rossi not only failed to catch Newgarden but was passed on the front straight by Marcus Ericsson. Once the race restarted for the last time, Newgarden seemed finally able to drive off in the last couple laps and secure the WIN with Marcus 3.37 seconds behind Josef at the line.

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Here are some of the race highlights:

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Notable:

  • Newgarden not only took his 3rd WIN of the season but also captured the PeopleReady Force For Good $1 million challenge as the first driver this season to earn first place on an oval (Texas), street course (Long Beach) and road course (Road America). He will get 500 thousand for himself and his team and 500 thousand for two charities of his choosing.

  • Ericsson came together with teammate Alex Palou in Turn 5 with Palou breaking his front suspension. Though Ericsson later apologized for it, in fact he was well inside Palou and had made a good pass when Alex refused to yield and hit Ericsson’s right rear. We call this Palou’s fault and so did Race Control, taking no action.

  • The only other car failing to finish was Pato O’Ward who blew his Chevy engine just after passing through the Kink on the back straight - very rare, these days.

  • With his P2 and Will Power’s P19 finish, Marcus Ericsson regains the points lead

  • Graham Rahal was the biggest mover of the day, going all the way from P22 to P8 while teammate Christian Lundgaard went from P13 to P10 and Jack Harvey from P20 to P13, making for one of the better days for Rahal Letterman Lanigan in a while.

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Newgarden collects a million-dollar check for a job well done - three times!
Check

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With this result, here are the TOP FIVE in points leaving Elkhart Lake:

1 - Marcus Ericsson, 293
2 - Will Power, 266
3 - Josef Newgarden, 261
4 - Pato O’Ward, 248
5 - Alex Palou, 246

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That’s it for another great race weekend at America’s National Park of Speed. The Road to Indy races were spectacular, as usual, and the IndyCar race was a perfect capper. The IndyCars finally get a little break but will return to action at Mid-Ohio SportsCar Course, June 30 thru July 3 with support from USF2000, Indy Pro 2000 and the Indy Lights, once again.

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Thank you, Road America!!

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