Will Power in St. Louis was furious as he criticized Josef Newgarden for the chaos surrounding Saturday's race restart at World Wide Technology Raceway with nine laps remaining.
After leading the race for 117 of 260 laps, Power was positioned fourth behind Newgarden, teammate and polesitter Scott McLaughlin and Andretti Global’s Colton Herta. As the sphere rolled through Turns 3 and 4 awaiting the green flag, Newgarden continued to patrol at a much slower pace than he had on the previous five restarts.
The pace was so slow that McLaughlin's nose was pressed hard against the Newgardens gearbox because the front group lined up. As soon because the green flag returned, the others behind reacted faster than those in front. This in turn set off a series response that saw Power run over from behind by Alexander Rossi, who ended up flying within the #7 Arrow Chevrolet McLaren.
The accident left the pair parked together against the within wall between the race track and the pit lane. Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Romain Grosjean and Dale Coyne Racing’s Jack Harvey also sustained damage within the incident, which resulted in a red flag.
Shortly after the incident, Herta called the radio and stated: “Newgarden committed an unfair foul”, calling for a penalty kick, which was not taken.
Meanwhile, Power emerged from the cockpit of his race automotive, walked along the within wall and showed the centre corner to Newgarden, who was entering the pit lane since the race had been stopped because of debris strewn across the primary straight following the incident.
Power immediately pointed to Newgarden (the leader) because the cause.
“Where do you have to go? Yeah, somewhere in between [Turn] “3 and 4, he just waited after which he went and stopped. He went, he stopped,” he said. “I knew that was going to occur as soon as I proved myself, because he proved himself again. I knew they were going to crush me. Man, it's disappointing. We had such an excellent automotive. It was like we got to the last 10 laps of the last two races and got unlucky.
“We're going to keep fighting and see if we can get a Verizon Chevy in there. It's pretty tough right now. I don't know why. I don't know why they just back up and don't go. I don't understand it.”
Newgarden won the race, fifth on the 1.25-mile oval, while Power finished 18th. Power was second within the championship standings entering the weekend — only 49 points behind leader Alex Palou. An early retirement dropped Power to fourth, 66 points behind Palou (443-377) with 4 races remaining.
Newgarden: “I tried to get out as late as possible”
Asked on the post-race press conference concerning the restart, Newgarden stated that the beginning was definitely too late.
“I tried to run as late as I could, which isn’t — sometimes people run really early, sometimes they run in the middle, sometimes they run a little late, sometimes they run really late,” the Indianapolis 500 champion said. “It’s not that different from restarts I’ve done before. I’ve restarted loads in front. It’s not that different from other restarts which were late.
“I don't know that I would change much. If anyone, especially on our team, wants to look at the data, they'll see a very consistent speed.”
Newgarden, who led for 17 laps, watched a replay of the red flag restart and offered his perspective.
Josef Newgarden, Team Penske Chevrolet
Photo: Perry Nelson / Motorsports images
“It looked like it turned green for a moment before I went, just a moment,” he said. “I’m talking about half a second or a second.
“If it's just that little little bit of time difference. If race control gives the green light and I'm not even a second away, I feel individuals are attempting to jump, which we've had an issue with, to be honest. We've had an issue starting the last two years. It's a continuing topic on the drivers' meeting.
“If there’s just a bit of mistake there, I feel individuals are really nervous on those restarts, attempting to get a run in. It looked like (it was) mistimed on the back, at the very least by one person, and that caused the issue.
“From my side, that's the final thing you wish at the tip. I don't wish to create a disaster. I didn't try to do this. That wasn't my intention. I don't know if I’d have done anything different, because that's how I’d have done the restart.
“I did the same thing. The next time I just went a little earlier. It looked like the green light coming a little earlier was a big mistake. That's how I see it from the car, just in real life. That's how I saw it.”
IndyCar's Position on Resuming Racing
After the race, IndyCar provided background on Race Control's decision to not penalize Newgarden. It was noted that he had reached the tip of the restart zone and had not accelerated when Race Control activated the green, or fairly almost concurrently when Newgarden accelerated. This was considered standard procedure if the leader had not accelerated within the designated zone to permit the race to be restarted. According to IndyCar, the speed of Newgarden's No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet was a gradual 80 mph, which was repeatedly monitored by Race Control via live telemetry.
McLaughlin, who finished second behind Newgarden in a Team Penske 1-2, spoke about what he witnessed after play resumed.
“My strategy all year was kind of to try to get as close to the car in front as possible,” said McLaughlin, who led 67 laps this weekend. “Most individuals are like that since you limit the concertina effect that you’ve gotten. I used to be right up against Josef’s gearbox.
“It's not up to me to judge. It's up to IndyCar. Personally, I think he restarted really late. That was probably the bigger problem. I just wish we had restarted like we did the last restart because I think we could have potentially had a first, second, third place for the team or a first, second, fourth.”
“It's not for me to evaluate. From my perspective, it didn't must occur. But I don't drive automotive number 2, and no person else does.
“Ultimately, all of us make decisions. He thought it was the precise restart. It sucks for everybody behind us. He won. It doesn't really matter to him. Will is broken and a number of others.
“Yeah, I think it sucks, considering the spectacle at the end.”
