Of all the races on the IndyCar schedule, the St Louis area’s Gateway 500 might be one of the biggest oddballs, in that it covers neither 500 laps nor 500 miles. But once the rubber hit the road Saturday night, all that melted away, and this year’s edition brought the most chaotic race of the hybrid era, with 21 lead changes between 11 leaders, an ever-splintering list of strategies, and a divisive finale that could reshape the title chase. Without further ado, let’s get into the ups, downs, and storylines from IndyCar’s grand post-Olympic return.
Newgarden extends local dynasty under cloud of controversy
Josef Newgarden led the fewest laps of the Team Penske trio—in fact, he nearly put himself out of the race entirely with a spin while trying to take the lead, causing the race’s only non-contact yellow flag. But after recovering from that, his pit crew got him the lead on the final stop and he never looked back, leading the final 17 laps to take a record fifth win at Gateway, including four of the last five on this circuit, and put himself in a four-way tie for the tenth-most wins all-time.
However, it wasn’t a popular win, thanks to his run at the front being split in two by a red flag incident with less than ten laps to go. Colton Herta and Will Power both accused Newgarden of causing the chaos by checking up and deliberately staying slow as he approached the green flag, with Power flipping Newgarden off as the cars convened on pit row. The fact that Newgarden got a much better jump coming to the final green flag only adds to that uncharitable read, and he’ll enter Portland with an even bigger target on his back than he already had.
McLaughlin starts first, finishes second
After claiming his fourth pole position this year, Scott McLaughlin led 67 laps, staying in or near the effective lead practically all day long. If the people who wanted Newgarden penalised got their way, Scotty Mac would likely have his second oval win of the year. Ultimately, though, it came down to that last pit stop, and while McLaughlin’s Thirsty Threes turned in an impressive six-second stop, that was nine-tenths slower than Newgarden’s crew, forcing McLaughlin to settle for silver.
Scott McLaughlin. (Photo by Matthew Ashton – AMA/Getty Images)
However, that might actually be a victory in the long run, as it made McLaughlin the only one of the top six contenders to reach the podium. If his newfound excellence on ovals keeps growing, he’s now in an excellent position to make the most of it.
Lundqvist takes bronze once again
Linus Lundqvist has had flashes of brilliance, but his up-and-down form has left some wondering if that miracle run in Alabama was a pure fluke. This time, however, Lundqvist was absolutely on point—he maximized his alternate fuel strategy’s potential, found himself fourth by the final shootout, and in an inspired charge, the rookie overtook Colton Herta with five laps left to win the bronze.
With this, Lundqvist claims his second career podium, all but sews up the Rookie of the Year award, and most importantly, he may have earned himself another year in the Chip Ganassi No.8.
Herta, Palou recover while Dixon falls behind
Three title contenders had major Saturday setbacks to deal with—Álex Palou and Scott Dixon took starting grid penalties for excessive engine swaps, while Colton Herta’s crash in qualifying turned what could’ve been a pole into a P25 start. Palou and Herta would make the right strategic calls and stay out of the chaos around them, allowing them to finish fourth and fifth respectively—granted, Herta would’ve been fourth without a post-race blocking penalty. Dixon, meanwhile, made a rare bad bet, as his fuel-save turned out to be the wrong play, and the Kiwi legend had to settle for 11th.
Siegel, Robb set career highs
As tends to happen on the ovals, an unexpected few hit new heights, and leading the charge on that front was Nolan Siegel. The teenage Californian wowed the crowd, leading his first career IndyCar laps and finishing seventh. Not only was it the best result of his career, it was the best any driver has done in the McLaren No.6 car, and it could go a long way in proving he deserves to be here.
Meanwhile, A.J. Foyt Racing’s Sting Ray Robb stole the show among small-team drivers, leading eight laps and climbing 15 spots from where he started to score his first-ever top ten in IndyCar. Robb may have a reputation as IndyCar’s comedy relief, but his results on ovals show he’s developing a genuine grasp of this side of the calendar, and if he keeps this up, it could be exactly the act he needs to stick around.
Malukas, Power entwined in catastrophe
Two drivers in particular should’ve made the podium, but didn’t. David Malukas has made his name largely because of this circuit, with second and third-place finishes in his last two visits here, and looked on track to do so again for Meyer Shank, starting on the front row and constantly running in or near the effective lead. Meanwhile, Will Power led a field-best 117 laps and looked to become just the third repeat winner at Gateway. But their strong drives put them on a literal crash course late in the race, and when Malukas tried to make a risky pass down low, a little contact with Power was all it took to send the young driver careening back into the wall and out of contention.
Power, for his part, would take his punishment from the racing gods at the next restart. Whether Newgarden’s approach to the start caused it or not, the result was Alexander Rossi running into Power, popping a wheelie from the impact, and the two cars dragging over to one side. As a result, the Australian great took a devastating hit to his title hopes, one he raged about at anyone in sight.
The sicko’s guide to DNFs: Ten gatekept in the Gateway City
Fan favourite Katherine Legge had a weekend of awful luck, taking a grid penalty for an engine change and not even getting to attempt qualifying because her Dale Coyne No.51 failed a tech inspection. That peaked on lap eight, when she collided with Ed Carpenter, ending her race before it could really begin.
Kyle Kirkwood was our next crash victim, but his was more of a slow bleeding out. After hitting both Juncos Hollinger cars, he went into the pits for repairs and spent a while running dozens of laps down, occasionally running interference for his Andretti teammates, before retiring the car in 22nd.
Championship contender Pato O’Ward looked like he’d have a decent day, running in the top ten consistently through the early going, but his engine sprung a leak and failed, forcing him out and putting a massive dent in his title hopes. Mechanical failures would also eventually sink Marcus Ericsson and Graham Rahal, who’d led a combined 18 laps while they were out on track.
As for crashes, the next one came from Kyffin Simpson, who spun out all by himself and hit the wall rear-first. He would turn out to be the last one for over 100 laps, a streak that broke when Malukas’ podium streak at Gateway came to a violent end. That, in turn, led to Rossi and Power’s incident on the restart—which, combined with Jack Harvey independently crashing on the other side, created so much debris that it brought out the red flag and set up the finish we got.
Championship collage: Herta, McLaughlin rise as Power takes tumble
Scott Dixon. (Photo by Will Lester/MediaNews Group/Inland Valley Daily Bulletin via Getty Images)
Álex Palou continues to pull away, extending his Astor Cup lead to 59, but there’s been a shakeup behind him. Colton Herta and Scott McLaughlin each move up two spots, respectively taking them to second and fourth. Pato O’Ward’s leaky engine set him back a spot to sixth, while Will Power’s late choke set him back from second to fifth.
In the Manufacturers’ Cup race, a McLaughlin pole and Penske 1-2 helped Chevy extend their lead over Honda to 42 points, bringing the bowties one step closer to a three-peat.
Finally, in our official unofficial Nations’ Cup chase, New Zealand’s dominance is officially under threat, as the United States shaved nine points off the gap to get within 17 of the lead. With only these two countries reaching the 500-point club, and Spain still quite a ways off, it’s becoming a two-horse race as we enter the final stretch.
Future flames: Road racing in the Rose City
We’ll go back to our usual Sunday driving next weekend with the Grand Prix of Portland.
This circuit is famed for producing some of the closest finishes in Indy racing history, and it’ll be especially crucial for road course masters like Álex Palou to do well here, because after this it’s nothing but ovals the rest of the way.