Saturday evening’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at the World Wide Technology Raceway was an eventful race as Josef Newgarden took victory.
The result, a third win at the track for Newgarden, came as overall leader Alex Palou was forced to retire, with Patricio O’Ward’s second place enough to install him as the new leader.
Will Power began with all the advantages from the front, and early challengers Graham Rahal and Ed Jones became entangled on lap three and the two of them crashed out with Rahal ultimately finishing eighth.
Palau and his Chip Ganassi Racing colleague Scott Dixon were still competing at lap 64, but Rinus VeeKay took them both out of the action.
With all the chaos back down the pack, Newgarden enjoyed relative serenity near the front, though he was passed by Colton Herta, who was then held back by a broken driveshaft on lap 185. Alexander Rossi, another of Herta’s Andretti Autosport teammates, hit a wall on lap 200, causing a restart. Newgarden kept O’Ward at a distance, and took his second win of the year.
O’Ward finished with a 10 point lead over Palaou with three races to go.