Josef Newgardern was the driver who won the last time IndyCar was in Phoenix back in 2018, and in its return, he’s done it again. After hunting down and passing Kyle Kirkwood for the lead with seven laps remaining, he earned his first win of the season and took the lead of the championship standings. Pole sitter and teammate David Malukas earned his first podium with Team Penske.
An Action-Packed Beginning
It was a clean getaway in the hot desert of Phoenix, with action starting immediately. Malukas and Newgarden kept their 1-2, but behind them, there were some big movers.
Álex Palou was one of the many making moves in the opening few laps of the race, jumping up from 10th to fourth. Joining Palou in moving up early was Alexander Rossi, who went from 6th to 3rd.
The clean racing and passing in green flag conditions would come to a halt when rookie Dennis Hauger did a 180 in his Dale Coyne Racing car. He managed to avoid the wall in a skillful move, but the yellow came out as a result.
A few laps under caution, and it was back to green, but just as quickly, the yellow was out again. Rinus Veekay tried to ride the outside of Palou, but eventually ran out of room, and the two made contact. Unfortunately, for the championship leader, he got the worst of it, and that was the end of his race. The incident put Palou fifth in the championship.
Late Cautions Mix Things Up
The race didn’t see another caution until lap 140 when Louis Foster found the wall on the exit of turn 4. Before the late caution, drivers were on varying strategies, as expected, but this incident opened up the pits. The leaders took advantage, and all ended up on the same strategy aside from Will Power and Kirkwood, who elected to stay out.
It seemed like it was going to be a dash to the finish. However, this is IndyCar, and there was one more caution that would change everything. Up until this point, Christian Rasmussen was the man to beat, easily being the fastest driver.
On Lap 207, Rasmussen worked to the outside of Power and ran him wide into the wall exiting turn two. During the contact, Power picked up a flat right rear tire, resulting in the caution. Rasmussen and Kirkwood, who had pitted on lap 192, elected to stay out while Pato O’Ward, Newgarden, and Scott McLaughlin headed for the pits.
The drivers on fresh tires would take advantage. Rasmussen, who led Kirkwood and Malukas at green, fell behind in the closing laps. With 10 to go, Kirkwood and Newgarden passed the Dane with ease, who picked up damage from the incident with Power.
The race-winning move came on lap seven when Newgarden, using his fresh tires, made a move on Kirkwood to secure the victory in Phoenix for the second time in his IndyCar career
Christian Rasmussen Dazzles
Although Rasmussen’s results read as 14th due to damage from a late incident, that was not at all the story of his race. The Dane proved his fearlessness on ovals once again.
After starting 18th on the grid, Rasmussen found himself in the mix really quickly and didn’t let up for the majority of the race. He led 69 laps and completed 61 passes, the most of any driver.
It was looking like Phoenix would be his second career IndyCar victory, but damage from the incident led him to lose the lead.
IndyCar is back in action this week as the series heads to the Streets of Arlington for the first time.