By John Goolsby, Prep Sports Editor
ST. PETERSBURG – Tennessee native Josef Newgarden won the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding on Sunday.
The two-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion led 92 of 100 laps. The Nashville native won the pole on Saturday and turned in the fastest lap of the race.
Newgarden, behind the wheel of the #2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet, beat the #5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet of Pato O’Ward by 7.9121 seconds.
A capacity crowd at the 14-turn, 1.8-mile temporary street course saw the 2023 Indy 500 winner claim his 30th career INDYCAR SERIES victory. Newgarden now sits as the 13th winningest driver in IndyCar history.
“I had a lot of fun today,” Newgarden said. “I think it’s so deserving for the work they (Team Penske) put in. We’ve worked really hard to close the gap. We didn’t have the speed we needed on road and street courses last year, at least on a consistency basis, and today we brought that speed. We had the execution, as always.”
IndyCar returns to Birmingham in seven weeks, April 26-28. Barber Motorsports Park was the site of Team Penske’s only non-oval win last year. Team Penske seems to found an answer for their 2023 road racing woes.
Scott McLaughlin, the 2023 Barber winner, rounded out the podium in his Team Penske #3 DEX Imaging Chevrolet.
Team Penske’s Will Power finished fourth in the #12 Verizon Business Team Penske Chevrolet, while Colton Herta was fifth in the #26 Gainbridge Honda fielded by Andretti Global.
Newgarden led from the green flag and built a comfortable lead until Marcus Armstrong’s #11 Ridgeline Lubricants Chip Ganassi Racing Honda hit the Turn 10 wall on lap 27.
Christian Lundgaard’s #45 Hy-Vee Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda pitted earlier in the race and inherited the lead while the leaders pitted during the caution.
Newgarden regained the lead after Lundgaard headed to the pits nine laps later.
After a second caution, the field restarted on Lap 38. Newgarden built a substantial lead during a lengthy green flag run until his final stop just before lap 66.
At the end of the leader’s stops, Newgarden cycled back to the lead on Lap 67.
Newgarden wasn’t home free though. A Linus Lundqvist and Romain Grosjean incident on Lap 69 in Turn 10 brought out the third and final caution of the day.
Grosjean was deemed the offender by Race Control and the Swiss Formula One veteran was forced to serve a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact.
The field took the green on Lap 72, and Newgarden once again flexed his muscles. The Tennessean put the Chevrolet on cruise control and clicked off the final 29 laps to secure the win.
“I feel very relaxed right now,” Newgarden said. “I was really excited initially, and then it kind of calmed down those last 10 laps. We can move on from here and at least enjoy this first victory.”
Results:
1. (1) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 100, Running
2. (3) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 100, Running
3. (9) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 100, Running
4. (8) Will Power, Chevrolet, 100, Running
5. (4) Colton Herta, Honda, 100, Running
6. (13) Alex Palou, Honda, 100, Running
7. (2) Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, 100, Running
8. (15) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 100, Running
9. (11) Scott Dixon, Honda, 100, Running
10. (7) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 100, Running
11. (14) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 100, Running
12. (18) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 100, Running
13. (16) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 100, Running
14. (23) Kyffin Simpson, Honda, 100, Running
15. (26) Pietro Fittipaldi, Honda, 100, Running
16. (22) Graham Rahal, Honda, 100, Running
17. (17) Tom Blomqvist, Honda, 100, Running
18. (20) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, 100, Running
19. (27) Jack Harvey, Honda, 100, Running
20. (12) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 100, Running
21. (21) Christian Rasmussen, Chevrolet, 99, Running
22. (25) Colin Braun, Honda, 99, Running
23. (19) Linus Lundqvist, Honda, 97, Running
24. (5) Romain Grosjean, Chevrolet, 82, Mechanical
25. (6) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 52, Mechanical
26. (24) Sting Ray Robb, Chevrolet, 33, Off course
27. (10) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 25, Contact
Winner’s average speed: 96.867 mph; Time of Race: 1 hour, 51 minutes, 29.5954 seconds; Margin of victory: 7.9121 seconds; Cautions: Three for nine laps; Lead changes: 4 among 3 drivers. Lap Leaders: Newgarden 1-28; Lundgaard 29-35; Newgarden 36-65; Herta 66; Newgarden 67-100.
Top 10 in points: Newgarden 54, O’Ward 40, McLaughlin 35, Power 32, Herta 31, Palou 28, Rosenqvist 26, Rossi 24, Dixon 22, VeeKay 20.
The Series’ next race is The $1 Million Challenge, a special, non-points race on March 24 at The Thermal Club near Palm Springs, California.