Two-time Australian Indycar Series champion Will Power was less than happy with his teammate Josef Newgarden after his chances of winning the 2024 title were dented by the American’s victory in Saturday night’s race in Illinois.
Team Penske’s Newgarden took the lead during a late pit stop and beat his New Zealand teammate Scott McLaughlin on two restarts to triumph in the 260-lap race.
Newgarden, this year’s winner of the Indianapolis 500, dominated the track outside St. Louis and took his fourth victory in the last five years.
Defending series champion Alex Palou finished fifth but was able to extend his lead in the points standings after his closest rival Power, who had led more laps than anyone else, retired in a late accident.
Power was running fourth with nine laps to go when Alexander Rossi caught up with him from behind. Power complained that Newgarden had been repeatedly accelerating and releasing the throttle in turn 4 in preparation for the restart.
“I don’t know why – I don’t know why – he just kept going back and going and not getting anywhere,” said Power, who finished 18th and dropped to fourth in the points race. “I don’t understand it.”
Newgarden admitted he “tried to start as late as possible,” but insisted it was within the rules and consistent with other restarts throughout his career.
“The last thing I want is to cause an accident,” Newgarden said, suggesting that race officials may have switched to the green light just before he actually accelerated. “Believe me, the last thing I want is for Will to get hit.”
Palou had a 49-point lead over Power and now leads Colton Herta by 59 points with four races remaining. Herta finished fourth but was penalized for blocking and dropped to fifth.
After a red flag to clear the track, Newgarden pulled away on the restart and was unchallenged for the rest of the way.
“Personally, I think he restarted very late. That was probably more of the problem,” said McLaughlin, noting that it might have cost the team a podium finish. “It’s not for me to judge. From my point of view, it just shouldn’t have happened.”
– with AAP
