When Josef Newgarden’s car’s rear end began to lose grip, he must have remembered last year’s crash when attempting to use the racetrack’s high line (see video below).
But this time, he pulled off an incredible save, and his reward was twofold: he didn’t lose many positions in his subsequent pitstop due to cars being mixed up in the order and everyone beyond eighth being a lap down, and it turned out that the fuel savings he and his car hadn’t been able to work as well as his rivals was no longer required.
A rush to the finish would always benefit Newgarden, who has won four of the previous five races at Gateway (last year’s collision robbed him a shot) and ten of the last fifteen oval races dating back to 2021.
https://www.the-race.com/indycar/winners-and-losers-from-controversial-gateway-indycar-race/
