IndyCar: St. Petersburg results, standings – Josef Newgarden victorious
By Asher Fair
Josef Newgarden won a wild 2020 IndyCar season finale, the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, while Scott Dixon secured his sixth championship.
As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the 2020 IndyCar season ended where it was originally scheduled to begin back in mid-March on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, and it ended with one of the most chaotic races of the year.
It was Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden who avoided the mayhem and took the checkered flag to close out the 14-race season with a victory, his second in a row at the track.
Newgarden started this 100-lap race around the 14-turn, 1.8-mile (2.897-kilometer) temporary street circuit on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida in eighth place behind the wheel of his #1 Chevrolet, and he won it by 4.1409 seconds over in Arrow McLaren SP’s Pato O’Ward, who tied his career-high finish with a second place result behind the wheel of his #5 Chevrolet.
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Despite his victory, however, Newgarden, who entered the race as the only driver with a chance to surpass Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon in the championship standings, was unable to secure his third title.
With his third place finish behind the wheel of this #9 Honda, Dixon clinched his sixth title to become just the second driver to win at least six titles. A.J. Foyt, a seven-time champion, won his sixth title 45 years ago in 1975. With Newgarden winning the race but not leading the most laps, Dixon needed a top 11 finish to clinch the title. He finished in third place behind the wheel of his #9 Honda.
A.J. Foyt Enterprises’ Sebastien Bourdais finished in fourth place in just his third start of the year behind the wheel of the #14 Chevrolet. This result is the team’s best of the year.
Andretti Autosport saw a terrific day turn into a terrible day, with crashes by Alexander Rossi, James Hinchcliffe and Colton Herta, who made up the top three for much of the day. Marco Andretti was also hit from behind by Takuma Sato, knocking him out of the race. Ryan Hunter-Reay ended up leading the team in fifth place behind the wheel of his #28 Honda.
Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud finished in sixth place behind the wheel of his #22 Chevrolet, but he was the only Team Penske driver aside from Newgarden to finish the race. Will Power crashed after starting from the pole position, and Scott McLaughlin, making his series debut, also ended up out of the race following contact.
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Ericsson finished in a solid seventh place behind the wheel of his #8 Honda ahead of A.J. Foyt Enterprises’ Charlie Kimball in eighth behind the wheel of his #4 Chevrolet. Kimball capped off the biggest day for Foyt’s team in quite some time.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing teammates Graham Rahal and Sato wrapped up the top 10 in ninth and 10th place behind the wheels of their #15 Honda and #30 Honda, respectively.
Here are the full race results of the 2020 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on the streets of St. Petersburg.
Race Results
1st – Josef Newgarden
2nd – Pato O’Ward
3rd – Scott Dixon
4th – Sebastien Bourdais
5th – Ryan Hunter-Reay
6th – Simon Pagenaud
7th – Marcus Ericsson
8th – Charlie Kimball
9th – Graham Rahal
10th – Takuma Sato
11th – Colton Herta
12th – Max Chilton
13th – Alex Palou
14th – James Hinchcliffe
15th – Rinus VeeKay
16th – Oliver Askew
17th – Conor Daly
18th – Felix Rosenqvist
19th – Jack Harvey
20th – Marco Andretti
21st – Alexander Rossi
22nd – Scott McLaughlin
23rd – Santino Ferrucci
24th – Will Power
Here are the updated championship standings following Newgarden’s win.
Rank – Driver: Points (Behind)
1st – Scott Dixon: 537 (0)
2nd – Josef Newgarden: 521 (-16)
3rd – Colton Herta: 421 (-116)
4th – Pato O’Ward: 416 (-121)
5th – Will Power: 396 (-141)
6th – Graham Rahal: 377 (-160)
7th – Takuma Sato: 348 (-189)
8th – Simon Pagenaud: 339 (-198)
9th – Alexander Rossi: 317 (-220)
10th – Ryan Hunter-Reay: 315 (-222)
11th – Felix Rosenqvist: 306 (-231)
12th – Marcus Ericsson: 291 (-246)
13th – Santino Ferrucci: 290 (-247)
14th – Rinus VeeKay: 289 (-248)
15th – Jack Harvey: 288 (-249)
16th – Alex Palou: 238 (-299)
17th – Conor Daly: 237 (-300)
18th – Charlie Kimball: 218 (-319)
19th – Oliver Askew: 195 (-342)
20th – Marco Andretti: 176 (-361)
21st – Zach Veach: 166 (-371)
22nd – Max Chilton: 147 (-390)
23rd – James Hinchcliffe: 138 (-399)
24th – Tony Kanaan: 106 (-431)
25th – Ed Carpenter: 81 (-456)
26th – Dalton Kellett: 67 (-470)
27th – Helio Castroneves: 57 (-480)
28th – Sebastien Bourdais: 53 (-484)
29th – Sage Karam: 32 (-505)
30th – J.R. Hildebrand: 28 (-509)
31st – Fernando Alonso: 18 (-519)
32nd – Spencer Pigot: 17 (-520)
33rd – Ben Hanley: 14 (-523)
34th – James Davison: 10 (-527)
35th – Scott McLaughlin: 8 (-529)
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The 2020 IndyCar season is in the books, and the 2021 season is scheduled to begin where this one ended: on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida. This track had hosted the season opener every year since 2011 before the pandemic caused huge changes to this year’s calendar.