Team Penske's Josef Newgarden extended his all-time wins record at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway in Sunday night's Bommarito Automotive Group 500 after two red flags paused the race due to rain.
The victory was his sixth at the four-turn, 1.25-mile (2.012-kilometer) Madison, Illinois oval and his fifth since 2020 alone. Of his 34 career NTT IndyCar Series victories, 20 have come on ovals, including 11 in a row dating back to 2022. He has won three out of four oval races since the 2025 season finale at Nashville Superspeedway.
Entering Sunday's 260-lap race, teammate David Malukas was the oval points leader, having placed third at Phoenix Raceway, where Newgarden won in March, and second in the Indy 500. Newgarden lost the oval points lead when he crashed out at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on a restart.
Team Penske 1-2-3 in IndyCar oval standings
Thanks to his Gateway win, he's back up to second, nine points behind Malukas, and teammate Scott McLaughlin is quietly up to third, 22 points back, after a fifth place finish on Sunday night. A decision to pit late for new tires ended up gaining him track position by the time the checkered flag flew.
McLaughlin is tied for third with Indy 500 winner Meyer Shank Racing of Felix Rosenqvist in the oval standings, so Rosenqvist technically owns the tiebreaker due to his Indy 500 win; McLaughlin's top oval finish of the season is third in the Indy 500.
But the bottom line is that after three of the season's six oval races, no driver has scored more oval points than any of the three Team Penske drivers.
Chip Ganassi Racing's Alex Palou won the oval championship for the first time in 2025, after Team Penske had won two in a row with Newgarden in 2023 and McLaughlin in 2024.
Malukas is still seeking his first career oval (and overall IndyCar) victory; McLaughlin's 2024 title came after he entered the year without an oval win, as did Palou's in 2025.
The next oval race on the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series schedule is scheduled to take place at Nashville Superspeedway on Sunday, July 19, following road course races at Road America and Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. All nine races remaining on the 2026 calendar are set to be shown live on Fox, so begin a free trial of FuboTV and don't miss any of the action!
Add us as a preferred source on Google