Team Penske hushed previous criticism of series leadership by dominating the IndyCar season-opening race on Sunday in downtown St. Petersburg, with Josef Newgarden winning from the pole.
Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren Racing broke the Penske dominance with a second-place finish, although Penske drivers Scott McLaughlin and Will Power finished third and fourth. The Penske three finished ahead of every Andretti Global driver two days after team owner Michael Andretti demanded that Roger Penske sell the IndyCar Series if he did not improve his promotional and marketing efforts.
Andretti’s best finisher was Colton Herta in fifth place, despite a disastrous day with new driver Marcus Ericsson. The previous Indianapolis 500 winner lost power midway through the race, finishing 25th out of 27 cars. Ericsson was the defending race winner at St. Pete, which marked the 20th anniversary of the iconic street course event.
Alex Palou, the reigning IndyCar champion, finished sixth for Chip Ganassi Racing, while Felix Rosenqvist placed seventh in his debut for Meyer Shank Racing.
Alexander Rossi of McLaren finished eighth, while Scott Dixon of Ganassi and Rinus VeeKay of Ed Carpenter Racing completed the top ten. Santino Ferrucci finished an outstanding 11th for A.J. Foyt Racing, who formed an alliance with Penske.
Penske’s victory was his third season-opening win this year. His IMSA sports car squad won the Rolex 24 at Daytona, while his second team won the WEC opener in Qatar last week.
Penske grabbed Newgarden in victory lane, and the NBC cameras heard their conversation: “I was thinking of you at the end of that race, keep it together, like you told me.”
Newgarden then elaborated on the conversation.
“Roger was telling me, if you have a huge lead, you better keep onto it and not throw it in the wall,” Newgarden recalled. ”
The victory also extended Chevrolet’s strong start to 2024; entering the Cup Series race in Phoenix later Sunday, Chevy has won the first three Cup races of the season, all three Truck Series races, and two of four Xfinity Series races.
Chevrolet finished 1-2-3-4 in the IndyCar opening, with seven cars in the top eleven.
Newgarden, the reigning Indianapolis 500 winner, led 92 of the 100 laps as he dominated the field.
“I had a lot of fun today,” Newgarden said.
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