The NTT IndyCar Series kicked off its doubleheader weekend at Wide World Technology Raceway at Gateway for Race One of the Bommarito Automotive Group 500. Earlier in the day, IndyCar held qualifying for races one and two.
The results for race one qualifying were Will Power taking the pole for race one with a time of 24.6718 seconds at 182.394 mph. Starting next to him was Pato O’Ward with a time of 24.7149 seconds at 182.076 mph.
The green flag had not dropped when the first caution came out. The incident started on the front stretch before the flag stand. Alex Palou, with Simon Pagenaud behind him, jumped out of line and then slowed down. Oliver Askew then ran into the back of Pagenaud’s car, causing him to turn and hit several cars, some ended up with major damage ending their day. Palou was not involved in the wreck. Other drivers involved in the wreck were Alexander Rossi, Zach Veach, Ed Carpenter, and Marco Andretti.
It took track crews several minutes to clean up the carnage before the race could resume. The race would finally get underway on lap 13 with Will Power in the lead. Power led 61 laps before making a pit stop on lap 63, then Scott Dixon became the new leader.
Dixon led three laps before coming in for his pit stop on lap 65 the new leader was Felix Rosenqvist. Rosenqvist only led one lap before pitting, then Santino Ferrucci took over the lead. Simon Pagenaud, who suffered damage at the start of the race, would head to the garage and finish in 19th place. Once the cycle of pit stop was complete, Pato O’Ward was the new leader. O’Ward led forty laps before the second caution came out on lap 108 for a brief shower.
Pato O’Ward led the field back to green with 70 laps to go. With less than 35 laps to go, Scott Dixon and Pato O’Ward made their final scheduled pit stops with Dixon beating O’Ward out of pit road Takuma Sato was the new leader. Once Sato pitted, Scott Dixon was back in the lead.
With 20 laps to go, Takuma Sato passed Pato O’Ward for second place. He was catching Scott Dixon as the laps winded down. However, Sato would run out of time as Dixon would get his 50th career IndyCar Series win by .140 seconds over Sato. Dixon now trails Mario Andretti by two wins to tie for second and seventeen wins behind the all-time winning driver A.J Foyt.
The rest of the top ten finishers were Pato O’Ward third, Colton Herta fourth, Marcus Ericsson fifth, Rinus VeeKay sixth, Ryan Hunter-Reay seventh, Felix Rosenqvist eight, Tony Kannan ninth, and Conor Daly tenth. There were only two cautions for 25 laps.
Dixon now has a 117-point lead over Josef Newgarden with only four races left in the season. The rest of the point standings are Pato O’Ward third, Takuma Sato fourth, Graham Rahal fifth, Simon Pagenaud sixth, Colton Herta seventh, Santino Ferrucci eighth, Will Power ninth, and Felix Rosenqvist tenth. Race two of the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 will be Sunday at 3 pm on NBCSN.
