The NTT IndyCar Series held its final doubleheader race of the season Friday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course for the Harvest Grand Prix. Qualifying took place on Thursday, and Rinus VeeKay won the pole with a lap time of 1 minute, 9.6903 seconds at 125.992 mph.
Qualifying second was Colton Herta with a lap time of 1 minute, 09.7048 seconds at 125.966. Ten thousand fans were allowed at the track to watch the race. Heading into this race, Scott Dixon had a 72-point lead over Josef Newgarden.
The first couple of laps saw both VeeKay and Herta in a fierce battle for the lead as Herta led a lap before VeeKay got it back. VeeKay led 15 laps before making his first scheduled pit stop of the day with Josef Newgarden taking over the lead. VeeKay and Herta would renew their battle this time for sixth place. Newgarden led five laps before making his scheduled pit stop.
Santino Ferrucci was the new leader and led a lap before pitting himself as Newgarden and Herta were now in a battle for first. Newgarden led a lap before Herta got the lead on lap 24. Herta led 13 laps before making his second scheduled pit stop as Newgarden was once again in the lead. He led an additional seven laps before making his second scheduled pit stop.
After Graham Rahal led a lap and pitted, the lead went back to Colton Herta. Newgarden was reeling in Herta each lap and by lap 60, was right behind Herta when Herta slid up at turn one, handing the lead to Newgarden. Herta would pit on the same lap, and Newgarden would make his final pit stop of the day on lap 61 as Felix Rosenqvist was the new leader.
Rosenqvist led a lap, and Rahal led four laps before they pitted with Newgarden back in the lead. Alexander Rossi would go around Herta at turn seven to take second place. Herta would lose another spot to Rinus VeeKay in the closing laps.
Upfront, Newgarden led the last 19 laps to win his second race of the season by 14.2940 seconds over Alexander Rossi. He now trails Scott Dixon by 40-points with two races left in the season with Dixon finishing in ninth.
The rest of the top ten finishers were Rinus VeeKay third, Colton Herta fourth, Felix Rosenqvist fifth, Will Power sixth, Graham Rahal seventh, Jack Harvey eighth, Scott Dixon ninth, and Marcus Ericsson tenth. Race Two of the Harvest Grand Prix will take place tomorrow at 2:30 pm on NBC.
