Josef Newgarden grabbed his third victory of the IndyCar season on Sunday, his victory at Road America bringing the Penske driver part of a $1 million bonus as the first to win on all three types of courses this year.
Newgarden had already won on the Texas Motor Speedway oval and the Long Beach temporary street circuit before his win on the four-mile, 14-turn Road America layout in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
Newgarden and the Penske team will share $500,000 of the bonus while another $500,000 will go to two charities in the driver’s native Nashville.
The victory also helped expunge the bitter memory of last year’s race at Road America, which Newgarden dominated only to come unstuck after a late-race caution bunched the field behind him with two laps remaining.
On the restart, gearbox issues struck and he was unable to get up to speed, finally settling for a 21st-place finish instead of a victory.
This time, Newgarden held off charges from Alexander Rossi and Marcus Ericsson and was in front of them at the restart after Pato O’Ward’s engine blew with eight laps to go.
Sweden’s Indianapolis 500 winner Ericsson finished second for Chip Ganassi, 3.3710sec behind Newgarden.
Rossi, who started from pole, finished third, his second straight podium finish this month continuing a surge that has seen him nab five top-10 finishes in his last six starts.
Rossi was one of three Andretti Autosport drivers in the top five.
Teammate Romain Grosjean of France was fourth ahead of Andretti’s Colton Herta.
Ericsson’s runner-up finish was enough to move him to the top of the season standings, 12 points in front of the man he supplanted, Australian Will Power.
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