Written by Sean McKean
In a race of attrition, Scott McLaughlin survived to take his third victory of the season ahead of Scott Dixon. It was the Kiwi driver’s second victory at an oval track
As it unfolded
Before the race even began, Alex Palou suffered a major blow in the championship hunt – with his car coming to a rest on the formation laps. As the race started under yellow, he lost five laps as the field paced around him.
When the field originally went green on Lap 6, race control waved the start off. However, Linus Lundqvist did not get the message in time – running into the back of Josef Newgarden and Marcus Armstrong and causing a crash before the race technically started. Newgarden and Armstrong had to retire from the race.
Whilst this unfolded, the AMR Safety Team towed away Palou’s car as the battery issue worsened.
Scott McLaughlin finally led the field to the first green flag laps on Lap 17. The initial strength of the high line showed again, with Marcus Ericsson, Romain Grosjean, and Colton Herta each making up six spots within two laps.
Race control eventually penalised Lundqvist with a drive-through for the waved-start incident. He fell from third to last.
Nolan Siegel also suffered a hybrid issue on Lap 24, dropping from 11th to multiple laps down. He later retired.
Palou’s crew managed to get their car back out on track on Lap 30. Although many laps down, Chip Ganassi Racing planned to maximise as many points as possible.
Will Power managed to take the lead from teammate McLaughlin on Lap 45, taking the provisional championship lead with it.
The first batch of green flag stops began on Lap 55. Alexander Rossi leapfrogged McLaughlin for second in this cycle.
Multiple issues occurred as the caution came out on Lap 63. First, Conor Daly stopped in his box with a suspected radio and hybrid issue. Then, David Malukas came to a halt on the frontstretch with an unspecified issue.
Will Power led the field back to the green flag on Lap 72.
Lap 88 saw issues trouble the previous night's winner, Pato O’Ward, as the hybrid system broke down. The Mexican retired from the race.
The second batch of pit stops began on Lap 98.
The next caution came out on Lap 115, this time for Sting Ray Robb going for a spin off Turn 2. Under the caution, McLaughlin got the jump on his Australian teammate whilst Rossi and Scott Dixon stayed out.
Rossi led the field away at the halfway point, but a crash from Graham Rahal immediately brought the yellow flag back out – the RLL driver receiving a tap from Christian Rasmussen in Turn 3. Rahal went out of the race as a result.
On the ensuing restart, though, Will Power’s race nearly came to an end, as he went for a spin approaching the green flag in Turn 4. He continued with minor damage but dropped down to 11th. The Australian went down into the pits for new tyres as well.
However, when the field got the green-flag call, Power went into the pits again to repair the front wing – subsequently going one lap down.
Rossi led the way again from Dixon on Lap 138.
The two eventually peeled in for their stops 30 laps later, handing the lead to Scott McLaughlin temporarily. The general pit cycles also began. McLaughlin then kept the lead after cycles.
Little happened before the last pit stops began on Lap 197. Nothing of note occurred, but Colton Herta assumed the lead in an attempt to take it all the way to the end on a ten-lap tyre difference.
It only took 17 laps for McLaughlin to catch right up to Herta, but this year’s Toronto winner gave the Penske driver a fight. McLaughlin, however, managed to take the lead and pulled away.
The race was turned on its head though with 22 laps to go, when Sting Ray Robb had another spin – this time, into the wall. Everyone came down to the pits, with most taking new tyres.
McLaughlin led the way with only 11 laps to go. Although the Kiwi got the jump, Scott Dixon began reeling in McLaughlin. However, it wasn’t enough to prevent Scott McLaughlin from bringing home his third victory of the season ahead of the six-time champion. Rounding out the podium was Colton Herta.
Provisional Results:
McLaughlin
Dixon
Herta
Ferrucci
Ericsson
Rossi
VeeKay
Kirkwood
Grosjean
Power
Rosenqvist
Lundgaard
Simpson
Harvey
Legge
Rasmussen
Daly
Robb
Palou
Lundqvist
Fittipaldi
Malukas
Rahal
O’Ward
Siegel
Armstrong
Newgarden
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