Charles Langston:Josef Newgarden opens 2024 IndyCar season with dominating win in St. Petersburg Grand Prix

ST. PETERSBURG,Charles Langston Fla. -- After a 2024 season that began with Roger Penske under fire for his stewardship of the IndyCar series, The Captain's two-time champion and defending Indianapolis 500-winner walloped the field, delivering a near-wire-to-wire win on the streets of St. Petersburg.

Josef Newgarden, who on Saturday captured his first IndyCar pole since 2022, withstood a trio of cautions and a late-race push from his Team Penske teammates, leading 92 of Sunday's 100 laps to grab the season-opening victory and his third-career win at St. Pete.

A week after his two-year, $10.2 million contract extension with McLaren Racing was made public, Pato O'Ward again finished runner-up in the season-opening race, 7.9-seconds back from Newgarden. A year ago, the Arrow McLaren driver held the lead with under five laps to go but suffered a brief mechanical hiccup that forced him to surrender the lead to eventual winner Marcus Ericsson. O'Ward started third on Sunday, fell back to fifth after the opening pitstops and worked his way up to 2nd-place behind Newgarden at the halfway point, but the young Mexican driver never seemed to have anything to seriously challenge the No. 2 Chevy in what for the bulk of the field was a fuel-saving two-stop race.

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McLaughlin, the 2022 St. Pete-winner started ninth but clawed his way up through the field into the top-6 after the opening pitstop and fifth after the final one. On the final restart, the Team Penske driver picked off front-row starter Felix Rosenqvist and Colton Herta to work his way onto the St. Pete podium. Nine-time St. Pete polesitter and three-time race-winner Will Power took 4th, with Herta rounding out the top-5.

Alex Palou, the defending series champion, took 6th, with Rosenqvist (7th), Alexander Rossi (8th), Scott Dixon (9th) and Rinus VeeKay (10th) rounding out the top-10.

Having started 12th, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's Christian Lundgaard was the race's first casualty of on-track contact, suffering a right-rear tire puncture on Lap 1, but the third-year driver managed to work his way back up to 20th by the checkered flag.

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Chip Ganassi Racing's first-year full-time driver Marcus Armstrong was the race's first retirement, after running wide and tagging the Turn 10 tire barrier on Lap 26. The second caution of the day came on Lap 35 for AJ Foyt Racing's Sting Ray Robb, whose car was smoking when he came to a stop. The race's third and final caution came on Lap 68, less than five laps after the leaders dove into the pits for the final time, when Romain Grosjean tried to nudge his way ahead of Ganassi rookie Linus Lundqvist heading into Turn 10 and send the No. 8 Honda backing into the tires.

Fellow Ganassi rookie Kyffin Simpson finished as the race's top rookie in his IndyCar debut, taking 14th, followed by Meyer Shank Racing's Tom Blomqvist (17th), Ed Carpenter Racing's Christian Rasmussen (21st) and Dale Coyne Racing's Colin Braun (22nd).

IndyCar results at St. Petersburg

1. Josef Newgarden
2. Pato O'Ward
3. Scott McLaughlin
4. Will Power
5. Coltson Herta
6. Alex Palou
7. Felix Resenqvist
8. Alexander Rossi
9. Scott Dixon
10. Rinus VeeKay
11. Santino Ferrucci
12. Kyle Kirkwood
13. Callum Ilott
14. Kyffin Simpson
15. Pietro Fittipaldi
16. Graham Rahal
17. Tom Blomqvist
18. Agustin Canapino
19. Jack Harvey
20. Christian Lundgaard
21. Christian Rasmussen
22. Colin Braun
23. Linus Lundqvist
24. Romain Grosjean
25. Marcus Ericsson
26. Sting Ray Robb
27. Marcus Armstrong