Josef Newgarden wins rain-delayed race at Gateway; trails Will Power by three points

Winning a rain-delayed World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway race, Josef Newgarden made a charge in the NTT IndyCar Series championship standings Saturday night.

With his series-leading fifth victory of the season, Newgarden closed within three points of teammate and championship leader Will Power with two races remaining this year.

It also marked the fourth win at Gateway (and the third consecutive at the track near St. Louis) for the driver of Team Penske’s No. 2 Dallara-Chevrolet.

Newgarden led the final 35 laps after seizing first from teammate Scott McLaughlin on Lap 225. The green flag had waved a lap earlier for the first time in more than two hours on the 1.25-mile oval after rain hit with McLaughlin in the lead.

Rookie David Malukas, who had made a pit stop just before the red flag, charged from fifth to a career-best second-place finish by passing McLaughlin on the final lap.

Pato O’Ward finished fourth, followed by Takuma Sato, Power, Marcus Ericsson, Scott Dixon, Alex Palou and Graham Rahal.

After starting on the pole position for a record-tying 67th time, Power faded from fourth to sixth after the race restarted.