AVONDALE, Ariz. — Josef Newgarden of Team Penske continued the team’s oval dominance at Phoenix Raceway when he passed leader Kyle Kirkwood with six laps to go to win Saturday’s Good Ranchers 250 NTT IndyCar Series race.
Newgarden was the last driver to win an IndyCar race at Phoenix in 2018. In the return to the one-mile Phoenix Raceway oval, Newgarden scored another win on the short oval, giving team owner Roger Penske his first IndyCar win in Penske Racing’s 60th season.
“Let’s go, let’s go,” Newgarden radioed to his crew after scoring his 33rd IndyCar win. “How about that?”
Newgarden defeated Kirkwood by 1.801 seconds over Kirkwood’s No. 27 Honda. Team Penske driver David Malukas was third in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet followed by Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward’s No. 5 Chevrolet.
“I’m just very surprised,” Newgarden said. “It’s only been one race since we last won, but we kept working on it and the thing was like a rocket ship when it needed to be.
“I’m pumped. I love to be here in Phoenix. This is an IndyCar track. The people that know history know this is an IndyCar track. It’s great that NASCAR is here and IndyCar belongs here, too.
“This was great execution for the team.”
Meyer Shank Racing’s Marcus Armstrong rounded out the top five in the No. 66 Honda.
The victory moved Newgarden into the championship lead after two races.
There were 565 on-track passes, 323 passes for position, 145 in the top 10, 60 in the top five — all IndyCar records at Phoenix.
Christian Rasmussen had been the story of the race, but his tires and handling went away at the very end. He gave up the lead when Kirkwood passed him, but Kirkwood could not hold off the charging Newgarden, who was determined to get another oval win.
Newgarden won the last oval race in IndyCar when he was the victor at the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix at Nashville Superspeedway on August 31, 2025.
And for the first time in 623 days, IndyCar has a points leader other than Alex Palou, who crashed near the start/finish line in the dogleg one lap after a restart on Lap 19. Palou went high and made contact with Rinus VeeKay’s No. 76 Chevrolet. That turned Palou’s No. 10 DHL Honda into the wall and out of the race.
During the caution, Palou’s car was brought back to the IndyCar paddock on the hook of a tow truck, and also out of the points lead for the first time since before the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey at Laguna Seca on June 23, 2024. Following his win there, Malukas was the leader in the IndyCar points for the remainder of the 2024 season, the entire 2025 season, and the first week of the 2026 IndyCar season.
That was a total of 623 straight days since someone other than Alex Palou, has led the standings. The last driver to lead the championship other than Palou was Will Power when he won June 9, 2024, at Road America.
Malukas was in the lead when the green flag waved on Lap 32 followed by Newgarden, Alexander Rossi and Graham Rahal. Scott McLaughlin was fifth.
Power, who started 25th, raced his way up to 14th position before dropping two spots to 16th on Lap 37. Power and Felix Rosenqvist both crashed, on Friday and were both on the move early in Saturday’s race.
“I don’t know if I just squeezed someone, or someone was trying to get there,” Palou said. “I didn’t think there was anybody there. I need to see if there was space there or not. It’s unfortunate we ended up in the wall early, but that’s racing.”
During a lengthy green flag run, Malukas continued to keep his No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet in front of Team Penske teammate Newgarden’s No. 2 Chevrolet. Rossi moved his way into third and Gravy Rahal continued to be fourth, just ahead of Christian Rasmussen’s No. 21 ECR Chevrolet.
When Malukas pitted on Lap 73, Rasmussen was scored in the lead ahead of Marcus Armstrong’s Honda and Scott Dixon’s No. 9 PNC Bank Honda.
When Malukas returned to the race, the two Team Penske machines were side-by-side, and touched wheels, Malukas’ right rear, to Newgarden’s left front.
Rasmussen was the leader when he pitted on Lap 80, and that put Armstrong’s No. 66 Meyer Shank Honda into the lead.
Malukas and Newgarden continued their fierce fight, despite being Team Penske teammates.
On Lap 90, Dixon was the leader over Rosenqvist by 4-seconds.
Dixon pitted on Lap 97 and that put rookie Dennis Hauger in the lead with Pato O’Ward second.
Hauger pitted one lap later and that put O’Ward in the lead ahead of Newgarden and Rasmussen.
At Lap 100, O’Ward led Newgarden by 2.8831 seconds. Power was up to ninth place by Lap 110.
Rossi pitted on Lap 113 as Rasmussen was the leader ahead of O’Ward.
On Lap 120, Newgarden had raced into second place, 4.617 seconds behind Rasmussen.
Rasmussen and Newgarden both pitted and that moved Malukas into the lead with Kyle Kirkwood second. Malukas pitted on Lap 128, moving Lundgaard into the lead. Malukas had a slow getaway from pit lane, and with green flag racing continuing, that created a major obstacle to his path to victory.
Rasmussen was the fastest driver on the track, using lapped cars as picks as he continued to race his way through the field with bravery and ferocity. The ECR driver was back in the lead on Lap 137. He was 3.545 seconds ahead of second-place Lundgaard.
On Lap 141, Lundgaard pitted and Dixon was scored in second place, 4.599 seconds behind.
The long green flag racing ended on Lap 143 after Louis Foster brushed the wall just before the flag-stand. At the time, Rasmussen was the leader ahead of Dixon, Armstrong, O’Ward and Newgarden.
During the pit stop exchange under caution, Dixon was able to get out of the pits ahead of Rasmussen. Two Andretti Global cars driven by Kirkwood and Power, stayed on track and were scored as the top two cars.
At Lap 150, the race was under caution and the top five were in order Kirkwood, Power, Dixon, Rasmussen and Armstrong.
On Lap 155, Kirkwood led the field to the green flag to restart the race. But two laps later, Dixon’s left rear contacted Rasmussen’s front wing, smoking Dixon’s rear tire.
Kirkwood pitted with 58 laps to go and that created another round of green flag stops that would determine the race. He pitted on Lap 192 for four tires and fuel.
That put Andretti Global teammate Marcus Ericsson into the lead ahead of another Andretti driver, Power.
The former Team Penske driver moved into the lead on Lap 197, completing a dramatic worst to first on the track. Power was ahead of O’Ward.
With 44 laps to go, Rasmussen went to the outside of Power’s car, they touched, Rasmussen brushed the wall, but Power’s tire was damaged and out of the race. Rasmussen’s left front hit Power’s right rear and that is what cut Power’s tire.
The yellow flag flew but Power charge to a potential victory was over.
Under caution, Rasmussen radioed to his crew, “Something feels off, but I’m not sure what.”
The pits opened and O’Ward, McLaughlin, Newgarden, Rahal, Rossi, Lundgaard and Simpson all came down pit lane.
The green flag waved with 32 laps to go, and Rasmussen was in the lead. Rasmussen, who had gained 17 positions and at that point made 61 on-track passes, stayed in front of Kirkwood’s No. 27 Honda. Malukas was third followed by Armstrong and Dixon.
“I think we’re fine,” Rasmussen radioed to his crew.
With 25 laps to go, O’Ward passed Armstrong for fourth place.
With 15 laps to go, Kirkwood had cut the lead down to 0.326-of-a-second with Malukas six-tenths behind. Rasmussen’s car started to struggle but was able to continue to lead Kirkwood.
With 10 laps to go, Kirkwood was 0.383 seconds behind with Newgarden third. But with nine laps to go, Kirkwood took the lead and Newgarden passed Rasmussen’s car as it was very loose.
Rasmussen held on to finish 14th.
“It’s very clear what happened, we were the class of the field, the best car out there,” Rasmussen said. “He ran me straight into the wall and we had damage. The car was impossible to drive after that. I was able to salvage the car and not crash.
“Just very frustrating.”
That set up the dramatic conclusion to IndyCar’s return to Phoenix.
Malukas started on the pole and finished on the podium.
“I’m really satisfied,” Malukas said. “With the way that race went, it could have gone either way. I’m really happy with everybody on the team. That last set of tires, I was drifting. I was 90 percent sideways.
“Now, I’m sideways Dave.”
Kirkwood was proud of his second-place finish.
“We didn’t qualify well, but we finished second so I will definitely take P2 in the championship,” Kirkwood said.
It’s Newgarden’s 12th consecutive season with an IndyCar Series victory, third-most in IndyCar history.
