The smart money goes on at Josef Newgarden in St. Louis.
The Team Penske driver won at World Wide Technology Raceway on Sunday night for the sixth time in 11th starts at the 1.25-mile oval.
The IndyCar Bommarito Automotive Group 500 was red-flagged twice for rain, but ultimately ran the full 260 laps. Pole-sitter Alex Palou and several other drivers fell victim to pit strategies as the caution periods played out.
In the end it was a shootout between Newgarden and Marcus Ericsson, who led the most laps and was dominant earlier in the race. Newgarden took the lead for good on lap 221 and finished .6613 seconds ahead of the Andretti Global driver.
“Great job to the group,” Newgarden said. “Just a methodical night. We had a good car to start. It wasn’t perfect, but it really came to us just when we needed it. It was a track position day.”
Palou finished 17th, but was able to hold on to his lead in the season standings ahead of Kyle Kirkwood and David Malukas.
The series heads next to Road America on June 21.
