IndyCar winner Newgarden reacts to CONTROVERSIAL race ending

Josef Newgarden was adamant it was not his intention to cause a pileup at the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 after taking the race win at the World Wide Technology Raceway on Saturday.

With ten laps to go, Newgarden was leading the race despite a spin earlier in the event, eyeing his second win of the season after his success at the Indy 500 back in May.

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However, the race was under caution and about to restart, with Newgarden going slightly slower than usual.

Ultimately, a chain reaction of drivers speeding up and gearing up to go and then slowing instantly back down led to a big crash, with four drivers getting caught up in the incident.

Will Power - Newgarden's team-mate and one of the drivers caught in the pileup - made it clear that he felt the race leader was the one to blame for causing the crash, flipping him off when climbing out of his car as a result.

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Newgarden: I wasn’t trying to do that

However, Newgarden avoided any sort of penalty for the incident and therefore any official blame.

When reflecting on his victory and indeed the incident, Newgarden insisted it was not his intention to cause any incident.

"I think the team needed it,” said Newgarden on taking the win.

“They’ve done a great job, on the No. 2 car, specifically, they’ve done a really good job. They’ve given me race-winning cars throughout the year, even past Indy and they haven’t materialized. So, it’s nice to get another one on the board.”

The Oval King 👑@JosefNewgarden wins at @WWTRaceway for the 5th time!#INDYCAR // #Bommarito500 pic.twitter.com/wSrwJLq7wx

— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) August 18, 2024

Newgarden continued: "The worst part about that is obviously the No 12 not making it home,”

“I hate that that happened at the very end. I watched it on the TV, it looked like the green went out before I went just momentarily and it caused a big accordion.

“So, I hate that happened. This is the last thing you want with 10 to go is to create a mess. I wasn’t trying to do that.”

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