The Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at WWT Raceway at Gateway was a race dominated by Team Penske. It ultimately came down to a pit stop where Newgarden was nearly 1.4 seconds faster than McLaughlin from pit entry to pit exit. However, the big winner was Alex Palou, who extended his championship lead to 59 points with a fourth-place finish! What else stood out? We summarize the race with a series of stats!

260 - The speed was on for Josef Newgarden at the end of the race: using a relatively fresh set of Firestone tires, he set the fastest lap of the race on the very last lap (lap 260)!

254 - This year’s race recorded 254 overtakes, slightly more than last year’s 217.

59 - With his direct competitors all failing to score, Alex Palou extended his lead in the championship by 59 points with a fourth-place finish – more than what can be earned in a single race.

30 - In his 30th IndyCar start, Sting Ray Robb finally secured a top-ten finish! The American finished ninth at Gateway. Prior to this race, his best result was 12th at Laguna Seca last year.

21 - There were no fewer than 21 lead changes during the race – a record!

20 - Colton Herta was the driver who gained the most positions from his starting spot. After crashing in qualifying, he started 25th, finished fourth, and was demoted to fifth due to a penalty – still a gain of 20 places!

11 - No fewer than 11 drivers led at least one lap: Will Power (117 laps), Scott McLaughlin (67 laps), Josef Newgarden (17 laps), Marcus Ericsson (13 laps), David Malukas (11 laps), Nolan Siegel (8 laps), Sting Ray Robb (8 laps), Alexander Rossi (8 laps), Scott Dixon (5 laps), Graham Rahal (5 laps), and Linus Lundqvist (1 lap).

8 - The race control was busy handing out penalties; no fewer than 8 penalties were issued:

Katherine Legge – lap 8: Yet to be determined penalty for contact with Ed Carpenter.

Romain Grosjean – lap 25: Restarted from the back due to pitting in a closed pit.

Kyle Kirkwood – lap 53: Drive-through for pitting in a closed pit.

Santino Ferrucci – lap 150: Drive-through for speeding in the pit lane.

Nolan Siegel – lap 151: Drive-through for speeding in the pit lane.

Romain Grosjean – lap 253: Restarted from the back due to IndyCar-approved repairs under a red flag.

Rinus VeeKay – lap 253: Restarted from the back due to IndyCar-approved repairs under a red flag.

Colton Herta – lap 260: Dropped one position for blocking Alex Palou.

7 - The seventh-place finish of Nolan Siegel is his best result in his still young career. The 19-year-old stayed out of trouble, slowly creeping into the top ten during the race.

5 - This marks Josef Newgarden’s fifth win at Gateway – in just nine starts!

4 - Rinus VeeKay achieved his fourth consecutive top-ten finish with a tenth place, equaling his record streak from 2021. The fact that the Dutchman got this far is a miracle; he struggled with his car’s balance throughout the race and narrowly avoided the wall several times.

3 - With his second third-place finish of the season, Linus Lundqvist was the highest-placed rookie. This extends his lead in the Rookie of the Year standings to 71 points, making it nearly impossible for anyone to catch him.

2 - With a third-place finish for Linus Lundqvist and a seventh place for Nolan Siegel, two rookies finished in the top ten at Gateway – the first time this season!

2 - The battle for second place in the championship remains tight: with Will Power and Scott Dixon having poor results, Colton Herta moves up from fourth to second in the standings.

1.3618 - The pit stop that won the race for Josef Newgarden was 0.9 seconds faster than his teammate Scott McLaughlin’s. Credit goes to the #2 crew, but Newgarden deserves recognition too. From pit entry to pit exit, he was 1.3618 seconds quicker than McLaughlin, making up 0.4 seconds on his own.

0 - Pole position means nothing at Gateway; since IndyCar returned to this track in 2017, no one has won from pole. This time, Scott McLaughlin was the unlucky pole sitter – he finished second. The last time a pole sitter won was in 2003, when Helio Castroneves took both pole and victory.