He was walking on crutches and wearing a walking boot on his left foot after a hard crash at the Indy 500 in May. The boot still hasn't come off, nor can he walk without proper support. But going at over 180mph and winning? Josef Newgarden can still do that, as he showed in all his glory on Sunday.

The two-time IndyCar champion won the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at WWT Raceway for the sixth time. Newgarden had incredible pace from the start after starting in eighth and was already up four places in less than 20 laps.

With short bursts of rain bringing out the caution twice, among other incidents like Nolan Siegel and Graham Rahal's crashes, the grid order changed a handful of times. At the end, the battle for the win was between Christian Rasmussen, Josef Newgarden, and Marcus Ericsson, who had led 114 of 260 laps.

Rasmussen passed Newgarden on lap 215 for the lead, but the latter hunted him down seven laps later. Thereon, the Team Penske driver cruised to victory, while Rasmussen fell back another place, as Ericsson passed him with 35 to go.

Talking about his battle with Rasmussen post-race, Newgarden told Kevin Lee of FOX Sports:

"I don't know what was going on there (with Rasmussen), but I was going back by. I don't know what he was doing. But it's this team right here. Unbelievable - Astemo crew, Team Chevy, I mean, we had everything we needed tonight with Team Penske."

The two-time Indy 500 winner, who gave his interview while sitting on the aeroscreen of his car because he couldn't stand with an injured leg, called his performance "methodical." However, he did acknowledge that he "wasn't perfect," and on another day, it could've been Marcus Ericsson's race to win.

"You gotta give a lot of credit to Marcus. I thought he was incredibly strong. I don't think there was much between us. So it was a matter of like, who's gonna get position on each other, and that's what's gonna seal the deal. He drove a great race and certainly could've won this as well," Josef Newgarden added.

2026 Bommarito Automotive Group 500: Full IndyCar Race Results From St. Louis

While Josef Newgarden and Marcus Ericsson had impressive runs, pole-sitter Alex Palou had a nightmare. He ran out of fuel in the pit lane after the final restart and went two laps down, while his pit crew attempted to refuel and get the car going again.

Another high-profile disappointment was that of rookie Caio Collet, who was having a phenomenal race until a mechanical issue led to a DNF in the closing stages.

Below are the full results for the 2026 IndyCar Bommarito Automotive 500:

1. Josef Newgarden
2. Marcus Ericsson
3. Christian Rasmussen
4. Rinus Veekay
5. Scott McLaughlin
6. Kyle Kirkwood
7. David Malukas
8. Will Power
9. Marcus Armstrong
10. Christian Lundgaard
11. Pato O'Ward
12. Scott Dixon
13. Santino Ferrucci
14. Felix Rosenqvist
15. Romain Grosjean
16. Mick Schumacher
17. Alex Palou
18. Alexander Rossi
19. Sting Ray Robb
20. Louis Foster
21. Kyffin Simpson
22. Caio Collet - DNF (Mechanical)
23. Graham Rahal - DNF(Crash)
24. Nolan Siegel - DNF(Crash)
25. Dennis Hauger - DNS

For Josef Newgarden, it was his second win of the year after Phoenix, while it was the first podium of the year for both Christian Rasmussen and Marcus Ericsson.

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Written by

Yash Kotak

Edited by

Yash Kotak