Racing wounded, Josef Newgarden wins IndyCar race at Gateway

Team Penske Josef Newgarden Josef Newgarden (2) poses with second place winner Andretti Global Marcus Ericsson Marcus Ericsson (28) and third place winner Ed Carpenter Racing Christian Rasmussen Christian Rasmussen (21) after winning the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway. Joe Puetz-Imagn Images

Racing wounded, Josef Newgarden wins IndyCar race at Gateway

By Samuel Stubbs | Last updated Jun 8, 2026 10:01 AM ET

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Racing with an injured left foot after a crash in the Indianapolis 500, Josef Newgarden continued his dominance at Gateway, winning at the 1.25-mile oval for the sixth time in IndyCar's 11 races at the Madison, Illinois venue in Sunday's Bommarito Automotive Group 500.

In a race that was twice red-flagged for rain, Newgarden held off a valiant challenge from Marcus Ericsson over the race's final run after previously taking the lead for good from Christian Rasmussen.

The victory is the second of 2026 for Newgarden and the 34th of his illustrious IndyCar career, which includes two NTT IndyCar Series titles and two Indianapolis 500 victories. It's the 20th oval victory for the 35-year-old driver from Hendersonville, Tennessee.

Ericsson finished runner-up, with Rasmussen rounding out the podium in third. Rasmussen, who entered Sunday's race 24th of 25 full-time drivers in the series standings, signed a contract extension on Thursday and traded the lead back and forth with Newgarden multiple times early in the race's final run.

Josef Newgarden Christian Rasmussen

It's a fight at the front in St. Louis! pic.twitter.com/QXebcGgbxu
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) June 8, 2026

"This has been a terrible year so far, so getting a podium here is a good way to turn that around and build some momentum [for] the rest of the season," Rasmussen said.

Josef Newgarden wins again at Gateway

"I was going back by [Rasmussen]," Newgarden told Fox Sports. "Just a methodical night. Gotta give a lot of credit to Marcus [Ericsson]. He drove a great race and certainly could've won this as well."

Ericsson led a race-high 114 of the race's 260 laps.

Rinus VeeKay challenged Rasmussen for the final spot on the podium late but was unable to complete the pass.

VeeKay and Scott McLaughlin rounded out the top five, with Kyle Kirkwood, David Malukas, Will Power, Marcus Armstrong and Christian Lundgaard completing the top 10.

Points leader and polesitter Alex Palou finished two laps down in 17th after running out of fuel on pit road following the lifting of the second red flag, allowing Kirkwood to chop Palou's points lead down to just 49 points going into the 10th race of the season at Road America on June 21.

Samuel Stubbs

Hailing from the same neck of the woods as NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin, Samuel has been covering NASCAR for Yardbarker since February 2024. He has been a member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) since October of 2024. When he’s not writing about racing, Samuel covers Arkansas Razorback basketball for Yardbarker

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