Marcus Ericsson delivered the most dominant drive of his IndyCar Series career, but was left with a front row seat as Josef Newgarden took the checkered flag in a wild race that finished into Monday morning at World Wide Technology Raceway.
It was a night that saw the Swedish native start 12th and quickly accelerate through the field and made his presence felt, leading a race-high 114 laps of 260 laps, which also stands as the most in a single race throughout his entire career. He was out front when the first red flag hit on Lap 137, which lasted for 38 minutes and saw drivers briefly exit their cars.
Despite the time creeping near 11pm ET on a Sunday night and the grandstands getting emptier with every passing minute, the race resumed and saw Ericsson thrown into a fight with Newgarden, the rival that beat him on a controversial one-lap shootout from pit lane in the 2023 Indianapolis 500. With 35 laps to go, it was a showdown that saw Ericsson’s #28 Andretti Global Honda trying to chase down the #2 Team Penske Chevrolet of Newgarden, but was never able to do so, falling 0.6613s behind at the finish.
While it marks Ericsson’s best result of the season, there’s no denying he wanted more out of the night.
“No, it's definitely bittersweet after leading that many laps, having a great car underneath me,” said Ericsson, 35. “We drove all the way to the front, was feeling really good up front.
It was a night that saw the Swedish native start 12th and quickly accelerate through the field and made his presence felt, leading a race-high 114 laps of 260 laps, which also stands as the most in a single race throughout his entire career. He was out front when the first red flag hit on Lap 137, which lasted for 38 minutes and saw drivers briefly exit their cars.
Despite the time creeping near 11pm ET on a Sunday night and the grandstands getting emptier with every passing minute, the race resumed and saw Ericsson thrown into a fight with Newgarden, the rival that beat him on a controversial one-lap shootout from pit lane in the 2023 Indianapolis 500. With 35 laps to go, it was a showdown that saw Ericsson’s #28 Andretti Global Honda trying to chase down the #2 Team Penske Chevrolet of Newgarden, but was never able to do so, falling 0.6613s behind at the finish.
While it marks Ericsson’s best result of the season, there’s no denying he wanted more out of the night.
“No, it's definitely bittersweet after leading that many laps, having a great car underneath me,” said Ericsson, 35. “We drove all the way to the front, was feeling really good up front.
3 hours ago
