IndyCar St. Petersburg points, results: Josef Newgarden leads Chevrolet charge into 2024
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — An offseason full of preparation paid off for Chevrolet in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
Led by Josef Newgarden leading 92 of 100 laps from the pole position, Chevy drivers swept the top four spots in the IndyCar season opener with Pato O'Ward, Scott McLaughlin and Will Power behind the two-time series champion. Colton Herta was the highest-finishing Honda driver in fifth.
After his first victory on a street course in nearly two years, Newgarden heavily credited Chevy's improvement.
"They worked really hard this offseason," Newgarden said. "It's not just them. We had to really improve our side and the chassis, and we were hard on them, too. We said, 'We've got to make all of these things better,' and they delivered in spades.
"They somehow I feel like gave us the whole menu. It's pretty cool. They did a great job, and it makes me very encouraged for 2024."
O'Ward said his Arrow McLaren team met with Chevrolet officials in London during the offseason.
"It was like 25, 20 of us at a massive table, and we just hammered down on everything that we wanted to see improvements on, everything that we thought that we did well," O'Ward said. "And just having an honest, open conversation of what's going on. Because whenever you're at the end of basically thelife of an engine like this, a lot of the massive gains have been gained.
"When you gain little bits and pieces here and there, they're usually pretty substantial. I was super, super happy to see just how receptive they were of it, and how they were just 'Yeah, we're going to get to work,' and they brought us a very strong package, and super happy with that."
Here are the IndyCar results and points standings Sunday after the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg:
RESULTS
Click here for the box score from the 100-lap race on the 14-turn, 1.8-mile temporary street course in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Here is the finishing order in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg with starting position in parentheses, driver, engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):
1. (1) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 100, Running
2. (3) Pato O'Ward, Chevrolet, 100, Running
3. (9) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 100, Running
4. (8) Will Power, Chevrolet, 100, Running
5. (4) Colton Herta, Honda, 100, Running
6. (13) Alex Palou, Honda, 100, Running
7. (2) Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, 100, Running
8. (15) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 100, Running
9. (11) Scott Dixon, Honda, 100, Running
10. (7) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 100, Running
11. (14) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 100, Running
12. (18) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 100, Running
13. (16) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 100, Running
14. (23) Kyffin Simpson, Honda, 100, Running
15. (26) Pietro Fittipaldi, Honda, 100, Running
16. (22) Graham Rahal, Honda, 100, Running
17. (17) Tom Blomqvist, Honda, 100, Running
18. (20) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, 100, Running
19. (27) Jack Harvey, Honda, 100, Running
20. (12) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 100, Running
21. (21) Christian Rasmussen, Chevrolet, 99, Running
22. (25) Colin Braun, Honda, 99, Running
23. (19) Linus Lundqvist, Honda, 97, Running
24. (5) Romain Grosjean, Chevrolet, 82, Mechanical
25. (6) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 52, Mechanical
26. (24) Sting Ray Robb, Chevrolet, 33, Off course
27. (10) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 25, Contact
Winner's average speed: 96.867 mph; Time of Race: 1 hour, 51 minutes, 29.5954 seconds; Margin of victory: 7.9121 seconds; Cautions: Three for nine laps; Lead changes: 4 among 3 drivers. Lap Leaders: Newgarden 1-28; Lundgaard 29-35; Newgarden 36-65; Herta 66; Newgarden 67-100.
POINTS
Click here for the points tally in Sunday’s race.
Top 10 in points: Newgarden 54, O'Ward 40, McLaughlin 35, Power 32, Herta 31, Palou 28, Rosenqvist 26, Rossi 24, Dixon 22, VeeKay 20.
Rest of the standings: Ferrucci 19, Kirkwood 18, Ilott 17, Simpson 16, Fittipaldi 15, Rahal 14, Blomqvist 13, Canapino 12, Lundgaard 11, Harvey 11, Rasmussen 9, Braun 8, Lundqvist 7, Grosjean 6, Ericsson 5, Armstrong 5, Robb 5.
NEXT: The NTT IndyCar Series will hold the Million Dollar Challenge at The Thermal Club with a March 24 exhibition. Click here for the full IndyCar on NBC schedule in 2024.