Josef Newgarden Wins IndyCar's Record Breaking Return to Phoenix Raceway

Josef Newgarden bookends IndyCar's sabatical from Phoenix Raceway by defending his 2018 win with a win Saturday night to put the No. 2 Penske team at the top of the IndyCar standings two races into the 2026 season.

Newgarden's championship lead comes following reigning champion Alex Palou's DNF 21 laps into the race, following contact with Rinus Veekay.

Newgarden started on the outside of the front row next to his new Penske teammate, David Malukas, on pole, but the Penske duo fell through the field after the first set of pitstops with pit stops taking a lap and a half on the short oval.

With 35 to go, Newgarden was one of the leaders to pit for fresh tires along with other champion hopeful Pato O'Ward.

Christian Rasmussen, Kyle Kirkwood, and Malukas were among the leaders who stayed out after the caution caused by Rasmussen and Will Power's contact.

Rasmussen was the class of the field throughout several stages of the race, and when he pitted on lap 193, the Andrettis of Will Power and Marcus Ericsson took over. The No. 26 and 28 Andrettis held onto the top two spots on older tires until Rasmussen ran back through the field. With under 50 to go, Rasmussen started to attempt his pass on Power.

Trying to make the pass at the top, Rasmussen and Power collided, slapped the wall, bounced back down, and hit Power again, cutting his right rear. The final caution of the race came out as Power slowed down with his cut tire.

Rasmussen could see and feel the damage after the incident, but he attempted to hold onto his lead, with under 40 laps separating him from his second career win, following his first last season at the Milwaukee Mile.

“Something feels off, but I’m not sure what," Rasmussen said over the radio following the final restart.

Both Power and Rasmussen were upset following the race, with Rasmussen telling Fox Sports that "You can't just run someone into the wall", about Power's defensive move in their battle for the lead.

Rasmussen was running ragged in the lead, muscling his No. 21 ECR in front of the field as O'Ward and Newgarden made their way through the pack.

O'Ward faded once he cut the lead from 1st to fourth to under a second and a half, but Newgarden, one position behind, kept advancing.

Rasmussen was unable to hold on to his lead with about eight laps remaining, letting Newgarden and Kirkwood by with six laps remaining. The Danish driver than faded all the way back to 14th.

Newgarden's pass on Rasmussen was one of a record-breaking 565 on-track passes, 323 for position, and 18 for the lead. Every on-track passing record was broken in Saturday's race as IndyCar produced a thriller in the desert.

Newgarden's win moves him to the lead of the IndyCar standings, 5 points over Kirkwood in second and 19th points over Palou in fifth. Palou entered the weekend in the championship lead by 11 points following his victory at St. Pete.

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Victoria Beaver is a nomadic sports writer who spends her time hopping between race tracks and hippie farms. She’s covered every corner of motorsports that will let her in from 410 Sprints to NASCAR to Supercross. Her daily driver is a 2010 Subaru that she refused to do the smallest amount of preventative maintenance on. Instead, she spends her free time and money building a 42-foot Skoolie to one day travel the country full time.