Event statistics following the second race of the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season, the Desert Diamond West Valley Casino Phoenix Grand Prix at ISM Raceway in Avondale, Arizona.
Josef Newgarden made a late-race pass on rookie Robert Wickens to win his first race of the 2018 season and first time at the Phoenix track by nearly three seconds. Wickens was third, followed by Alexander Rossi.
Desert Diamond West Valley Casino Phoenix Grand Prix
ISM Raceway – Avondale, Arizona
- Winner (starting position): Josef Newgarden (7th)
- Podium: Josef Newgarden, Robert Wickens, Alexander Rossi
- Full Results: Josef Newgarden, Robert Wickens, Alexander Rossi, Scott Dixon, Ryan Hunter-Reay, James Hinchcliffe, Ed Carpenter, Tony Kanaan, Graham Rahal, Simon Pagenaud, Takuma Sato, Marco Andretti, Sebastien Bourdais, Spencer Pigot, Gabby Chaves, Zach Veach, Charlie Kimball, Max Chilton, Matheus Leist, Ed Jones, Kyle Kaiser, Will Power, Pietro Fittipaldi
- Laps Completed: 250
- Race Leaders: 9
- Laps Led: Will Power (80), Sebastien Bourdais (60), Robert Wickens (44), Josef Newgarden (30), James Hinchcliffe (20), Graham Rahal (7), Ryan Hunter-Reay (5), Simon Pagenaud (3), Alexander Rossi (1)
- Pole Position: Sebastien Bourdais (188.539 mph; 39.0285 seconds)
- Fastest Race Lap: Sebastien Bourdais (178.368 mph; 20.6270 seconds – Lap 2)
- Hard Charger: Scott Dixon (+13; 17th to 4th)
- Margin of Victory: 2.9946 seconds
- Car Count: 23
- Cars Entered: 23
- Cars Running at Finish: 19 (of 23; or 83 percent of the field)
- Drivers to Finish on Lead Lap: 11
- Cautions: 2 for 24 laps
- Average Speed: 147.395 mph
- Lead Changes: 12
- Weather at Start of Race: 88 degrees Fahrenheit, clear, winds SW 12 mph
- Weather at End of Race: 88 degrees Fahrenheit, clear, winds SW 12 mph
- Manufacturer Breakdown: Honda (12), Chevrolet (11)
- Time of Race: 1:44:00.3552
- Green Flag/Yellow Flag Laps: 226/24
- Total Passes: 280 (98 for position)
Notes of Interest – Race Recap (Desert Diamond West Valley Casino Phoenix Grand Prix)
- This is Josef Newgarden’s first victory of the season in the IndyCar Series and the eighth of his career. It marks his third victory on an oval. The victory came in Newgarden’s 102nd career IndyCar Series race.
- Newgarden is the 33rd driver to win an IndyCar race at ISM Raceway.
- With his victory, Newgarden moved to the points lead. Newgarden is the defending series champion.
- Newgarden has now won at least one race in each of the last four IndyCar Series seasons, dating back to the 2015 season.
- This is Newgarden’s fifth victory with Team Penske.
- This is the second consecutive race in which the race winner led 30 laps. Sebastien Bourdais also led 30 laps en route to winning the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
- This is the second consecutive race in which the race winner led 30 laps. Sebastien Bourdais also led 30 laps en route to winning the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
- Newgarden has won IndyCar Series races at six different tracks: Barber (two), Toronto (two), Iowa, Mid-Ohio, Gateway and Phoenix.
- All eight of Newgarden’s victories have been in Chevrolets.
- This is the third race Newgarden has won from the seventh starting position; he won each of the last three races he’s started seventh (has started seventh seven times in his career). He has also won three races from the second starting position.
- Newgarden was the last driver to win a race from the seventh starting position, at Toronto in 2017.
- This is the furthest a driver has started from and won in the three races since IndyCar racing returned to ISM Raceway, and the third furthest back a driver has won from in IndyCar Series history since 1996 (Buddy Lazier came from 26th in 2000 and Scott Sharp eighth in 1998). No driver in the previous 63 IndyCar races had won from the seventh position.
- Newgarden was the lone Chevrolet in the top five; second through sixth were cars powered by Honda. It was Chevrolet's 10th IndyCar victory at ISM Raceway since 1964.
- Newgarden’s average speed of 147.395 mph was a race record, besting teammate Simon Pagenaud’s previous record of 144.058 mph set in 2017.
- Team Penske drivers have now led 456 of the 750 laps contested in the last three IndyCar Series races at ISM Raceway (since the race returned in 2016), and at least one lap in each of the last seven races at the track.
- Newgarden’s average speed of 147.395 mph was a race record, besting teammate Simon Pagenaud’s previous record of 144.058 mph set in 2017.
- Team Penske drivers have now led 456 of the 750 laps contested in the last three IndyCar Series races at ISM Raceway (since the race returned in 2016), and at least one lap in each of the last seven races at the track.
- Robert Wickens, in his first career IndyCar Series race on an oval and only the second IndyCar Series race of his career, finished second. He has led both of his IndyCar Series starts. It marks Wickens’s first career podium and best career finish.
- Alexander Rossi finished third for the second consecutive race, after finishing third in the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. It marks Rossi’s best finish at Phoenix by car, his previous best was 14th in 2016 (he finished 15th after crashing in the 2017 race).
- Scott Dixon, in his 250th IndyCar Series race, made up a race-high 13 positions from start to finish, advancing from a disappointing 17th-place finish to finish fourth. Dixon won the 2016 race, the return of IndyCar racing to the track for the first time since 2005.
- Ryan Hunter-Reay finished fifth, his second top-five finish of the season after finishing fourth at St. Petersburg. Hunter-Reay is one of two drivers with top-five finishes in each of the first two races this season, and the second Andretti Autosport car in the top five.
- James Hinchcliffe finished sixth after leading 20 laps.
- Ed Carpenter, in his first start of the season, finished seventh, the second-highest finishing Chevrolet.
- Tony Kanaan, a two-time race winner at ISM Raceway, was eighth.
- Graham Rahal secured his second top-10 finish of the season with a ninth-place effort.
- Defending race winner Simon Pagenaud landed 10th.
- Polesitter Sebastien Bourdais finished 13th, the finishing position correlating well with his night. His car stalled on pit road before the pace laps, though his crew got him out before the race. Then, on a slippery pit road, he slid into his left front tire changer, and was forced to return to pit lane to serve a penalty. Though he eventually returned to the lead, he had to pit during a green flag period late and never recovered or challenged again for a top-10 spot. Bourdais did, however, run the race’s fastest lap.
- Matheus Leist finished 19th in his first career IndyCar Series race on an oval, the last driver to complete the race.
- Matheus Leist finished 19th in his first career IndyCar Series race on an oval, the last driver to complete the race.
- Will Power led a race-high 80 laps but was caught up in an accident in the second half of the race and finished 22nd.
- Rookie Pietro Fittipaldi was the first driver out of the race; his Dallara/Honda hitting the Turn 4 wall. Fittipaldi completed 40 laps and he finished 23rd.
- Kyle Kaiser, the only other driver to make his series debut at Phoenix, also hit the wall, though he continued on for a short period of time before retiring with damage.
- The 12 lead changes made a race record, besting the 1986 and 1995 CART races, which each had 11 lead changes.
- A total of 15 drivers improved on their starting position in the race.
- A total of 15 drivers improved on their starting position in the race.
- The next race will be Sunday, April 15, with the Long Beach Grand Prix on the Streets of Long Beach in California.
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