Event statistics following the 14th race of the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season, the ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania.
Alexander Rossi dominated the 500-miler race, leading 180 of the 200 laps to close to within 29 points of the championship lead with three races remaining. Rossi – who won the most previous race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course – lost the lead briefly on point stops, but was unchallenged for much of the event, which was stopped for nearly two hours due to a five-car incident, one which led to rookie Robert Wickens being airlifted to a local hospital. Polesitter Will Power, the two-time defending race winner and only driver to really challenge Rossi for the lead, finished in the runner-up position, 4.4982 seconds behind Rossi.
Scott Dixon, Sebastien Bourdais and Josef Newgarden rounded out the top five.
Race Statistics
ABC Supply 500
Pocono Raceway – Long Pond, Pennsylvania
- Winner (starting position): Alexander Rossi (3rd)
- Podium: Alexander Rossi, Will Power, Scott Dixon
- Full Results: Alexander Rossi, Will Power, Scott Dixon, Sebastien Bourdais, Josef Newgarden, Zach Veach, Marco Andretti, Simon Pagenaud, Charlie Kimball, Ed Carpenter, Matheus Leist, Ed Jones, Max Chilton, Graham Rahal, Conor Daly, Spencer Pigot, Tony Kanaan, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Robert Wickens, James Hinchcliffe, Takuma Sato, Pietro Fittipaldi
- Laps Completed: 200
- Race Leaders: 4
- Lead Changes: 11
- Laps Led: Alexander Rossi (180), Will Power (16), Scott Dixon (3), Ed Carpenter (1)
- Pole Position: Will Power (219.511 mph; 82.0006 seconds)
- Fastest Race Lap: Sebastien Bourdais (216.309 mph; 41.6072 seconds)
- Hard Charger: Scott Dixon (+10; 13th to 3rd)
- Margin of Victory: 4.4982 seconds
- Car Count: 22
- Cars Entered: 22
- Cars Running at Finish: 14 (of 22; or 64 percent of the field)
- Drivers to Finish on Lead Lap: 4
- Cautions: 2 for 10 laps
- Average Speed: 191.304 mph
- Manufacturer Breakdown: Honda (12), Chevrolet (10)
- Winning Manufacturer: Honda
- Time of Race: 2:36:49.1128
- Green Flag/Yellow Flag Laps: 190/10
- Total Passes: 135 (53 for position)
- Most Passes Made: Alexander Rossi (18)
- Weather at Start of Race: 71 degrees Fahrenheit, overcast, winds 0 mph
- Weather at End of Race: 68 degrees Fahrenheit, overcast, winds 0 mph
Notes of Interest – Race Recap (Pocono Raceway)
- This is Alexander Rossi’s third victory of the 2018 IndyCar Series season (Long Beach Street Circuit and Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course) and the fifth of his career. His three victories this season are the most in his three-year career; he earned a single win during the 2016 and 2017 season.
- This is Rossi’s first victory at Pocono Raceway. Two of Rossi’s five career victories have come on ovals; he also won the 2016 Indianapolis 500.
- Rossi is the third driver with three IndyCar victories in 2018. Josef Newgarden and Scott Dixon also have three victories each. Will Power has two wins, while Sebastien Bourdais, Ryan Hunter-Reay and James Hinchcliffe each have one win.
- This marks Rossi’s seventh podium of the 2018 season, tied for the most with points leader Scott Dixon. Rossi also has nine top fives – second to Dixon – and 11 top 10s – tied with three other drivers for second most behind Dixon’s 12 top 10s.
- Overall, Rossi now has 11 career podiums in IndyCar competition. Prior the 2018 season, he had four in 33 races (seven in 14 races in 2018).
- Rossi led 180 laps at Pocono, the most laps he’s ever led in an IndyCar race. His previous best was 71 laps led in his victory earlier this year in the Long Beach Grand Prix in California.
- His 180 laps led marks the most laps led by a race winner this season, surpassing Scott Dixon’s 119 laps led en route to winning at Texas Motor Speedway.
- In four of his five victories, Rossi has led the most laps in that race. He led only 14 laps in his 2016 Indianapolis 500 victory.
- In each of his three races at Pocono Raceway, Rossi has led at least four laps. He has led 224 of the last 400 laps contested at Pocono (led 44 laps in 2017 race).
- In his two 500-mile races this season, Rossi has an average finish of 2.5. He finished fourth in the Indianapolis 500, after starting 32nd (made up a race-high 28 positions, the most of any driver in any race in 2018).
- Rossi is the second driver this season with back-to-back victories, as he also won the most recent event at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Will Power swept the two races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May.
- Rossi is the only driver this season with at least one victory on an oval, a permanent road course and a temporary street circuit. Scott Dixon has an oval win and two wins on street circuits, while Josef Newgarden has an oval win and two wins on permanent road courses.
- Rossi won from the third starting position, giving the third-place starter wins in both 500-mile races in 2018. Will Power also started from the third position en route to winning the Indy 500, and was the last driver to win an IndyCar race from third.
- The last IndyCar race at Pocono to be won by the third-place starter was the 1988 race, won by Bobby Rahal.
- Rossi remains second in the IndyCar points standings, now 29 points behind leader Scott Dixon.
- All five of Rossi’s victories have come with Andretti Autosport, and all five have come in a Honda.
- Will Power finished second in the highest-finishing Chevrolet. Power had been gunning for his third consecutive 500-mile victory (2017 Pocono, 2018 Indy 500) and third straight win at Pocono (won in 2016 and 2017).
- Overall, it marked Power’s 68th career podium finish and sixth this season, one less than Alexander Rossi and Scott Dixon’s series-leading seven podiums.
- Power has an average finish of 9.71 in 2018.
- Power earned his 53rd career IndyCar pole position Saturday, tying him for second all-time in IndyCar poles with A.J. Foyt.
- Scott Dixon finished third, earning his series-best seventh podium of 2018, tying him with Alexander Rossi. It marked Dixon’s 100th podium in the IndyCar Series and 103rd in IndyCar racing. He has finished on the podium seven times in each of the last two seasons and has seven or more podiums in a season in seven different seasons. His most recent season with more than seven podiums in a season came in 2011, when he earned nine podiums.
- Dixon has also finished in the top five a total of 10 times and in the top 10 on 12 occasions; both marks lead the series.
- Dixon improved a race-high 10 positions, after starting 13th. He has finished better than he has started in 11 races this season, tying him with Charlie Kimball for the most in that statistic.
- Sebastien Bourdais finished fourth, his best finish since the Grand Prix of Indianapolis (also finished fourth) and fourth top-five result of 2018.
- Josef Newgarden finished fifth, his fifth consecutive top-10 finish, which is currently the second longest streak in the series (to teammate Simon Pagenaud, who has six straight top 10s).
- Zach Veach finished sixth, his highest finish on an oval and best finish since a fourth-place result in the Long Beach Grand Prix. Veach has four top 10s in 2018, including each of the last three races.
- Marco Andretti finished seventh, his best finish since a fourth-place effort in the first race of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix in June.
- Charlie Kimball finished ninth, advancing 10 positions. Kimball has finished better than he’s started in 11 races in 2018, tying him with Scott Dixon for the most.
- Ed Carpenter finished 10th; he has finished in the top 10 in four of his five oval starts in 2018.
- Matheus Leist finished a career-best 11th, the highest-finishing A.J. Foyt Racing driver.
- A total of 11 drivers improved on their starting position in the race.
- The next race will be Saturday, August 25, with the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at Gateway Motorsports Park in Madison, Illinois.
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