The NTT IndyCar Series kicked off a weekend of racing at the Independence Day GMR Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course for 80 laps. This is the second race of the season for the IndyCar Series. Will Power and Jack Harvey were on the front row to lead the field to the green flag.
The #INDYGP is now underway. Watch now on NBC. #INDYCAR https://t.co/pOVERQXenz — NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) July 4, 2020
Power got off to a great start the moment the green flag dropped, getting in front of Jack Harvey right away, heading into turn one. Power continued to lead as the first green flag pit stops started on lap five with Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay being the first to make his stop. Power continued to lead before making his first pit stop of the day at lap 16. Jack Harvey took over the lead and led two laps before pitting, and the new leader was Graham Rahal.
The race leader @12WillPower comes in for scuff reds. The three time winner has led from the start. #INDYGP #BrickyardTriple pic.twitter.com/gjGknhhUq9 — Team Penske (@Team_Penske) July 4, 2020
Rahal led nine laps before pitting handing the lead back to Will Power. Power was still in the lead when the first caution came out at lap 37 when Oliver Askew’s car got loose off of turn 14, he would hit the wall hard.
.@Oliver_Askew's day is done after a crash in the final corner at @IMS. Take a look at what happened and watch the finish on @NBC. #NBCRacingWeekend stream: https://t.co/WbL0RL3Wsw pic.twitter.com/HOASaOeXOV — IndyCar on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) July 4, 2020
Power would come to pit road, handing the lead back to Graham Rahal. Rahal led the field back to green at lap 40. He only led another eight laps before being overtaken for the lead by Scott Dixon, who ran the fastest lap at 1:11.751 seconds. Dixon continued to lead until he made his third and final pit stop of the day at lap 54. Spencer Pigot and Marcus Ericsson took turns leading a lap. After both cars pitted, the new leader was Josef Newgarden. He led four laps before pitting for the final time at lap 61, giving the lead over to Zach Veach. Veach only led one lap before making his final pit stop a lap later, and the lead went back to Scott Dixon.
Once Dixon had the lead, there was no one to challenge him. Dixon cruised to victory, winning the GMR Grand Prix at Indianapolis by 19.9469 seconds over the second-place finisher Graham Rahal. For Dixon, he has now won the first two races in the NTT IndyCar season.
REPLAY: Watch @scottdixon9 cross the finish line for his 48th career win here at @IMS. @NASCAR_Xfinity, you're up next. #INDYCAR // #NBCRacingWeekend https://t.co/XMj9SiLnen — NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) July 4, 2020
The rest of the top ten finishers were Simon Pagenaud third, Colton Herta fourth, Rinus VeeKay fifth, Marcus Ericsson sixth, Josef Newgarden seventh, Pato O’Ward eighth, Santino Ferrucci ninth, and Takuma Sato tenth.
The NTT IndyCar Series will now head to Road America for a doubleheader race in the Rev Group Grand Prix starting next Saturday at 5 pm on NBCSN and Sunday at 12:30 pm on NBC.
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