Josef Newgarden mounted an early comeback to this season by motoring his way to a thrilling victory in the Good Ranchers 250 at Phoenix Raceway on Saturday, March 7.
The two-time Indianapolis 500 and NTT IndyCar Series champion from Nashville, Tennessee, led eight of 250-scheduled laps in an event where he started on the front row and raced towards the front for a majority of the event. Through various pit strategies with tire management being a key topic, Newgarden executed his strategies when it mattered most as he pitted a total of five times, including a final time with 38 laps remaining following a late-race caution and a collision with the leaders Will Power and Christian Lundgaard.
Despite restarting in 10th place during the event’s final restart with 32 laps remaining, Newgarden used his four fresh tires to methodically carve his way up the leaderboard. After using the late duration to muscle back to the front, Newgarden reeled in and overtook Kyle Kirkwood for the lead with seven laps remaining. From there, Newgarden motored away and cruised to his first IndyCar victory of the 2026 campaign.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, March 6, David Malukas achieved his first NTT P1 Award with a pole-winning average speed of 175.383 mph in 41.0530 seconds. Malukas shared the front row with teammate Josef Newgarden, the latter of whom generated an average-qualifying run of 174.548 mph in 41.2493 seconds.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, David Malukas fended off an early challenge from teammate Josef Newgarden through the frontstretch to assume the lead entering the first turn. As the field jostled for early spots for a single lap, Malukas proceeded to lead the first lap while Newgarden, Graham Rahal, rookie Mick Schumacher and Scott McLaughlin followed suit in the top five, respectively.
Over the next four laps, Malukas stretched his early advantage to nearly two seconds over Newgarden. As Will Power climbed the leaderboard from the tail end of the field to 15th and Alex Palou motored from 10th to fourth, Malukas continued to lead at the Lap 10 mark by over one-and-half seconds over Newgarden while third-place Alexander Rossi trailed by more than two seconds.
Shortly after, the event’s first caution flew when rookie Dennis Hauger, who was racing in the mid-pack region and in front of Christian Rasmussen, spun in front of Rasmussen in Turn 2. Despite spinning, Hauger managed to preserve his entry from hitting the wall as he then slid backwards through the backstretch before he straightened his entry and continued.
The start of the next restart on Lap 20 only lasted for a single lap before the caution quickly returned. The caution’s return was due to Palou, who was overtaken by Rahal for fourth place entering Turn 3, making contact with Rinus VeeKay and getting turned into the Turn 4 outside wall. The incident spoiled Palou’s hopes of winning in his 100th IndyCar start and he was unable to continue while VeeKay was able to.
As the event restarted on Lap 30, Malukas mirrored his on-track performance from his previous restart to retain the lead over Newgarden and the field for a full lap. Meanwhile, Scott Dixon, who pitted during the event’s first caution period, used the outside lane to muscle his way up into the top-15 mark. In addition, Power continued his march forward as he navigated his way up to 13th place. Amid the battles within the field, Malukas retained the lead by less than half a second over Newgarden by Lap 40.
Through the Lap 50 mark, Malukas was leading by within eight-tenths of a second over Newgarden while Rossi, Rahal and McLaughlin continued to trail in the top five, respectively. Behind, Pato O’Ward occupied sixth place ahead of Christian Rasmussen, Kyle Kirkwood, Marcus Armstrong and Marcus Ericsson while Mick Schumacher, Nolan Siegel, Scott Dixon, Christian Lundgaard, Felix Rosenqvist, Will Power, Santino Ferrucci, Sting Ray Robb, Louis Foster and Dennis Hauger occupied the top-20 spots, respectively.
On Lap 68 and with the topic of tire wear crescendoing, green flag pit stops ensued within the field as O’Ward pitted his No. 5 Arrow McLaren Dallara-Chevrolet entry from the top-10 mark. McLaughlin pitted a lap later before more names that included Schumacher, Newgarden and the leader Malukas pitted within and past the Lap 70 mark. By the time Malukas blended back on the racing surface from pit road, he dueled with Newgarden, who pitted a lap prior to Malukas. Despite making light contact with his Team Penske teammate through the backstretch, Newgarden managed to cycle ahead of Malukas. Meanwhile, Rasmussen, who pitted during the event’s first caution and had carved his way into the top five with an early tire advantage, was leading before he pitted on Lap 77.
Towards the Lap 90 mark, Dixon was leading ahead of Felix Rosenqvist and Hauger. Meanwhile, O’Ward, who pitted early, was scored in fourth place, but racing ahead of Team Penske’s Newgarden and Malukas while Rasmussen reeled in from seventh place. By the time Rosenqvist, Dixon and Hauger pitted by Lap 98, O’Ward cycled into the lead while Newgarden, Malukas, Rasmussen and Kirkwood all followed suit in the top five, respectively.
Then on Lap 108, Rasmussen overtook O’Ward through the frontstretch to assume the lead. As Rasmussen proceeded to both stretch his advantage to two seconds over O’Ward and lap the competitors racing in the mid-pack region just past the Lap 110 mark, Newgarden and Malukas trailed the lead by three and four seconds, respectively, while Kirkwood retained fifth place ahead of McLaughlin, Rossi, Rahal, Power and Lundgaard, respectively. Meanwhile, Dixon, Ericsson and Rosenqvist were mired within the top-15 mark while Schumacher was mired within the top-20 mark.
At the halfway mark on Lap 125 and with various green flag pit strategies within the field ensuing, Rasmussen continued to lead by more than four seconds over Newgarden while Malukas, Kirkwood and McLaughlin were scored in the top five. Rasmussen surrendered the lead to pit a lap later before Newgarden, who cycled to the lead, pitted during the next lap. Meanwhile, O’Ward, who was mired within the top-15 mark but pitted several laps earlier than Rasmussen, managed to cycle ahead of both Rasmussen and Newgarden on the track while Malukas, who pitted prior to Lap 130, stalled his entry while trying to exit his pit stall.
By Lap 136, Rasmussen reassumed the lead after he reeled in and overtook several competitors, including the initial leader, Lundgaard. As Rasmussen proceeded to lead by more than four seconds over Dixon while Lundgaard pitted just past the Lap 140 mark, the caution flew on Lap 142 when Louis Foster went up the track and hit the outside wall on the right side in Turn 4. During this latest caution period, a multitude of front-runners, including the leader Rasmussen, Dixon, Armstrong, Rossi, Malukas, Rahal and Newgarden returned to pit road for service while Kirkwood and Power, both of whom last pitted on Lap 128 and 126, respectively, remained on the track.
With 95 laps remaining, the event restarted under green. At the start, Kirkwood maintained the lead over teammate Power through the first two turns while Rasmussen rocketed past Dixon for third place. As Kirkwood led the next lap, Dixon and Rasmussen dueled fiercely for third place and they even made contact during the following lap. Amid the contact, both continued to race in third and fourth, with Dixon still ahead of Rasmussen, while Kirkwood continued to lead by seven-tenths of a second over Power with 90 laps remaining.
Down to the final 75 laps of the event, Kirkwood was leading by more than a second over Power while Rasmussen, Dixon, Armstrong, O’Ward, Newgarden, Rahal, Malukas and Santino Ferrucci followed suit in the top 10, respectively. Meanwhile, McLaughlin, Rosenqvist, Hauger, Kyffin Simpson, Lundgaard, Rossi,, Ericsson, Schumacher, Caio Collet and Nolan Siegel trailed in the top 20, respectively.
Then with 60 laps remaining and with the field racing within the pit window to reach the event’s scheduled distance, Rasmussen made a bold move to the outside of Kirkwood entering the first turn to cycle back to the lead. Kirkwood pitted a lap later before Rasmussen pitted during the next lap. By the time Rasmussen cycled back on the track, he was overtaken by Kirkwood on the track. Meanwhile, Power, who pitted earlier than Kirkwood and Rasmussen, overtook teammate Ericsson, who has yet to pit, to assume the lead while O’Ward, who also pitted earlier, tried to reel in.
With less than 50 laps remaining, Power was leading by nearly a second over O’Ward while Rasmussen reeled in the latter for the runner-up spot. By then, Ericsson pitted under green before Rasmussen quickly assumed the runner-up spot from O’Ward. Rasmussen proceeded to reel in Power for the lead through every turn and straightaway over the next several laps.
Then with 43 laps remaining, Rasmussen tried to make a move to the outside of Power through the first two turns. As Power tried to defend while Rasmussen gained a slight advantage to Power’s right-rear wheel, they made contact as Rasmussen bounced off both the Turn 2 outside wall and against Power’s right-rear wheel. Following the contact, Rasmussen muscled ahead with the lead while Power fell off the pace with a flat right-rear wheel. The incident was enough to draw a caution as Power pitted. During this latest caution period, some led by O’Ward, Newgarden, Rahal, McLaughlin, Rossi and Lundgaard pitted while the rest led by Rasmussen remained on the track.
The start of the next restart with 32 laps remaining featured Rasmussen motoring away from Kirkwood, Malukas and the field through the frontstretch and the first two turns. As O’Ward tried to carve his way to the front from seventh place on four fresh tires, Rasmussen, who initially expressed concerns about damage to his entry, continued to lead by a steady margin over Kirkwood with 30 laps remaining.
Down to the final 25 laps of the event, Rasmussen continued to lead by half a second over Kirkwood and by more than a second over third-place Malukas. Meanwhile, O’Ward reeled in and overtook Armstrong for fourth place on four fresher tires than Rasmussen while Newgarden, Rossi, Dixon, McLaughlin and Rahal were racing in the top 10, respectively. Shortly after, Newgarden, who also pitted with O’Ward, overtook Armstrong for fifth place and O’Ward tried to reel in Malukas for third place while Rasmussen led by six-tenths of a second with 20 laps remaining.
With less than 14 laps remaining, the top-five competitors were separated by one-and-a-half seconds as Kirkwood started to reel in on Rasmussen for the lead through every turn and straightaway. Two laps later, Newgarden overtook O’Ward for fourth place and he overtook teammate Malukas another lap later while Rasmussen continued to lead by three-tenths of a second with 10 laps remaining.
Then with nine laps remaining, Kirkwood drew himself alongside Rasmussen entering Turn 4 and he assumed the lead following a brief duel entering the first turn. Rasmussen then hit the Turn 2 wall, which allowed Newgarden to overtake him for the runner-up spot. As Rasmussen began to fall off the pace, Newgarden reeled in and overtook Kirkwood through the backstretch with seven laps remaining to assume the lead. With four fresher tires than Kirkwood, Newgarden stretched his lead to a second with less than five laps remaining.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Newgarden remained in the lead by more than a second over Kirkwood. With Kirkwood unable to reel in the deficit, Newgarden cruised around Phoenix smoothly for a final time before he cycled back to the frontstetch and claimed the checkered flag by nearly two seconds over Kirkwood.
With the victory, Newgarden, who won for the first time for Team Penske and Chevrolet, achieve his 33rd career win in the NTT IndyCar Series division, his 19th on an oval-shaped track and his first since he won the 2025 season-finale event at Nashville Superspeedway in September 2025. Newgarden’s Phoenix victory was also his second at the track as he won IndyCar’s last-scheduled event at Phoenix in 2018 before the track’s return this season.
“I’m just very surprised,” Newgarden said in Victory Lane on FOX. “It’s only been a race since we haven’t won, so it’s not like it’s been a while. The middle of the race, I don’t know that I was fully believing that we had the capability to win. We kept working through it and I’m like look, if we get another opportunity, we’re going to be on the aggressive. We’re gonna be on the offense. We took tires and the [car] was like a rocket ship when it needed it to be. It was right at the end of the race. I’m pumped. I love to be here at Phoenix. I’m so happy we’re here. This is an IndyCar track…To be here with NASCAR is fantastic, but we got to be here as well and I love being here with this group.”
“Momentum’s a big deal,” Newgarden added. “It’s very difficult to understand how things work. Sometimes things go against us, sometimes they go for us. This was just great execution by the team. Simply as that. It was a good car, great execution. [The team] won this race today.”
As Newgarden celebrated the race victory, Christian Rasmussen, who led 69 laps, was left dejected after plummeting to 14th place following both his late incident with Will Power and late scrape with the backstretch’s wall, the latter of which ultimately cost him the victory.
“I think it’s very clear what happened,” Rasmussen said. “We were the class of the field today. The best car out there. I was so happy with the car. You can’t just run people into the wall, which was what happened today. [Power] ran me straight into the wall and after that, I had damage…The car was just impossible to drive after that. I just did what I could to salvage a day and not crash a car. Just frustrating. Man, so frustrating because we should’ve won the race today. Obviously, [I] didn’t.”
Kyle Kirkwood settled in second place while David Malukas capped off a weekend that started with achieving his first career pole position and leading a race-high 73 laps by notching his first podium result with Team Penske with a third-place result.
Pato O’Ward took the checkered flag in fourth place ahead of Marcus Armstrong. Alexander Rossi, Scott Dixon, Scott McLaughlin, Graham Rahal and Kyffin Simpson completed the top 10 in the final running order.
There were 18 lead changes for 11 different leaders, and four for 41 laps. In addition, 15 of 25 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the second event of the 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season, Josef Newgarden leads the standings by five points over Kyle Kirkwood, 12 over both Scott McLaughlin and Pato O’Ward, and 19 over Alex Palou.
Race results:
- Josef Newgarden, eight laps led
- Kyle Kirkwood, 47 laps led
- David Malukas, 73 laps led
- Pato O’Ward, 10 laps led
- Marcus Armstrong, eight laps led
- Alexander Rossi
- Scott Dixon, 12 laps led
- Scott McLaughlin
- Graham Rahal
- Kyffin Simpson
- Santino Ferrucci
- Felix Rosenqvist
- Christian Lundgaard, eight laps led
- Christian Rasmussen, 69 laps led
- Dennis Hauger, three laps led
- Will Power, 10 laps led, one lap down
- Marcus Ericsson, two laps led, one lap down
- Mick Schumacher, two laps down
- Caio Collet, two laps down
- Nolan Siegel, three laps down
- Sting Ray Robb, four laps down
- Rinus VeeKay, five laps down
- Louis Foster – OUT, Contact
- Alex Palou – OUT, Contact
- Romain Grosjean – OUT, Mechanical
Next on the 2026 NTT INDYCAR Series schedule is the series’ inaugural Java House Grand Prix of Arlington at the Streets of Arlington, Texas. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, March 15, and air at 12:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
