Newgarden worked his way past fellow Penske drivers Scott McLaughlin and poleman Will Power to grab the lead just before half distance of the 250-lap race.
That proved to be the key move, with Newgarden staying out front for his first win since the Indianapolis 500 in May – and to keep up his 100% record on ovals this year.
Power led the field to green, leading team-mates McLaughlin and Newgarden. Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing) held fourth, with Colton Herta (Andretti Autosport) and Pato O’Ward (Arrow McLaren) duelling straight away for fifth, with the latter grabbing the spot by lap three.
Dixon attacked Newgarden for third on lap five, but the six-time champion soon had the charging O’Ward all over him, the Mexican getting ahead after a dozen laps. Behind O’Ward, Alex Palou (Ganassi) got the hammer down and rose to fifth by lap 30, bringing the battling David Malukas (Dale Coyne Racing) and Marcus Ericsson (Ganassi) forwards too.
Dixon and Herta fell back, clearly struggling with their tyres, and it was so bad for Herta that he made his first stop on lap 41. To make matters worse, his right-front wheelnut got crossthreaded and he lost four laps.
By the one-fifth distance mark, Power led McLaughlin by half a second, with Newgarden 2s further back. O’Ward was best of the rest, ahead of Palou, Malukas, Ericsson and Dixon.
O’Ward was the first of the leaders to pit on lap 58, with Power, McLaughlin and Newgarden stopping three laps later, allowing Palou to lead for a lap before he pitted too.
Power cycled back to the front, still clear of McLaughlin, with Newgarden slipping back by 5s in third but happy with the changes they made in the pitstop.
O’Ward held a distant fourth, with Ericsson and Ganassi team-mate Takuma Sato moving up to fifth and sixth, as Palou dropped back to ninth after the first round of stops. Dixon was another tumbler, now a lap down in 15th.
Source: Autosport