The 2021 Bommarito Automotive Group 500 was an

IndyCar IndyCar, LLC (stylized as INDYCAR), is an auto racing sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The organization sanctions two racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with the Indianapolis ...

motor race held on August 21, 2021, at the World Wide Technology Raceway. It was the 13th round of the 2021 IndyCar Series.

Josef Newgarden Josef Nicolai Newgarden (born December 22, 1990) is an American racing driver who races the No. 2 Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet in the IndyCar Series. He was the 2011 Indy Lights champion, and 2017 and 2019 IndyCar Series Champion. He won the 2 ...

Team Penske Team Penske (formerly Penske Racing) is an American professional auto racing organization, competing in the IndyCar Series, NASCAR Cup Series, IMSA SportsCar Championship and FIA World Endurance Championship. Debuting at the 1966 24 Hours of Day ...

won his second race of the season, ahead of Arrow McLaren SP driver

Pato O'Ward Patricio "Pato" O'Ward Junco (born 6 May 1999) is a Mexican professional auto racing driver who competes full-time in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 5 Chevrolet for Arrow McLaren. He is the 2018 Indy Lights champion. He is signed to the Mc ...

in second and polesitter

Will Power William Steven Power (born 1 March 1981) is an Australian racing driver who competes in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 12 Dallara-Chevrolet for Team Penske. He won the 2018 Indianapolis 500 and has won the IndyCar Championship twice, in ...

in third.

Background

INDYCAR used only the Saturday of the two-day event, with NASCAR Truck Series racing on Friday and INDYCAR on Saturday, starting at noon and ending on the night of August 21, 2021. It was held one week after the Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix at

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

and three weeks before the

Grand Prix of Portland The Grand Prix of Portland (known as the BitNile.com Grand Prix of Portland for sponsorship reasons) is a race in the IndyCar Series held at the Portland International Raceway in Portland, Oregon. The race was an annual event from 1984 to 2007, i ...

. It was the last oval race of the

2021 season 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

was the previous race winner, having won the second race in the 2020 double-header event.

Championship standings before the race

Álex Palou remained top of the standings with a 21-point gap over

, despite his dismal 27th-place finish at the Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix. O'Ward, who finished fifth in that race, moved up to second, as

Scott Dixon Scott Ronald Dixon (born 22 July 1980) is a New Zealand racing driver who races the 9 Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) Dallara DW12-Honda car in the IndyCar Series. He is a six-time drivers' champion of the IndyCar Series, having claimed the title in ...

was demoted to third, sitting above

in fourth and

Marcus Ericsson Marcus Thorbjörn Ericsson (born 2 September 1990) is a Swedish racing driver, who competes in the IndyCar Series for Andretti Global, Andretti. Ericsson competed in Formula One from to . In American open-wheel racing, Ericsson won the India ...

in fifth.

Entrants

24 drivers entered the race. IndyCar rookie

Jimmie Johnson Jimmie Kenneth Johnson (born September 17, 1975) is an American professional auto racing driver. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 84 Toyota Camry XSE for Legacy Motor Club. Johnson has won seven Cup ch ...

was replaced by

Tony Kanaan Antoine Rizkallah "Tony" Kanaan Filho (born 31 December 1974), nicknamed "TK", is a Brazilian racing driver who is the team principal of Arrow McLaren. He is best known for racing in Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) from 1998 to 2002, an ...

, who had signed with the team to race in the season's oval races in place of Johnson. Ed Carpenter returned to pilot the No. 20 in a similar deal, replacing Conor Daly, who went to drive the No. 59 Carlin. Rookie

Romain Grosjean Romain David Jeremie Grosjean (; born 17 April 1986) is a French and Swiss racing driver, who competes in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Lamborghini and serves as a reserve driver in the IndyCar Series for Prema. Grosjean competed under ...

participated in his first oval race, after initially only signing with

Dale Coyne Racing Dale Coyne Racing (DCR) is an American professional open-wheel racing team that currently competes in the IndyCar Series and Indy NXT. The team was founded in 1984 and is owned by former driver Dale Coyne. From 1995 to 2000, the team was known ...

to race in road and street courses.

Practice

Practice took place at 1:15 PM ET and ended with

topping the charts, with a lap time of 00:25.1715.

Qualifying

Qualifying was held at 5:00 PM ET. Each driver set two laps in the session. Positions were then determined based on the total time of those two laps.

won

pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...

, with a total time of 00:49.8289.

Qualifying classification

; Notes * – Álex Palou received a nine-place grid penalty due to an unapproved engine change. He would start the race 21st.

Race

The race started at 8:00 PM ET. The start, led by

, went underway with no incidents. On lap 2, Power was overtaken by

Colton Herta Colton Thomas Herta (born March 30, 2000) is an American auto racing, racing driver who competes in the IndyCar Series, NTT IndyCar Series for Andretti Autosport, Andretti Global with Curb Agajanian Performance Group, Curb Agajanian. He is the yo ...

, who assumed the lead of the race. The following lap saw a caution brought out, as

Graham Rahal Graham Robert Rahal ( ; born January 4, 1989) is an American race car driver and small business owner. He currently races in the IndyCar Series with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, a team partially owned by his father Bobby Rahal, the winner of ...

and Ed Jones made contact in Turn 2, sending both drivers into the wall. Both drivers would retire from the race, classifying second last and last respectively. The caution lasted 12 laps. As the race restarted after the caution on lap 15, teammates

and Simon Pagenaud made contact, damaging the right side of Pagenaud's front wing, which would detach and land on the track, causing another caution that lasted four laps. A light malfunction caused the third caution of the day to be triggered on lap 21, lasting four laps. On lap 54, Ed Carpenter spun and crashed out of the race in Turn 4, causing the fourth caution of the race, which would last until lap 63. Sébastien Bourdais took the lead of the race, as the front three pitted. Herta lost the effective lead of the race to Newgarden, who exited the pit lane first. Another caution would be declared on lap 65, as

Rinus VeeKay Rinus van Kalmthout (; born 11 September 2000), known professionally as Rinus VeeKay, is a Dutch people, Dutch racing driver. He competes in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 18 Dallara-Honda for Dale Coyne Racing. Career Karting Van Kalmtho ...

crashed into Álex Palou in Turn 1, who then hit the rear of teammate

's car, sending the three into the wall. The race restarted with Newgarden in the lead, after Bourdais made his pit stop. On lap 139, Herta overtook Newgarden for the lead, but lost it as he pitted on lap 185. Herta would retire from the race as his driveshaft broke during pit exit. On lap 200,

Alexander Rossi Alexander Michael Rossi (born September 25, 1991) is an American racing driver, who competes in the IndyCar Series for Ed Carpenter Racing, Ed Carpenter. Rossi competed in Formula One at five Formula One Grands Prix, Grands Prix in . In America ...

hit the wall in Turn 2 during his out lap after his final pit stop, ending his race and causing the sixth and final caution of the race, which lasted nine laps.

Felix Rosenqvist Karl Felix Helmer Rosenqvist (born 7 November 1991) is a Swedish professional racing driver who currently drives the No. 60 Honda for Meyer Shank Racing in the NTT IndyCar Series. He was named Rookie of the Year for the IndyCar Series in 2019. ...

had a mechanical failure on lap 211, which prompted him to retire from the race. Josef Newgarden won the race, half a second over Arrow McLaren SP's

in second. Polesitter Will Power finished third.

Race classification

Championship standings after the race

took the championship lead after his second-place finish, with Álex Palou dropping down to second, above race winner

, who rose to third over

, who was demoted to fourth. ;Drivers' Championship standings ;Engine manufacturer standings * Note: Only the top five positions are included.

References

External links

{{IndyCar Series on NBC Bommarito Automotive Bommarito Automotive Group 500 Bommarito Automotive Group 500 Bommarito Automotive Group 500