Marcus Ericsson’s dominant run falls short in “bittersweet” runner-up finish at WWTR

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Marcus Ericsson delivered the most dominant drive of his IndyCar Series career, but was left with a front row seat as Josef Newgarden took the checkered flag in a wild race that finished into Monday morning at World Wide Technology Raceway.

It was a night that saw the Swedish native start 12th and quickly accelerate through the field and made his presence felt, leading a race-high 114 laps of 260 laps, which also stands as the most in a single race throughout his entire career. He was out front when the first red flag hit on Lap 137, which lasted for 38 minutes and saw drivers briefly exit their cars.

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Despite the time creeping near 11pm ET on a Sunday night and the grandstands getting emptier with every passing minute, the race resumed and saw Ericsson thrown into a fight with Newgarden, the rival that beat him on a controversial one-lap shootout from pit lane in the 2023 Indianapolis 500. With 35 laps to go, it was a showdown that saw Ericsson’s #28 Andretti Global Honda trying to chase down the #2 Team Penske Chevrolet of Newgarden, but was never able to do so, falling 0.6613s behind at the finish.

While it marks Ericsson’s best result of the season, there’s no denying he wanted more out of the night.

“No, it's definitely bittersweet after leading that many laps, having a great car underneath me,” said Ericsson, 35. “We drove all the way to the front, was feeling really good up front.

“Josef is good around these tracks. He got track position on us at one of the stops. Yeah, it's just hard to get around him. 

“Bittersweet, but the Honda was great all night. Thought I drove really well. A good result for us. But yeah, of course you want that win when you're that close to it.”

It was Newgarden’s sixth victory at the 1.25-mile egg-shaped oval. Additionally, 11 of his last 34 wins have come on ovals.

Ericsson spent the past week studying Newgarden’s prowess at the track located just outside of St. Louis, Missouri, and is still searching for answers.

“That's the million dollar question,” Ericsson said. “He's been the guy on these tracks the last 10 years.

“Actually I did a lot of studying of him this week leading up to this place, studying a lot of video, analyzing together with my spotter Bob (Perona). We did a lot of work leading up to this weekend just really trying to see what we could do to improve our performance.

“Of course, the #28 crew did a great job giving me a car so I can drive it the way I want. It would have been nice to beat him, but he was a little bit too strong in the end.”

Overall, though, Ericsson, who hasn’t won a race since the season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in 2023, his last season with Chip Ganassi Racing, was left reflecting back on his performance.

“It's bittersweet, for sure,” said Ericsson, who has four career wins, including the 2022 Indy 500.

“We're here to win. It's been a while for me. Yeah, I thought I had it at times there when we had track position. I felt like no one could really overtake me.” 

But then Newgarden squeezed by during the pit stops between Lap 177-178, which made all the difference considering how evenly matched the two were.

“That one pit sequence Josef got around us, we had a couple of go's at him after that, but he was a bit too strong up front,” Ericsson said. "Yeah, it's bittersweet, but I'm really proud of the #28 crew and my performance. I think I drove my everything out there. I was really driving well.

“This whole year feels like we've really been making big progress, I've been making big progress. Finally I'm feeling confident in the car on all types of tracks, road courses, street courses, superspeedways, and now short ovals. That's been a big step for me and the Andretti team this year, so that makes me excited for the rest of the year.

“It's tough to lead 114 laps and miss out.” 

Read Also: Rinus VeeKay surges to strong fourth-place finish in Sunday night thriller at WWTR Josef Newgarden denies Marcus Ericsson and wins at WWT Raceway

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