Championship leader Alex Palou entered the race with a 43-point advantage over Will Power, but it all fell apart before the green flag flew. Palou stalled on track — unable to get rolling.
The No. 10 Honda was forced to go behind the wall while the Chip Ganassi Racing team scrambled to fix the car. Race strategist Barry Wanser noted that it was a hybrid issue initially, but it was later reported to be an issue related to the battery, as the team changed out a 12v battery in order to send Palou back out.
While this drama was unfolding, Josef Newgarden was preparing to lead the field to the green flag from pole position. However, the start was waved off as the back-end of the field wasn’t packed up enough. Linus Lundqvist did not realize it and fired off, running into the back of Marcus Armstrong. Armstrong collided with Newgarden, and the two cars went crashing into the inside wall. Pato O’Ward narrowly avoided joining them.
Newgarden was curt in his interview after being released from the infield care center. “Don’t ask me that question,” he told NBC Sports when asked about the No. 8 (Lundqvist) car’s involvement. “I got clobbered on the start. Honestly, it’s not our day. They go yellow and I get run into. Of course, someone did’t get the message.”
Lundqvist escaped the accident without significant damage, but was slapped with a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact. Palou’s team fixed the issue on his No. 10 machine and he finally returned to the race on Lap 29, nearly 30 laps down. He was able to quickly overtake the wrecked cars of Newgarden and Armstrong, and he will have to hope for more attrition throughout the race in order to maintain control in the title fight. By Lap 100, he moved up from 27th to 23rd in the running order.
Power took the lead of the race in early running, and could potentially leave Milwaukee in control of the championship.
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