MADISON, Ill. – For the second-straight Sunday, the NTT IndyCar Series race winner drove under the checkered and yellow flags as the winner of a race under caution.

The way the season has gone for Josef Newgarden and Team Penske, a victory is a victory.

The defending NTT IndyCar Series champion used brilliant strategy that got him back onto the track in clean air following his final pit stop on lap 153 at World Wide Technology Raceway. When Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato made contact with the turn two wall on lap 197, there was no time for a restart and this time, it was Newgarden who followed the pace car across the finish line.

Ironically, it was Sato who won the 104th Indianapolis 500 in a race that finished under caution last Sunday.

It was Newgarden’s second win of the season and the 16th of his career, tying him with Dan Wheldon for 30th on the all-time list. He previously won at World Wide Technology Raceway in 2017.

Newgarden, also won the second race of the Iowa INDYCAR 250 last month and his second win at World Wide Technology Raceway, where he also won in 2017.

Although Newgarden is the only driver other than Scott Dixon to win multiple races this year, Dixon has won four of the first nine races this season. That made the Sunday’s race vital if Newgarden had any hopes of catching Dixon in the championship race.

For Newgarden, this victory was “the pits.”

“This was all a pit stop victory right here for me,” Newgarden said after leading 48 laps. “We got pretty dicey with Will (Power) and Pato (O’Ward) there on track. My guys have been amazing in the pits. They have put me into position every time.

“It was really fun racing Pato out of the pit. That was for the win right there, that race when we went side by side out of the pit exit. He did an amazing job. He’s going to do great things in this sport, so good job to him.”

Newgarden and O’Ward pitted on the same lap and Newgarden was able to get his Chevrolet off pit lane first, inches ahead of O’Ward’s Chevy. The two raced off the pit exit lane with Newgarden gaining the advantage and ultimately, the victory.

“Man, we had a great weekend,” O’Ward said after equaling his career-best finish of second. “Our objective was to come in and try and score two podiums, and we did that. It would have been great to score a win. We’re so close. This Arrow McLaren SP No. 5 Chevrolet was very strong right out of the gates. We were super, super competitive. We’re knocking on the door, man.

“We’re very close, and we’re going to keep pushing. I know our time will come. We have to stay there.”

O’Ward knew once Newgarden got out in clean air, the Team Penske driver had the advantage.

“Honestly, I was really struggling,” O’Ward said. “Whenever I got the countdown to 10 laps to go, I was pushing, pushing, pushing to get close to him and try and strike, but I just couldn’t quite do it. Today was harder than yesterday for passing. The asphalt on the track was quite a bit hotter, so that makes it quite a bit tougher with big trains of cars. We got to the back of the pack, and we kind of got stuck there.”

The victory was the sixth for Team Penske at World Wide Technology Raceway.

O’Ward’s runner-up is his third podium of the year and matched his career-best finish, which happened in the second round of the Road America doubleheader earlier this year.

Power finished third, his third podium of the yeaer and the 79th podium of his career.

“I felt like we had the car to win,” Power said. “Obviously, it’s a traffic game. I’ve got to thank all of the guys. The Verizon 12 car Chevy was really strong today. We had great stops, great car. The strategy certainly didn’t work out obviously at the end, but still very happy to get a podium.

“We’ve certainly had a lot of potential this year and very strange year. But I feel very fortunate that I get to drive the Verizon car, and we get to do this and can actually have some fans here. It’s a fantastic job. Obviously, we’d love to win, but it wasn’t today.”

The start of the race was delayed after one of the track rental vehicles leaked fluid down the frontstretch. The safety crew had to put oil dry on the track, then sweep it off, leading to a delay of about 20 minutes.

Once the race started it ran green until three laps were left in the contest when Sato hit the wall. Sato led the most laps in the race at 66 and finished ninth.

It was also the second-straight day that fans were allowed to attend a race at the 1.25-mile short oval.

“It’s a smaller crowd; we weren’t allowed to have as many people here, but thank you to everyone who came out,” Newgarden said. “I hope you enjoyed your Sunday, and hopefully you enjoyed the race. This was all down to my team. Team Chevy did an amazing job. Great to have Hitachi on the car this weekend. They’ve been good luck for us.

“I’m really proud of my team. They won the race. I didn’t win it; they won it.”