As day turned into night, the NTT IndyCar Series drivers were told to start their engines for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 in St. Louis. Right off the bat, there was action all across the track, and it didn’t let up until the moment the chequered flag waved.
St. Louis’ Night Race Was A Breath of Fresh Air As Kyle Kirkwood Wins His First Oval Race
After being dubbed the “King of The Streets” Kyle Kirkwood is making his mark on an oval. He remains the only other driver aside from Alex Palou to win a race in the 2025 season.
What started off as a race where Team Penske was expected to dominate ended up in another show-stopping stint for the Andretti Global driver. Kirkwood led in the race’s later stages but was hovering around the top ten for most of the night.
Pato O’Ward and Christian Rasmussen Score Podium Finishes
On the other side of things, Chevrolet has yet to get a constructor’s win this season. O’Ward started the race from fifth on the grid. He got close to securing the win tonight before a few chaotic laps sent him down the grid.
O’Ward worked his way back up and was chasing Kirkwood down for the lead. He got close to him during the second-to-last lap, but ultimately Kirkwood managed to pull ahead and increase his margin that extra bit more to secure his win.
P2 for Pato O’Ward. He’s with @jack_harvey93. pic.twitter.com/y5qN9VX8cq
— INDYCAR on FOX (@IndyCarOnFOX) June 16, 2025
Christian Rasmussen pulled off a stellar drive. He moved up 22 places during the race to come in third. Although he faced a couple of challenges, including his car catching fire, Rasmussen made over 70 overtakes to make his way up to third.
This is Rasmussen’s best career finish as well as his first time scoring a podium.
Collisions for Foster and Newgarden
Louis Foster had a bit of bad luck in St. Louis after losing control and going into the wall, which brought his race to a premature end. Josef Newgarden was attempting to avoid Foster’s car, but in doing so, the two made contact.
Newgarden’s car flipped upside down and nearly went over the wall and into the pits.
Both drivers were taken to the medical center and released without any major injuries.
Both Josef Newgarden and Louis Foster are okay after this scary wreck at WWT Raceway. pic.twitter.com/s2OhHPEWib
— INDYCAR on FOX (@IndyCarOnFOX) June 16, 2025
Other Notable Moments in St. Louis
The first caution of the race was brought out during lap four. Devlin DeFrancesco lost control while entering turn one, which sent him into the barrier. The team over at Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing were able to fix the rear wing. DeFrancesco rejoined the race despite being 33 laps down.
The second caution was brought after an issue for Will Power. After exiting the car, Power experienced failure with his front right tire. He went into the wall at turn four but managed to drive his car back into the pit lane before retiring.
During the caution that came out after Power’s accident, a load of chaos went down in the pits. Christian Lundgaard overestimated where to stop and had trouble getting into his pit box. Amid all the confusion Christian Rasmussen was leaving his pit box when his car caught on fire.
IndyCar goes racing again next week. They take on Road America with the green flag waving at 1:30 p.m. As usual, Last Word on Motorsports will have coverage before and after the race
Read Next: Road America 2024: How Will Power ended his 2-year win drought
Main Photo: Karl Zemlin, Penske Entertainment
Recording Date: 6/15/2025
