Kyle Kirkwood won last year’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline at World Wide Technology Raceway, but Josef Newgarden is the king of the event.

This weekend’s visit comes at a good time for Newgarden, who literally needs to get back on his royal footing.

SEE: WWTR Event Details

Newgarden injured his left foot in the Turn 4 accident in last month’s Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. He wore a boot and used a crutch through last weekend’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear, and he admitted after the bumpy street race that sports car star Felipe Nasr, who was on standby for Team Penske as a possible replacement driver, might have given the No. 2 Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet a better chance to win. Newgarden finished 10th and, by his own admission, was pushed around by his NTT INDYCAR SERIES opponents, especially late in the going.

Another week of recovery and the reduced demands of a short oval should benefit the two-time series champion. He also knows this 1.25-mile oval as well as anyone ever has.

Newgarden won the 2017 race, his first season with Team Penske. In 2020, he began a string of three consecutive track wins, with Pato O’Ward finishing second in two of those. Newgarden won again in 2024 (photo, top), and he won an NTT P1 Award in the nine-race stretch.

Newgarden has led 650 of the 2,394 laps at WWTR since 2017, which equates to 27.2 percent, and he has led at least 48 laps in seven of those 10 races. However, he has crashed out of two of the past three races.

Pato O'Ward

O’Ward (photo, above, front) is another driver who has fared well at this track, finishing second four times without a win. This also could be a place for David Malukas’ first series win as his breakout performance came at WWTR in 2022 as he split the Team Penske drivers – Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin – on the podium while driving for Dale Coyne Racing w/HMD Motorsports. Malukas finished third the next year in the same entry.

Keep an eye on Christian Ramsussen, too, as he has been strong on the two most recent short ovals. Last year, he chased down and passed series champion Alex Palou for the win at the Milwaukee Mile, and he dominated this year’s Good Ranchers 250 at Phoenix Raceway before incurring late-race contact with Will Power. Rasmussen led 69 laps, although Newgarden won the race.

Scott Dixon is a two-time race winner at WWTR – Race 1 in 2020 and in 2023 – and Power won in 2018. In total, four drivers in Sunday’s 25-car field have experienced WWTR victory lane in this series, and four other drivers have finished second. Power has won five poles, McLaughlin two, and they combined to give Team Penske a run of five consecutive top qualifying positions and seven of the past eight with Newgarden’s in 2019 included.

But series races at this track generally start and end with Newgarden. This time, his left foot is happy WWTR is next on the schedule.

The weekend action begins Saturday with the first practice at 12:30 p.m. ET (FS1). Qualifying is set for 4:30 p.m. (FS2) with high-line work kicking off the final practice at 8 p.m. (FS1). FOX One and INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls also are covering all sessions.

The ninth race of the 18-race season is at 9 p.m. on FOX, FOX One and INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls.