2020 Bommarito Automotive Group 500 Explained

The 2020 Bommarito Automotive Group 500 was an IndyCar Series event that took place from August 29-30, 2020. It made up the eighth and ninth rounds of the 2020 IndyCar Series season. Initially scheduled to be just one race, the one 500km race was replaced with a doubleheader weekend after cancellations of the events at Portland and Laguna Seca due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[1] Two 200-lap, 250-mile races formed the advertised 500 mile distance.^[2]

Entry list

Separate entry lists were released for both events with identical participants, apart from a sponsor change for Felix Rosenqvist from NTT Data to Monster Energy.

Car No.	Driver Name	Owner/Team	Engine
1	nowrap	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske	Chevrolet
4	Charlie Kimball	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet
5	Patricio O'Ward	Arrow McLaren SP	Chevrolet
7	Oliver Askew	Arrow McLaren SP	Chevrolet
8	Marcus Ericsson	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
9	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
10	Felix Rosenqvist	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
12	Will Power	Team Penske	Chevrolet
14		A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet
15	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda
18	Santino Ferrucci	Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan	Honda
20	Ed Carpenter	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet
21	Rinus VeeKay	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet
22	Simon Pagenaud	Team Penske	Chevrolet
26	Zach Veach	Andretti Autosport	Honda
27	Alexander Rossi	Andretti Autosport	Honda
28		Andretti Autosport	Honda
30	Takuma Sato	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda
55	Álex Palou	Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh	Honda
59	Conor Daly	Carlin	Chevrolet
60	Jack Harvey	Meyer Shank Racing	Honda
88	Colton Herta	Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport	Honda
98		nowrap	Andretti Herta Autosport with Marco Andretti & Curb-Agajanian	Honda
Sources:[3] [4]

All cars run a Dallara safety tub utilizing the IndyCar mandated Universal Aero Kit 18. All cars also will utilize Firestone tires.

Key	Meaning
R	Rookie
W	Past winner

Practice

Patricio O'Ward was fastest in practice with a time of 24.789 seconds and a speed of 181.532 mph (292.147 km/h).^[5]

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Time
1	5		Arrow McLaren SP	Chevrolet	24.789	181.532
2	12	Will Power	Team Penske	Chevrolet	24.867	180.961
3	9		Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	24.886	180.822

Combined Qualifying Session, August 29

The pole for Saturday's race was won by Will Power with a time of 24.6718 seconds. The new and now two-time Indy 500 Takuma Sato won the pole for Sunday's race with a time of 24.6577 seconds.

Pos Race 1	Pos Race 2	No.	Name	Lap 1	Lap 2
1	3	12	Will Power	24.6718	24.6611
2	4	5		24.7149	24.6873
3	6	9		24.7244	24.7613
4	7	10		24.8120	24.7630
5	1	10	Takuma Sato	24.8226	24.6577
6	2	1	Josef Newgarden	24.8314	24.6607
7	5	60		24.8736	24.7525
8	12	28		24.9024	24.9144
9	11	27		24.9038	24.8860
10	10	88		24.9100	24.8394
11	14	55	Álex Palou	24.9173	24.9224
12	9	10		24.9591	24.8088
13	8	22		24.9815	24.7993
14	18	21	Rinus VeeKay	24.9903	25.1833
15	13	7	Oliver Askew	24.9926	24.9198
16	15	59		25.0020	24.9482
17	22	20		25.0667	25.3196
18	21	4		25.0905	25.2390
19	20	98		25.2529	25.2012
20	16	18		25.2542	24.9727
21	19	14		25.3288	25.1918
22	23	15		25.4821	25.4521
23	17	26		25.5661	25.0291
Sources:[6] [7]

Key	Meaning
	Rookie
	Past winner

Race 1 – August 29

The first 14 laps of the race were run under caution as a result of a six-car crash coming to the green flag. Álex Palou pulled out of line, and was followed by Simon Pagenaud and Oliver Askew. Askew hit Pagenaud, who in turn collected Alexander Rossi. The resulting incident took out Zach Veach, Marco Andretti, and Ed Carpenter, leading to three of the five Andretti Autosport cars retiring inside the opening five laps.^[8] Scott Dixon won the event, his fourth of the season, extending his points lead over Josef Newgarden to 117 points.

Race

		Driver	Team	Engine	Laps	Time/Status	Pit Stops	Grid	Laps Led
1	9	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	200	1:44:30.7944	3	3	28	51
2	30	Takuma Sato	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	200	+0.1404|3|5|14|41|-!3|5|align="left"| Patricio O'Ward|Arrow McLaren SP|Chevrolet|200|+7.0052	3	2	94	38
4	88	Colton Herta	Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport	Honda	200	+7.7019|3|10| |32|-!5|8|align="left"| Marcus Ericsson|Chip Ganassi Racing|Honda|200|+8.3504|3|4| |30|-!6|21|align="left"| Rinus VeeKay |Ed Carpenter Racing|Chevrolet|200|+12.4145	3	14		28
7	28		Andretti Autosport	Honda	200	+13.0556	3	8		26
8	10		Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	200	+13.8107	3	12	1	25
9	14		A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet	200	+15.0319	4	21		22
10	59		Carlin	Chevrolet	200	+15.6721	4	16		20
11	60		Meyer Shank Racing	Honda	200	+16.2600	4	7		19
12	1	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske	Chevrolet	200	+16.8155	4	6		18
13	4		A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet	200	+21.4079	4	18		17
14	7	Oliver Askew	Arrow McLaren SP	Chevrolet	200	+24.0143	4	15		16
15	55	Álex Palou	Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh	Honda	200	+24.6954	3	11		15
16	18		Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan	Honda	200	+27.0938	4	20	2	15
17	12	Will Power	Team Penske	Chevrolet	198	+2 laps|5|1|61|15|-!18|15|align="left"| Graham Rahal |Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing|Honda|124|Mechanical|5|22||12|-!19|22|align="left"| Simon Pagenaud |Team Penske|Chevrolet|67|Contact|5|13||11|-!20|20|align="left"| Ed Carpenter |Ed Carpenter Racing|Chevrolet|3|Contact|1|17||10|-!21|26|align="left"| Zach Veach |Andretti Autosport|Honda|2|Contact|0|23||9|-!22|27|align="left"| Alexander Rossi |Andretti Autosport|Honda|0|Contact|0|9||8|-!23|98|align="left"| Marco Andretti |Andretti Autosport|Honda|0|Contact|0|19||7|-!colspan=11| Official Box Score|}Notes: Points include 1 point for leading at least 1 lap during a race, an additional 2 points for leading the most race laps, and 1 point for Pole Position. Race 2 had no DNFs. Race statistics Lead changes: 6 Lap leader breakdown From lap To lap Total laps Driver 1 61 61 Will Power 62 64 3 Scott Dixon 65 65 1 Felix Rosenqvist 66 67 2 Santino Ferrucci 68 161 94 Patricio O'Ward 162 175 14 Takuma Sato 176 200 25 Scott Dixon Cautions:2 for 25 laps From lap To lap Total laps Reason 1 12 12 Contact: Car 7 (Askew), 20 (Carpenter), 22 (Pagenaud), 26 (Veach), 27 (Rossi), 98 (Andretti) in Turn 4 108 120 13 Conditions Average speed: 143.522mph Championship standings after the race Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Scott Dixon 386 2 Josef Newgarden 269 3 Patricio O'Ward 256 2 4 Takuma Sato 248 1 5 Graham Rahal 226 Engine Manufacturer standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Honda 688 2 Chevrolet 579 Note: Only the top five positions are included. Race 2 – August 30 The second race began under caution after a vehicle spilled oil on the track during the pace laps. Josef Newgarden won the race, his second win of the season.[9] Race Driver Team Engine Laps Time/Status Pit Stops Grid Laps Led 1 1 Josef Newgarden Team Penske Chevrolet 200 1:32:15.2431 3 2 48 51 2 5 Patricio O'Ward Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet 200 +1.4356 3 4 36 41 3 12 Will Power Team Penske Chevrolet 200 +3.3580 3 3 40 36 4 21 Rinus VeeKay Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet 200 +4.4369 3 18 32 5 9 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 200 +6.2173 3 6 30 6 88 Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport Honda 200 +7.0022 3 10 10 29 7 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 200 +9.6894 3 9 26 8 59 Carlin Chevrolet 200 +9.9199 3 15 24 9 30 Takuma Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 200 +10.8130 3 1 66 26 10 18 Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan Honda 200 +15.6741 3 16 20 11 28 Andretti Autosport Honda 200 +16.6569 3 12 19 12 55 Álex Palou Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh Honda 200 +18.8580 3 14 18 13 60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda 200 +20.0777 3 5 17 14 27 Andretti Autosport Honda 200 +20.9892 3 11 16 15 98 Andretti Autosport Honda 199 +1 Lap 3 20 15 16 22 Team Penske Chevrolet 199 +1 Lap 3 8 14 17 7 Oliver Askew Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet 199 +1 Lap 3 13 13 18 4 A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet 199 +1 Lap 3 21 12 19 14 A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet 199 +1 Lap 3 19 11 20 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 198 +2 Laps 3 23 10 21 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet 197 +3 Laps 3 22 9 22 26 Andretti Autosport Honda 196 +4 Laps 4 17 8 23 8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 190 +10 Laps 3 7 7 Official Box Score Notes: Points include 1 point for leading at least 1 lap during a race, an additional 2 points for leading the most race laps, and 1 point for Pole Position. Race statistics Lead changes: 8 Lap leader breakdown From lap To lap Total laps Driver 1 59 59 Takuma Sato 60 95 36 Patricio O'Ward 96 97 2 Will Power 98 101 4 Josef Newgarden 102 108 7 Takuma Sato 109 113 5 Colton Herta 114 151 38 Will Power 152 156 5 Colton Herta 157 200 44 Josef Newgarden Cautions:2 for 5 laps From lap To lap Total laps Reason 1 1 1 Start under Yellow (Oil on track) 197 200 4 Contact: Car #30 (Sato) in Turn 2 Average speed: 162.594mph Championship standings after the race Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Scott Dixon 416 2 Josef Newgarden 320 3 Patricio O'Ward 297 4 Takuma Sato 274 2 5 Colton Herta 250 Engine Manufacturer standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Honda 747 2 Chevrolet 674 Note: Only the top five positions are included. References

Notes and References

1. Web site: IndyCar cancels Portland, Laguna Seca; adds Mid-Ohio, Gateway, Indy. motorsports.nbcsports.com. 27 July 2020. 23 October 2020.
2. Web site: IndyCar weekend doubleheader schedule at Gateway. motorsports.nbcsports.com. 27 August 2020. 23 October 2020.
3. Web site: gateway r1.rslx. motorsports.nbcsports.com. 23 October 2020.
4. Web site: gateway r2.rslx. motorsports.nbcsports.com. 23 October 2020.
5. Web site: Practice - Results. imscdn.com. 28 August 2020. 23 October 2020.
6. Web site: Qualifications - Postings (Oval Separate Laps) R1. imscdn.com. 29 August 2020. 23 October 2020.
7. Web site: Qualifications - Postings (Oval Separate Laps) R2. imscdn.com. 29 August 2020. 23 October 2020.
8. Web site: Massive wreck at start eliminates three Andretti cars from Gateway. motorsports.nbcsports.com. 29 August 2020. 23 October 2020.
9. Web site: 2020 Bommarito Automotive Group 500 Race 2 Recap: Josef Newgarden Wins Under Caution. fronstretch.com. 30 August 2020. 24 October 2020.