Australian pole-sitter Will Power was involved in a spectacular and costly crash before American teammate Josef Newgarden claimed his fourth IndyCar series victory of the season, extending his championship lead.
The 26-year-old Newgarden won Saturday night's oval track race in Madison, Illinois by 0.6850 seconds from New Zealand's Scott Dixon (Chip Gnassi Racing) with fellow Team Penske driver Simon Pagenaud third.
The first 17 laps were run under yellow after the caution came out before the cars could make an official lap when Tony Kanaan spun out at the exit of Turn 2.
Then when the green flag finally flew, Power immediately dropped to third entering Turn 1 as Newgarden took the lead.
But, before Power could make it through Turn 2, he spun, hit the outside wall and Ed Carpenter flew in the air and over the top of Power's machine.
Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato also spun in the melee. All three were unable to continue.
"It was not a fun ride," Power said. "Josef (Newgarden) got around this outside, and I got caught up in his dirty air and just spun. Unfortunate."
It was an expensive mishap for Power who had moved to fifth in the standings, 42 points behind Newgarden, by winning last week at Pocono Raceway.
He remains fifth but is a distant 85 points behind Newgarden (547 points) with just two races remaining in the 17-race season.
"It's very, very frustrating," Power said after being released from the in-field care centre. "Unbelievably frustrating."
Newgarden increased his series points lead over second-placed Dixon to 31 points.
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