MADISON, Ill – Santino Ferrucci had another solid run on Saturday night in the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at the World Wide Technology Raceway just outside of St. Louis. He led a race-high in laps and if not for a caution for his teammate Sebastien Bourdais crashing towards the end, he likely was in the cat birds seat for the win.

Instead, he did everything he possibly could to leave with a trophy still – even if that meant pissing off a fellow competitor.

See, Ferrucci and Josef Newgarden had a fierce battle for the fourth spot in the closing laps. He knew that if he could clear him, then he would have a shot at chasing down the three cars in front to at least get a podium.

But, a mistake with under 10 to go, saw him run wide trying to get into third and it allowed Newgarden back by. Then, with a few laps to go, Ferrucci got back by Newgarden. He defended his position, even on the final lap which saw the two nearly crash together in the final turn on the final lap.

That maneuver cost Newgarden a fifth place run as he fell to seventh when it was all said and done. The move though didn’t make Newgarden happy.

“I’ll be disappointed if people think I’m a whiner after giving my assessment,” said a disappointed Newgarden. “Rarely do I ever try and put someone in their place when I think they need to be put in their place. I think Santino needed to learn a lesson.

“This is no disrespect to fans or anyone. Most people will not understand what he did wrong in that final corner. They’ve never driven an IndyCar. They don’t know the subtleties of it. I think what he did was very risky. He needs to learn from that. I told him that. It’s really a racer’s thing.

“Hopefully he gets that. I think when you go to bigger ovals, it’s even a bigger potential problem.”

Newgarden, extended his points lead over the field though which he says he wasn’t even thinking that at the time. He was just amazed his car didn’t crash out and not get to continue on to the finish line.

“I was happy I wasn’t in the fence, to be honest with you,” Newgarden continued. “I was surprised I wasn’t in the fence. The engine was still going. I wasn’t in the wall. I was trying to get it out of any stall. Thank goodness, I’m kind of straight. I can’t believe we’re still going here. I couldn’t believe it. I thought we were going to be in the fence.

“Yeah, I had no idea about the other cars. I was trying to stay out of people’s ways, which is what you need to do, keep my car straight and consistent, just get across the line.

“I felt fortunate the engine was still fired. Didn’t turn into a bigger disaster. I still don’t know how it didn’t. But fortunately it didn’t.”