Firestone Indy Lights Freedom 100 Won by Josef Newgarden

Josef Newgarden in Victory Lane at Indy

Joseph Newgarden led a 1-2 finish for Sam Schmidt Motorsports over teammate Esteban Guerr1eri in the Firestone Indy Lights Freedom 100 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this afternoon. Newgarden and Guerrieri battled hard over the 40 lap distance but numerous accidents meant that 22 laps were run under yellow and Newgarden took the win under yellow and checkered flags. Noblesville, Indiana's Bryan Clauson started on the pole, also in a Sam Schmidt Motorsports car, based on owner points after Thursday's qualifying was rained out. Clauson was the 2010 USAC National Driving champion and earned the ride as a bonus on the Mazda Road to Indy. He finished fifth behind Vincent Garcia and Stefan Wilson in third and fourth. The race never got into a rhythm with four lengthy caution periods chopping the race into short green flag segments, and a wicked accident involving Jorge Concalvez on lap 34 could not be cleaned up in time for the leaders to race to the finish. The action was fierce among the top 5 during what little green flag racing there was and once again Schmidt's cars showed why they are the class of Indy Lights at Indianapolis winning for the 6th time in 9 editions of the Freedom 100.