Castroneves captures old-time magic
Brazilian dominates for 30th career win and first since 2014.
Helio Castroneves dominated the IndyCar race Sunday at Iowa Speedway for his first victory since 2014.
The 42-year-old Castroneves led 217 of 300 laps in Newton, giving powerhouse Team Penske its first victory on Iowa’s short oval in 11 tries.
It also was the 30th career win for Castroneves, the Brazilian who was winless since the first race of the Belle Isle doubleheader in Detroit in June 2014. Castroneves also passed Al Unser Sr. for fourth in career laps led.
“It’s just like the first time, man,” Castroneves said. “We’ve been close so many times, and finally luck was a little bit on our side.”
J.R. Hildebrand was a career-best second, followed by Ryan Hunter-Reay, Will Power and Graham Rahal.
Series leader Scott Dixon finished eighth, two weeks after winning at Road America, but he still leads the standings by eight points over Castroneves.
Formula One: Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas made a great start from pole position to win the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday in Spielberg, while Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel finished just behind in second to extend his championship lead over main rival Lewis Hamilton to 20 points.
Bottas did just enough to hold off Vettel’s late charge, with the German driver crossing the line 0.6 seconds behind.
Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo showed great ability to defend third place from Hamilton, who almost passed the Australian driver on the last two laps but had to settle for fourth.
Bottas clinched the second victory of his career — both have come since he joined Mercedes from Williams this season.
NASCAR: Martin Truex Jr. boldly declared his Toyota the best car he had ever raced, and several statistics make it hard to dispute him.
There also was plenty of visual evidence of how close to perfect his Saturday night went. He was dominant throughout and had enough left on a final restart to win the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway.
“It was very big to do what we did tonight,” Truex said. “I can never recall saving fuel and pulling away from everybody before, so it was pretty amazing.”
Second in points entering the 400-mile event, Truex started second beside Kyle Busch and won the first two stages. Truex led the final segment by as many as 15 seconds before a final caution created overtime and bunched the field together.
That made no difference as Truex flew past Busch on the restart and went on to his third victory of the season and 10th of his career. He led five times for 152 of 274 laps and swept all three stages in the No. 78 Toyota to earn 60 points draw within one of standings leader Kyle Larson, who finished second in a Chevy.
NHRA: Steve Torrence won the NHRA Route 66 Nationals on Sunday in Joliet, Illinois, for his fifth Top Fuel victory of the season.
Outfielder Yasmany Tomas has missed the last 31 games and an MRI last week indicated there could be a significant problem with his groin. There is no timetable for his return.
Orioles: First baseman Chris Davis, who has been out since June 13 with a strained right oblique, is scheduled to begin a brief rehab assignment tonight at Single-A Frederick. Orioles manager Buck Showalter said he expects Davis to be ready to rejoin the team after the All-Star break.
Brewers: Outfielder Ryan Braun (left calf tightness) did not play Sunday after leaving Saturday’s game early. “I’m pretty optimistic that when we’re starting on Friday he’ll be in there,” manager Craig Counsell said.
Yankees: DH Matt Holliday (viral infection) played in his second rehab game in Triple-A on Sunday. The Yankees expect to activate him from the 10-day DL Friday.
Royals: Eric Hosmer had three hits Sunday to extend his hitting streak to 15 games.
Blue Jays: Toronto lost by 10 or more runs for the fourth time this season, with all four coming at home. The Blue Jays had four such games all of last season.