Newgarden captures IndyCar season title
Josef Newgarden won his first IndyCar championship by closing out the best year of his career as the top driver at Team Penske.
Newgarden turned in a nearly flawless performance yesterday at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway to prevent his Penske teammates, as well as four-time champion Scott Dixon, from taking the title away from him. Penske driver Simon Pagenaud used pit strategy to win the race, but Newgarden finished second to win the title by 13 points.
Newgarden is only the second American in 11 years to win the IndyCar title.
The Tennessee driver held off Dixon, as well as teammates Pagenaud, Will Power and Helio Castroneves to win the championship. Of the five drivers mathematically eligible to win the title in the finale, four came from Penske . . . .
Lewis Hamilton profited from the chaos to win the Singapore Grand Prix and extend his championship lead, while title rival Sebastian Vettel lost huge ground after crashing out before the first turn, taking out Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen in the process.
That opened the door for Hamilton to cruise to his seventh win of the season and 60th overall, and open up a commanding 28-point lead over Vettel with just six races remaining.
Hockey: Vecchione scores
Former Herald All-Scholastic Mike Vecchione scored the first goal of the game, helping Philadelphia to a 2-0 second-period lead, but captain John Tavares scored twice, his second 34 seconds into overtime, to give the Islanders a comeback 3-2 win over the Flyers in an exhibition game in front of a sold-out crowd of 13,917 at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y.
It was the Isles first game back in their old haunt in 21⁄2 years . . . .
Tyler Wong scored three times and added an assist in the Vegas Golden Knights’ first preseason game to help the NHL’s newest franchise rout the host Vancouver Canucks, 9-4 . . . .
The Arizona Coyotes acquired defenseman Jason Demers from the Florida Panthers for forward Jamie McGinn.
The 29-year-old Demers had nine goals and 19 assists in 81 regular-season games for the Panthers last season. McGinn, also 29, had nine goals and eight assists in 72 games for the Coyotes last season.
Colleges: Tigers roar, rise
Clemson moved up to No. 2 in The Associated Press college football poll, jumping Oklahoma and closing in on Alabama after beating a team ranked in the Top 15 for the second straight week.
The Tigers received 15 first-place votes, the most the defending national champions have received this season, and 1,446 points after beating Louisville 47-21 on the road. Alabama remains No.1 with 45 first-place votes and 1,504 points.
Oklahoma slipped one spot to No. 3. The Sooners received the remaining first-place vote.
Penn State moved up a spot to No.4, flip-flopping with No.5 USC. Oklahoma State rose three spots to No.6, its best ranking since late in the 2013 season. Washington is No.7 and three Big Ten teams round out the top 10: Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio State.
Misc.: Man U remains on top
With former star striker Romelu Lukaku scoring once, Manchester United won 4-0 at Everton in Liverpool to move dead even with cross-city rival Manchester City for top spot in the English Premier League . . . .
David Goffin and Steve Darcis won their reverse singles matches as Belgium came from behind to defeat 28-time champion Australia, 3-2, in the Davis Cup semifinals in Brussels, setting up a title match with France.
Back with the French team, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga earlier sent his country to its 18th final by defeating Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (5), 6-2 in Lille. France will host the final from Nov. 24-26 on a surface yet to be announced . . . .
Slovenia won its first European basketball championship, defeating Serbia 93-85 in Istanbul behind 35 points by Miami Heat guard Goran Dragic.