IndyCar set to finish Alabama race today

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Josef Newgarden applauded IndyCar’s decision not to risk 16 more minutes on a treacherous, rain-soaked track, even though he could have been the biggest beneficiary.

Other drivers weren’t so happy with earlier calls.

Newgarden will remain up front at Barber Motorsports Park today for the completion of the Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. Drivers got in just more than 44 minutes of a scheduled two-hour — or 90-lap, whichever came first — race Sunday under heavy rain that caused some cars to hydroplane and affected visibility.

The race was called before it was halfway through, at which point it would have become official.

“I was calling for us not to run, and I was in the easiest situation,” Newgarden said. “I was leading the race, had the best viewpoint. We do another (16) minutes under caution and we call the thing halfway from a time standpoint, we pick up the win. It’s more advantageous for us to get it in, but I didn’t want to do that. I didn’t think conditions were right.”

The two-hour limit of total race time will remain in place.

Newgarden, the 2017 series champion and a native of Hendersonville, Tenn., started in pole position and led the first 22 laps of a race he has won two of the past three years. The race restarted after a 37-minute delay because of the track conditions, but drivers only got another few laps in before parking their cars again. The race was called after another 1-hour, 23-minute wait.

Sebastien Bourdais is in second, followed by twotime race winner Ryan Hunter-Reay, season points leader Alexander Rossi and James Hinchcliffe.

Rossi said at times he could see “absolutely nothing.” He questioned the decision to put up the green flag after the first yellow caution, and “obviously the results of that was a car hydroplaning.”

A red flag came out shortly after Will Power spun out and slammed into the inside wall on the 17th lap. Power, who started second, complained he couldn’t “believe they went green” with that much standing water on the track.

A little too excited?

RICHMOND, Va. — Kyle Busch celebrated after driving to his third straight NASCAR Cup Series victory.

Then he got yelled at by his boss.

Joe Gibbs, it seems, hadn’t seen Busch climb into the crowd after Saturday night’s race at Richmond Raceway to acknowledge what appeared to be friendly fan.

“You did?” the team owner said. “Oh my gosh! You should not do that. You run a risk.”

For Busch, though, it seemed appropriate, coming at the end of a week marked by ample discussion of his dustup with Dale Earnhardt Jr. at the same track a decade earlier. That race, many believe, is what laid the foundation for Busch’s reputation as a NASCAR villian.

“It was the 10-year anniversary of you-know-what,” explained Busch, who said he could see fans wearing his gear.

On the track, Busch pulled away on a restart in a two-lap overtime sprint to the finish, outrunning Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott and Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin for his fifth career victory at Richmond Raceway, the most among active drivers.

The points leader also matched Kevin Harvick’s three-race winning streak from earlier in the season. It’s the second such streak of Busch’s career, with the first coming in his 2015 championship season.