IndyCar crown is Dixon’s sixth
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Scott Dixon controlled his own fate and simply needed a smooth Sunday drive to win a sixth IndyCar Series season championship. He was a tactician as he followed
Josef Newgarden around the streets of downtown St. Petersburg: As long as he kept Newgarden in his sight, Dixon would yank the crown away from the 28-yearold Tennessee native and add another milestone to his illustrious career. Newgarden won the season finale, using a spectacular two- car pass for the lead in a valiant effort to win a second consecutive title and third overall. Winning was not enough, though, to deny Dixon his coronation. The 40- year- old Chip Ganassi Racing driver from New Zealand stealthily finished third in an easy drive to another title. Dixon was already looking forward to the next goal: A.J. Foyt’s record seven titles. “Six is good. Seven sounds better,” Dixon said. Newgarden tied Dixon with his series- best fourth win of the season, but the Team Penske star was in too large of a hole to catch his rival in the season-long battle. Although Dixon at one time led the standings by 117 points, the final margin was a mere 16 over Newgarden.
› After growing up watching Michael Schumacher’s triumphs on television,
Lewis Hamilton now stands above him and alone in Formula One history with 92 career victories. Hamilton’s Portuguese Grand Prix win Sunday also edged him closer to a seventh F1 series season title, the last of Schumacher’s major records left for the 35- year- old British driver to tackle. On a rainy track in Portimao, Portugal, he finished nearly 25.6 seconds ahead of Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas and 34.5 clear of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen for his eighth win of another dominant season. He also took an extra point for the fastest lap to extend his huge championship lead to 77 points over Bottas with just five races left. Hamilton earned his first win in 2007 and his first title the following year, but his F1 career really took off when he replaced the retired Schumacher at Mercedes in 2013. Hamilton won Sunday’s race from a record- extending 97th career pole position, starting ahead of Bottas and Verstappen on a track being used for the first time in F1. McLaren’s Carlos Sainz Jr. briefly held the lead, and then Bottas was in first place until Hamilton passed him on the 20th lap before coasting to the finish line and into the record books.
› FORT WORTH, Texas — The NASCAR Cup Series playoff race at Texas Motor Speedway was postponed Sunday night after 52 laps on a misty afternoon in which the conditions slowly deteriorated to a drizzle. The call to attempt a restart this morning was made after a wait of more than four hours, but the forecast wasn’t promising with a 90% chance of rain overnight and the forecast high temperature barely reaching 50 degrees.
GOLF
› THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Patrick Cantlay rallied from four shots behind and got far enough ahead that Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas couldn’t quite catch him Sunday in the Zozo Championship at Sherwood Country Club. Cantlay closed with a 7-under-par 65 and finished at 23- under 265 for a one- shot victory, the third PGA Tour win of his career. All three victories required making up a deficit of three shots or more; the 28-year-old Californian won the Shriners Hospital for Children Open in November 2017 via playoff, and his Memorial Tournament title in June 2019 was by two strokes. Rahm, who is No. 2 in the Official World Golf Ranking, closed with a 68 as the third-ranked Thomas carded a 69, but still they were left to rue their mistakes — no one else was within four shots of Cantlay. Baylor School graduate Harris English (70) tied for 28th at 13 under.