Penske’s Newgarden dominates IndyCar season opener

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Team Penske silenced recent criticism aimed at series leadership by dominating the IndyCar season-opening race with a Josef Newgarden win from the pole Sunday on the downtown streets of St. Petersburg.

Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren Racing broke up the Penske rout with a second-place finish, but Penske drivers Scott McLaughlin and Will Power finished third and fourth. The Penske trio finished ahead of every Andretti Global driver two days after team owner Michael Andretti called on Roger Penske to sell the IndyCar Series if he’s not willing to increase his investments in promotion and marketing.

“I think for Roger, the Team Penske and the Penske Entertainment is very separate, and for him, he’s got to put those hats on and see the good of the sport,” McLaughlin said. “It’s part of owning the series, you think, you’re going to get called left, right and center from people upset with your adjustments or what you want from the series.”

Colton Herta in fifth was the highest-finishing driver for Andretti, which had a bust of a day with new driver Marcus Ericsson. The former Indy 500 winner lost power midway through the race and finished 25th in the 27-car field.Ericsson was the defending winner at St. Pete, which celebrated its 20th running.

The win for Penske is his third season-opening win this year alone. His IMSA sports car team won the Rolex 24 at Daytona and his other sports car team won the WEC opener in Qatar last week.

“As a team, we’re stoked. We just put a lot of hard work into the season,” McLaughlin said. “It’s just a good team. It’s a great business relationship. We’re just going to keep winning.”

Penske hugged Newgarden in victory lane and the NBC cameras caught their conversation: “I was thinking of you at the end of that race, keep it together, like you told me.”