Newgarden dominates IndyCar road course
Josef Newgarden put in a lot of work to make his win at Road America look easy.
With no caution flags all afternoon to slow him down, the pole-sitting Newgarden finally pulled away late from Ryan Hunter-Reay for a comfortable victory.
Newgarden led 53 of 55 laps, crossing the finish line with a 3.38-second cushion over second-place finisher Hunter-Reay for his third win of the season.
“We had our work cut out for us today,” Newgarden said. “We had to be perfect.”
The defending series champion savored the victory in the 222-mile-long Kohler Grand Prix in Elkhart Lake, Wis on his cooldown lap, taking in the crowd at the rural road course. Newgarden has such a devoted following here that fans planted a garden in his honor in time for this weekend’s race.
“These people have a professional garden set up with little `Baby Josefs’ growing,” Newgarden said with a smile. “It was kind of cool.”
The victory might have been more satisfying. It completed an impressive weekend for the Team Penske driver at the 14turn track, where Newgarden’s No. 1 Chevy registered the top speed in practice.
Points leader Scott Dixon finished third. He was part of the three-car pack led by Newgarden that separated from the field with about 13 laps left.
They couldn’t catch Newgarden. He returned to the podium following a five-race stretch finishing no higher than eighth.
“No concern, just ready to go win,” Newgarden said when asked about the previous five races. “Our outlook didn’t really change.”
What might be considered a slump for Newgarden came to an emphatic end. He picked up his 10th career victory and first at Road America.
After staying within about 1 second of Newgarden for much of the race, Hunter-Reay lost ground when Newgarden’s car got a fresh set of tires on his last pit stop. Newgarden said he felt good about his chance with about eight laps left.
“In hindsight, I should have pressured him a bit more in the first stint. We were focused on a fuel number at the time,” Hunter-Reay said. “Unfortunately, that Penske fuel number comes into play (and you) can’t really go hard.”
Formula One
Lewis Hamilton capitalized on a mistake by rival Sebastian Vettel to enjoy a wire-to-wire victory at the French Grand Prix in Le Castellet, France and retake the lead in the Formula One title race.
Starting third behind Hamilton and Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas, Vettel tried to use his faster set of tires to make a good start.
But the German’s lunge on the inside of the first corner crunched his Ferrari into the back of Bottas, damaging both cars and sending them into the pits for repairs.
Vettel emerged with a new front wing and the entire field to fight through, and even though he made quick work of the slower cars he had to settle for a fifthplace finish.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen in his Ferrari crossed second and third to complete the podium at the Paul Ricard Circuit. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo was fourth.
Defending champion Hamilton has 145 points after eight races. Vettel, who entered the race with a one-point lead, leaves trailing by 14.
While Hamilton thanked his team for its “great work” via the radio after crossing the finish line, Vettel regretted that he “had lost the race on the first lap.”
NHRA
Blake Alexander raced to his first Top Fuel victory in the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio.
Alexander had a 4.011-second pass at 297.81 mph to beat Terry McMillen in the final.
“It felt really good,” Alexander said. “I got a little emotional because I’ve tried to do this my whole life. I’ve come close but have lost sponsors, thought I was never going to drive the car again and basically we have gone through everything to climb back to the top.”
Matt Hagan won in Funny Car, Tanner Gray in Pro Stock, and Eddie Kraweic in Pro Stock Motorcycle. Hagan edged points leader Courtney Force with a 4.094 at 288.21 in a Dodge Charger R/T for his first victory of the season.