Newgarden will take caution-aided win
Josef Newgarden was the beneficiary of a well-timed caution, but if you’re expecting him to apologize for it, you’ll be waiting awhile.
After his win Sunday on the streets of Toronto, Newgarden quoted a Verizon IndyCar Series legend and four-time Indianapolis 500 winner in explaining why guilt will not be one of the emotions he will feel while celebrating his victory in Canada.
“Rick Mears told me one time ... , ‘You’ll have more days where you should have won the race but things go against you and you don’t win than you have days where it goes your way and you end up winning the race. So the days it goes your way and you get something lucky, you just take them. Because there’s more days where you could say, ‘ We should have won that race.’ So I’ll take a lucky yellow any day of the week.” And twice on Sundays. Newgarden, who kicked himself post-qualifying Saturday for missing the Fast Six, was thanking the racing gods that he was far enough back to capitalize on the yellow flag that flew after Tony Kanaan lost control of his car in Turn 1 and hit the tire barrier.
Newgarden, running seventh at the time, hopped right into the pits, then into the lead as the group ahead of him cycled to the back of the pack.
From there, the youngest member of Team Penske controlled the race, leading 58 of 85 laps and cruising to his second win of the season and his second victory in Toronto in three years.
“I think the yellow for sure played a part in winning this race,” said Newgarden, who climbed to fourth in the championship, 23 points back of Scott Dixon. “That was the first domino for us to fall, and after that it was a matter of managing a race, making good fuel mileage and driving fast.
“Once that scenario came about, I thought we had everything we needed to win the race. I was very confident in our race car going into it with everything that the No. 2 car guys had given me.”
Hometown hero and thirdplace finisher James Hinchcliffe also was unapologetic about benefiting from a well-timed yellow. Hinchcliffe said while he’d rather feel like he earned the win, after a season filled with misfortune, a little good luck isn’t such a bad thing.
“I’ve been on the losing end of that, and it sucks,” the Canadian driver said after posting his second consecutive podium finish in Toronto. “I generally feel bad to the guys that happens to. ...
“Some races it’s going to benefit you. Some races it’s going to bite you.”
Joining Newgarden and Hinchcliffe on the podium was Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi. The second-place finish was Rossi’s best since his 2016 Indianapolis 500 victory.
“I think things are starting to finally come together,” Rossi said. “We’ve been looking for a breakthrough this year. I think this is it.”
Dixon maintained his championship lead despite being involved in a first-lap scuffle with Will Power. The pair collided and forced Dixon, who started fifth, to pit and drop to the back of the field. He stayed on the lead lap and capitalized on a midrace caution to move back up and finish 10th. Power, meanwhile, never got back out on track and finished last, pushing him down to fifth in the championship, tied with Graham Rahal, who finished ninth.