Last- lap victory
Scott Dixon captured his fourth IndyCar championship by winning the season finale Sunday to snatch the title from Juan Pablo Montoya in Sonoma, Calif. Montoya led the points from the season- opening race right until the final lap Sunday. But he finished the race in sixth, which allowed Dixon to tie him in the standings. Dixon was awarded the title based on victories.
Scott Dixon captured a fourth IndyCar championship by winning the season finale Sunday to snatch the title from Juan Pablo Montoya in Sonoma, Calif. Montoya led the points from the seasonopening race right until the final lap Sunday. But he finished the race in sixth, which allowed Dixon to tie him in the standings. Dixon was awarded the title based on victories; Sonoma Raceway was his third victory, while Montoya had only two. The New Zealand driver entered the race third in the standings, 47 points behind Montoya. The race was worth double points. The victory was the 100th for Chip Ganassi Racing, while a Team Penske driver failed to win a championship in the finale for the ninth time since 2002. Team Penske was in trouble from the midway point of the race when Montoya hit Will Power. It sent the Colombian to pit lane for repairs and he was mired in the middle of the pack for the bulk of the race. Although he picked off a few positions, his break came eight laps from the end when Sebastien Bourdais spun Graham Rahal. Needing to get to fifth to win the title, he moved up one spot to seventh when he passed Rahal.
Erik Jones won the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race Sunday at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park to take the series points lead The 19- year- old Jones beat Canadian road racer Alex Tagliani to the first turn off a restart with two laps left on the 2.459- mile road course and held off two- time defending series champion Matt Crafton by 1.665 seconds. Tagliani lost a gear and slipped to fifth. Jones raced to his second series victory of the year and fifth in 32 career starts. He also won at Iowa in June and has two Xfinity Series victories this year. Driving Kyle Busch Motorsports’ No. 4 Toyota, Jones took a three- point lead over Crafton. Tyler Reddick, the leader entering the race, dropped to third — 15 points back. He finished two laps down in 19th after running into the back of Gray Gaulding’s truck with 10 laps left. Ben Kennedy was third, followed by Daniel Hemric, Tagliani, Johnny Sauter, Cameron Hayley, Spencer Gallagher, John Hunter Nemechek and Cole Custer.
Tagliani started from the pole in Brad Keselowski Racing’s No. 29 Ford. The Quebec driver was second two weeks ago in the Xfinity road race at Mid- Ohio. He won a Champ Car race at Road America in 2004. “It shredded completely,” Tagliani said about the broken gear.