Herta survives slide for triumph at Indy

Colton Herta stopped an early slide, overcame two late pit stops and eventually pulled away from Simon Pagenaud on Saturday to win the wild, wacky and wet IndyCar Grand Prix.

Herta beat the threetime race winner by 3.0983 seconds amid rooster tails coming from the saturated road course. The 22-yearold California driver won for the first time this season and seventh time overall.

“This is awesome,” he said. “That’s the hardest race I think I’ve ever done — wet to dry, dry back to wet.”

Rain and the threat of rain forced race strategists to constantly change their plans. Nobody made better calls than Herta, who also gave Honda its first victory of the season.

He and two-time Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato were the first to switch from wet tires to dry just three laps into the race. One lap later as he fought to keep the Andretti Autosport car straight on cold tires and a damp track, the No. 26 was sideways in the 10th turn on Indy’s 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course.

Somehow he hung on, quickly moved to the front and stayed there most of the race. Herta led 50 of 75 laps.

Race organizers moved the start time in hopes of avoiding a wet track.

Instead, they had to delay the start anyway. Eventually, drivers started on rain tires, switched to dry tires, and then some switched back to rain tires as more rain moved into the area.

A dramatically cooler and wetter track changed everything. There were spins and crashes, even cars struggling to stay on the track under caution.

NFL: Former Seattle Seahawks safety Earl Thomas was arrested in Texas more than two weeks after a warrant was issued over an alleged violation of a protective order. Police said Thomas violated the court order by sending threatening messages to a woman about her and her children, the Austin American-Statesman reported.