VeeKay latest young driver to win in IndyCar
Rinus VeeKay continued IndyCar’s youth movement Saturday by scoring his first career victory with a win on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The Dutchman became the third first-time winner through five races this season — the most at this point in the season since 2013.
The 20-year-old is the fourth winner 24 or younger to reach victory lane this season, joining Alex Palou, Colton Herta and Pato O’Ward in what is quickly becoming a changing of the guard in IndyCar.
Only six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon has been to victory lane so far this year for the veterans as the series heads next week into preparations for the Indianapolis 500.
VeeKay sliced through the center of Palou and Jimmie Johnson on a gutsy three-wide pass to show early how aggressive he was at Indy and then chased down polesitter Romain Grosjean to take his first lead of the race on Lap 45.
Grosjean reclaimed the lead when VeeKay pitted, setting up a potential second showdown. But this time Grosjean was not able to beat VeeKay off pit road and VeeKay was easily past Grosjean before Grosjean got back onto track.
VeeKay beat him to the finish line by nearly 5 seconds.
Palou was third, followed by Newgarden, Graham Rahal, Simon Pagenaud, Alexander Rossi, Scott McLaughlin, Dixon and Marcus Ericsson.
XFINITY SERIES
Austin Cindric professed his love for Dover and soon refused to let his Miles the Monster trophy out of his grip. With so many close calls on the concrete, Cindric was sure to savor this checkered flag — and keep his trophy within reach.
“It’s still in my lap like a child or a dog,” Cindric said. “This is one I wanted for a very long time.”
Cindric saved his car from a serious spin early in the race and dominated late Saturday at Dover International Speedway in Delaware and won his third Xfinity Series race of the season.
The reigning Xfinity champion, Cindric showed flashes throughout his career on the onemile concrete track that he could roll into victory lane.
Cindric was second and third in two Xfinity races last season on the Monster Mile and had never finished worse than ninth in six previous Dover starts.
Can a second Xfinity title be far behind?
“My mentality cannot change from last year,” he said. “It’s all about going to Phoenix. We’re obviously doing a lot of great things, but we can’t slow down.
“Everyone else is getting better, as well.”