Newgarden wins in Iowa for fourth victory of season
Josef Newgarden
extended the Team Penske dominance at Iowa Speedway in Newton, winning the first race of a weekend doubleheader Saturday for his fourth victory at the shortest track on the IndyCar schedule.
Newgarden raced to his series-best fourth victory of the season and moved from fourth to second in the tight IndyCar championship fight. Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson finished eighth and had his lead in the standings sliced to 15 points over Newgarden.
Newgarden had been 44 points out of the championship lead going into the race on the 0.894-mile oval and can make up even more ground when IndyCar completes its doubleheader Sunday.
Team Penske drivers have won six of the last seven races at Iowa, which landed local grocer Hy-Vee as title sponsor of the doubleheader entertainment extravaganza that includes a pair of races and musical performances by Tim McGraw, Florida Georgia Line, Gwen Stefani
and Blake Shelton.
Pato O’Ward finished second for Arrow McLaren SP and was followed by pole-sitter Will Power
of Penske and Rinus VeeKay of Ed Carpenter Racing as Chevrolet took the top four spots. Earlier Saturday, Power won the pole for both races to move him one away from Mario Andretti’s record of 67.
Scott Dixon, who last week tied Andretti for second on the IndyCar win list with 52, finished fifth for Chip Ganassi Racing. Dixon was followed by six more Honda drivers, including Ganassi teammate Alex Palou
and Romain Grosjean
Andretti Autosport.
NASCAR CUP
of
The trio of drivers that will start sixth, seventh and eighth Sunday at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa., are as intriguing to watch as the ones leading the field to green.
Ryan Blaney, Bubba Wallace, and Martin Truex Jr. are all winless. Blaney and Truex are hanging on to playoff spots by mere points — not victories — and there are only six races left until the playoff field is set.
In other words, for the drivers with a 0 in the win column, like Wallace, like Kevin Harvick, like Aric Almirola, time is running out to earn a checkered flag and snag that automatic spot in the field.
“This is the year you finally have to win to make the playoffs,” said Almirola, of Stewart-Haas Racing.
There are 14 drivers already in with six races remaining before the 16-driver field is set. Blaney is 105 points above the cut line and Truex is 68 points above the line. Harvick is the first one out at 68 points behind the cut line.
“Points always matter,” Harvick said.
Starting position, not so much, especially at the 2 1⁄2mile track in a 400-mile Cup Series race. Harvick should hope not, at least: The SHR driver starts 26th in the No. 4 Ford.
Denny Hamlin turned the fastest lap at 169.991 mph Saturday and is joined on the front row by Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch. Hendrick Motorsports drivers Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson start third and fourth. Chris Buescher, whose only career Cup win was at Pocono in 2016, starts fifth.
Hamlin won his 36th career pole.
Christopher Bell starts 11th a week after his first career Cup win clinched a playoff spot. Bell can admit it now: the run of drivers this season that earned their first career Cup win and secured early spots in the playoffs started to fray his nerves.
Bell won at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, an achievement always worth a celebration but one that also took a load off the Joe Gibbs Racing
driver.
FORMULA ONE
Charles Leclerc used help from Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. to beat Formula One leader
Max Verstappen and take the pole for the French Grand Prix in Le Castellet.
Sainz had nothing at stake since he was starting from the back of the grid after multiple engine-part changes, so Ferrari used him to give Leclerc a tow on his two runs in Q3.
Leclerc was up by just .008 seconds from Verstappen after his first run. The team worked seamlessly on Leclerc’s second run as he beat his own leading time and finished .3 seconds ahead of Verstappen and .46 clear of Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez.
“It was a great lap. I have to say thanks to Carlos for the help. It was great teamwork,” Leclerc said. “It’s quite tricky to get it exactly right, in the first lap we were maybe a bit too close. In the second lap we adapted and it was a bit better.”
Lewis Hamilton qual- ified in fourth for Mercedes.