Newgarden finally gets 1st win of season in Ohio

Josef Newgarden snapped his streak of late race misfortunes Sunday to win for the first time this season, earning the first IndyCar victory of the year for Team Penske on the same weekend the storied organization celebrated the 50th anniversary of its first win.

Newgarden led all but seven of the 80 laps Sunday at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. The two-time IndyCar champion dominated the two races leading into Sunday, but late yellows altered the outcome and denied Newgarden two trips to victory lane.

The American insisted nothing needed to change on the No. 2 Chevrolet team because the performance was just fine. After all, he had started from the pole and led 99 of 125 laps in the two races he lost after late restarts.

Team Penske on Saturday marked the 50th anniversary of its first IndyCar win, with Mark Donohue at Pocono. The win was the 19th of

Newgarden’s career, an IndyCar record for an American driver.

This one again seemed to be in the bag for Newgarden — particularly after a pair of slow pit stops took fellow front-row starter Colton Herta out of contention — but a hard charge from Marcus Ericsson put Newgarden on the defensive. He had to hustle his way through the 13 turns over the final two laps to hold off the Swede by 0.8790 seconds.

IndyCar points leader Alex Palou finished third and was followed by six-time and reigning IndyCar champion Scott Dixon as Honda cars owned by Chip Ganassi went 2-3-4.

Formula One

Formula One championship leader Max Verstappen won the Austrian Grand Prix from pole position, clinching a third consecutive victory and extending his lead over title rival Lewis Hamilton to 32 points after nine races.