Power holds off Penske teammate Newgarden

Will Power held off Team Penske teammate Josef Newgarden on Sunday to win the IndyCar race at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa., for the second straight year.

Power’s third win of the season gave his championship run a serious boost with three races left in the season, which ends at Sonoma Raceway on Sept. 17. The Australian rallied from a lap down and made all the right moves over the final few laps to cut off Newgarden and end the American’s bid for three straight victories.

“I just picked people off one by one. Just be smart. You can never give up in IndyCar because you don’t know what can happen,” Power said.

Newgarden still holds the series points lead as he tries to hold off Scott Dixon and Helio Castroneves (seventh Sunday) for his first career IndyCar championship.

Northern Californian Alexander Rossi, the 2016 Indianapolis 500 champion, was third.

Leah Pritchett won the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd (Minn.) International Raceway for her fourth Top Fuel victory of the season. Two days after running the quickest pass in NHRA history during qualifying, Pritchett topped Don Schumacher Racing teammate Antron Brown with a 3.682-second pass at 328.06 mph.

Alexis DeJoria made it a female double with a victory in Funny Car, rookie Tanner Gray won in Pro Stock, and Jerry Savoie topped the Pro Stock Motorcycle field.