World News – CA – Newgarden wins IndyCar final but can’t deny Dixon sixth title – SportsnetCalifornia

Josef Newgarden makes a turn during an IndyCar auto race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Saturday October 3, 2020 (Michael Conroy / AP)

ST PETERSBURG, Florida – Josef Newgarden’s best and probably only chance to retain his IndyCar crown was to win Sunday’s season finale

All that is not a victory in the streets of downtown St Petersburg left Newgarden with almost no way to deny Scott Dixon another championship

Newgarden used a spectacular two-car pass to the lead to indeed win at St Pete, but that wasn’t enough as Dixon stealthily finished third to reclaim another ring in his rich career The New Zealander from 40-year-old won his sixth title for Chip Ganassi Racing He was a tactician and followed Newgarden all day; a ninth or better finish gave him the title no matter where Newgarden ended up

« They just left us out all day, that was the smart game, » said Newgarden, who admitted her title shot was so slim it ruined her mood all weekend.

Dixon has won two of the last three titles, a race cut short last year when Newgarden won his second championship The Tennessean tied Dixon with his fourth win of the season, best streak, but Newgarden was in too big a hole after Dixon opened the shortened schedule and disrupted by a pandemic with three consecutive wins

“I really don’t know what I would be doing different this year and I don’t know what I would ask my guys to do that was different They were impeccable, » said Newgarden « We just couldn’t do it, but we’ll reset and hit them harder next year I promise we’ll be in the fight « 

The season was supposed to start seven months ago in these same streets before being abruptly canceled 48 hours before the green flag It ended in front of 20,000 sold-out spectators the biggest crowd of the season for IndyCar

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Although IndyCar lost races in seven cities and only had one street run, Sunday’s final still managed to complete a 14-race season IndyCar became the first major series motorsport to reach the checkered flag, relatively unscathed and as stable as anyone can be during the pandemic

The stewardship of first-year series owner Roger Penske brought IndyCar to the end and Penske wrapped up its awful inaugural season with Sunday’s finale.The last hurray of a decent season was a dramatic, error-prone ending in which three Andretti Autosport drivers ruined winning tracks and Newgarden collapsed

The race was a runaway from Alexander Rossi for the first 37 laps, and then poleman Will Power crashed for the first warning Power, who was in a close race for third place in the final standings, threw his gloves of anger and admitted to having made a pilot error

« I just lost him Had a while, » he said « I was really frustrated there, making a mistake and hitting the wall It’s my fault It got us out of the race and it’s a bad situation

Power’s crash sparked a period of three warnings over the next 10 laps, the third in a restart on lap 47 when brand-new teammate Scott McLaughlin made his IndyCar debut. won his third consecutive Australian Supercar Championship a week ago, then traveled to the United States to launch a new career with Team Penske

The McLaughlin Wreck also gathered Rinus VeeKay, who was still Rookie of the Year on the day he was renewed for a second season with Ed Carpenter Racing

McLaughlin finished 22nd, just two places ahead of Power last, but was delighted with his 47-lap experience

« Awesome Away The best day of my life, apart from my wedding », enthused the young bride of 27 years

Rossi then unleashed a spin for the Andretti organization when he spun on lap 70 with marbles in the race for victory Rossi was determined to extend a streak of at least one win per season that dates back to 2006, when Skip Barber was Skip Barber’s youngest champion at 14

« I just lost him It sucks, this is the first time I have fallen while leading, » said Rossi

The situation worsened about five minutes later when Marco Andretti circled around as he raced for last place in the bonus program for IndyCar Andretti, the Indianapolis 500 pole winner, failed no schedule for 2021 and he was clearly furious as he paced in front of his car in an incident that could have cost the racing team around $ 1 million as a bonus

Canadian James Hinchcliffe, in another entry from Andretti who had run in the top three most of the race, then went on too

The speed car, used at that time for an unusually fast caution run, reported running out of fuel, then Colton Herta – in another Andretti car – turned after racing for almost victory. all day with Rossi and Hinchcliffe

Newgarden was in control but soon had Pato O’Ward in his corner, looking for the lead O’Ward couldn’t execute and Newgarden put room on the challenger by stretching his lead to almost ‘a full second with 10 to go

The outgoing champion was cruising, but all the previous attrition helped Dixon move up to third place There was nothing Newgarden could do, even on a day when he was doing all he had to do , to deny Dixon a sixth championship

Dixon, considered the best of his generation, ranks third on IndyCar’s all-time winning list behind AJ Foyt – the only seven-time series winner – and Mario Andretti His first title dates back to 2003 , his first season with Ganassi, and his final championship comes as the team welcomed seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson to the organization

Ganassi will have the two most prolific drivers of their respective series next year in the same team

O’Ward, in his first full season in IndyCar, was third in the race and third with Arrow McLaren SP in the final standings

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IndyCar Series, Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, Team Penske, St Petersburg, Will Power, Colton Herta