Published By: Sports Desk
Last Updated: March 11, 2024, 00:30 IST
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Team Penske silenced latest criticism geared toward sequence management by dominating the IndyCar seasonopening race with a Josef Newgarden win from the pole Sunday on the downtown streets of St. Petersburg.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.: Team Penske silenced latest criticism geared toward sequence management by dominating the IndyCar season-opening race with a Josef Newgarden win from the pole Sunday on the downtown streets of St. Petersburg.
Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren Racing broke up the Penske rout with a second-place end, however Penske drivers Scott McLaughlin and Will Power completed third and fourth. The Penske trio completed forward of each Andretti Global driver two days after group proprietor Michael Andretti referred to as on Roger Penske to promote the IndyCar Series if he’s not prepared to extend his investments in promotion and advertising and marketing.
Colton Herta in fifth was the highest-finishing driver for Andretti, which had a bust of a day with new driver Marcus Ericsson. The former Indianapolis 500 winner misplaced energy halfway by way of the race and completed twenty fifth within the 27-car area. Ericsson was the defending race winner at St. Pete, which celebrated its twentieth operating of the favored road course occasion.
Reigning IndyCar champion Alex Palou completed sixth for Chip Ganassi Racing and Felix Rosenqvist was seventh in his debut race with Meyer Shank Racing.
Alexander Rossi of McLaren was eighth, whereas Scott Dixon of Ganassi and Rinus VeeKay of Ed Carpenter Racing rounded out the highest 10. Santino Ferrucci was a powerful eleventh for A.J. Foyt Racing, which created an alliance with Penske.
The win for Penske is his third season-opening win this yr alone. His IMSA sports activities automotive group received the Rolex 24 at Daytona and his different sports activities automotive group received the WEC opener in Qatar final week.
Penske hugged Newgarden in victory lane and the NBC cameras caught their dialog: “I was thinking of you at the end of that race, keep it together, like you told me.”
Newgarden then expanded on the dialog.
“Roger was telling me, if you have a big lead, you better hold onto it and not throw it in the wall,” Newgarden mentioned.
The victory additionally continued Chevrolet’s spectacular begin to 2024; headed into the Cup Series race in Phoenix later Sunday, Chevy had received the primary three Cup races of the season, all three Truck Series races and two of 4 Xfinity Series races.
Chevrolet went 1-2-3-4 within the IndyCar opener and had seven automobiles within the prime 11.
Newgarden, the reigning Indianapolis 500 winner, led 92 of the 100 laps as he had the sector coated.
“I had a lot of fun today, a lot of fun,” Newgarden mentioned.
UP NEXT: IndyCar races on the Thermal Club in California in an all-star type exhibition race with a $1 million payout. The sequence examined on the members-only membership in 2023 to gauge its readiness to host a race.
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More AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
(This story has not been edited by News18 workers and is revealed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)
