WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Alexander Rossi gave the Verizon IndyCar Series a glimpse at a future champion as the winner of the 100th Indianapolis 500 scored his second career victory in Sunday’s IndyCar Grand Prix at the Glen.
Meanwhile, Josef Newgarden threw away a tremendous opportunity to maintain his advantage in the Verizon IndyCar Series championship when the Team Penske driver hit the wall after losing control of his car on his final pit stop.
Those were the two major storylines from Sunday’s 60-lap race at Watkins Glen Int’l.
Rossi started on the pole for the first time in his career and led 32 laps in the 60-lap race. He defeated Scott Dixon by .9514 of a second.
Dixon’s second-place finish, combined with Newgarden’s 18th-place finish, has dramatically eroded Newgarden’s championship lead entering the Sept. 17 Go Pro Grand Prix of Sonoma – the season finale that pays double points.
Newgarden entered the weekend with a 31-point lead over Dixon, 42 over Helio Castroneves, 42 over Simon Pagenaud and 83 over Will Power.
The start of Sunday’s Verizon IndyCar Series race at Watkins Glen Int’l. (Eric Schwarzkopf Photo)
After his pit road crash that also involved Sebastien Bourdais on lap 45, Newgarden’s lead is just three points over Dixon, 22 over Castroneves, 34 over Pagenaud and 68 over Power.
“I think I just made a mistake,” Newgarden said. “I got wide on the exit there. I made a mistake in the pit box is what started it, I slid past my pit box and that made it difficult for the guys to give me a fast stop. So that was on me, and then I left the pit lane, thought I had beaten Will (Power), then he buttoned off real early and had a great launch. Then I was watching him and I think I just made another mistake. Too much wheel, too much speed with not enough grip on the tires, and into the wall it went, and a couple of guys went with me. Not a great mistake to make, feel bad for the guys, it’s my fault, but we’ll go to Sonoma and try to be perfect there.”
Dixon has moved closer to a potential fifth Verizon IndyCar Series championship after he was able to beat every driver in the field except Rossi.
“Definitely a good move in the points,” Dixon said. “I’m kind of shocked we ended up where we did. We had to pass a lot of cars. I locked up coming in on the first stop on the wet (tires), and it wouldn’t downshift, so almost stalled the car, got into the pits and we couldn’t fuel it. And then we had a fumble later, we lost another four or five spots, so we had to pass a lot of cars today.
“It was definitely a lot of work, and I think the yellow just fell kind of not really our way, so it was one of those things. Nice recovery by the team, ended up second.
“Good points, it’s definitely going to be close coming down to the wire here for Sonoma, which I expect nothing less for the Verizon IndyCar Series. I don’t know, we’re going to have to up our game at Sonoma and see if we can carry away another championship trophy.”
Rossi is mathematically alive in the championship race, 84 points behind, but would need a lot of help to leapfrog past the top five drivers.
Rossi, who won last year’s 100th Indianapolis 500 when his Honda was out of fuel and slowly drove to the checkered flag, was able to race his way to his second career victory on Sunday with his Honda running at full power.
Source :speedsport.com
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