Newgarden wins pole in Long Beach
The IndyCar championship race tightened ahead of the Grand Prix of Long Beach after a messy qualifying session put contenders Alex Palou and Pato O’Ward in the middle of the pack, while Josef Newgarden won the pole Saturday.
“Maybe rules don’t apply the last race of the season? When everything’s at stake? It just sucks,” O’Ward fumed after he failed to advance to the final round of qualifying.
O’Ward believed he should have been in the Fast Six after other drivers failed to slow during a local yellow and should have been disqualified. O’Ward argued he should have been moved from eighth to at least sixth, and Arrow McLaren SP even said teammate Felix Rosenqvist should have been penalized for speeding.
Despite a lengthy delay for IndyCar to review the results, the Fast Six remained unchanged and O’Ward was slotted in eighth for the start of Sunday’s title-deciding race. He’s second in the standings, 35 points behind leader Palou, and was furious with IndyCar’s inaction.
“We have literal data that shows at least two other cars didn’t get penalized and kept going quickly in the yellow flag,” the 22-year-old Mexican said.
Palou was caught by the same local yellow in the qualifying session and will start 10th.
The American Newgarden is a distant third in the standings but still mathematically in the mix for the title, which would be his third. With Palou and O’Ward watching, Newgarden seized the opportunity and won the pole for Sunday’s season-ending race.
Palou, who brushed the wall during qualifying and needed several saves in Saturday morning practice, wasn’t too bothered about his starting position.
“We know we have a good race car,” he said.
The most dominant driver of the weekend failed to advance out of the first round of qualifying, so Colton Herta will start 14th.
The Valencia native is
coming off a win last weekend at Laguna Seca and was fastest in the two practice sessions at Long Beach. But he brushed the wall during his qualifying attempt and was eliminated from advancing into the next round.
“Just slapped the wall there,” Herta said. “That was my fault.”
Ryan Hunter-Reay’s 12year career with Andretti Autosport comes to an end Sunday at Long Beach, site of his first career victory for the team.
In his dozen years driving the No. 28, the driver known as “Captain America” won both the Indianapolis 500 and the IndyCar title as the cornerstone of the Andretti organization. But sponsorship from DHL scaled back and Hunter-Reay said it was decided last November that this season would be his last with the team.
A second Indianapolis 500 victory might have undone the decision, but the team on Saturday announced that Romain Grosjean will drive the car next season.
“Last weekend we had a fueling issue. It’s one thing or another. It’s been a lot of those this year, so I’m definitely ready to move on,” Hunter-Reay said.
Josh Berry moved teammate Justin Allgaier out of the way with 42 laps left to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway . ... Lando Norris won the pole for the Formula One Russian Grand Prix. school administrators.
— Eric Sondheimer
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