JOSEF NEWGARDEN

Jimmie Johnson and Travis Pastrana will represent the United States in the upcoming Race of Champions international event.

LONG BEACH, Calif. — (AP) — 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. Josef Newgarden, a distant third in the standings but still mathematically in the mix for the title, seized the opportunity and won the pole for Sunday’s season-ending race. His cushy lead and incredible consistency this season have O’Ward and Newgarden both admitting they need near-miracles to deny Palou the crown. O’Ward was furious and believed some ahead of him should have been penalized, which would have advanced him into the final qualifying round. “But I doubt I'll get an explanation.”Palou sat atop his pit box with his Chip Ganassi Racing team and watched the final qualifying shootout.

The IndyCar championship race tightened ahead of the Grand Prix of Long Beach after a messy qualifying session put Alex Palou and Pato O’Ward in the middle of the pack.

The IndyCar Series speeds into its season finale at Sunday riding a myriad of gains that have America's top open-wheel series feeling confident about its future.

Alex Palou recovered from first-lap trouble at Portland International Raceway to win for the third time this season and reclaim the IndyCar points lead.

Alex Palou earned the first pole of his IndyCar career and put himself in position to reclaim the championship lead headed into Sunday’s race at Portland International Raceway.

A rash of overaggressive driving has jumbled the IndyCar championship fight.

The IndyCar championship flipped leaders Saturday night when Alex Palou was collected in an early three-car accident that moved Pato O’Ward to the point following O’Ward’s runner-up finish to winner Josef Newgarden at World Wide Technology Raceway.

IndyCar will return to Iowa Speedway for a July doubleheader next season.

Will Power took the lead early Saturday, then watched it shrink over the final half of the race before holding on to win another Indianapolis Grand Prix.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway will be the busiest track in motorsports this weekend.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — (AP) — Colton Herta stamped himself as the driver to beat in the inaugural IndyCar Music City Grand Prix, winning the pole Saturday after he was fastest in both practice sessions. The 21-year-old Herta was more than a half-second faster than six-time series champion Scott Dixon in second. “This is huge for me.”Herta was fastest in Friday's first session and posted the top lap again Saturday hours before qualifying. Chris Parker, President of the Music City Grand Prix, said this week at the Country Music Hall of Fame the series was prepared for any potential setbacks. Grand Prix promoters planned refunds for all days lost and inconvenienced fans were relocated to open seats.

Colton Herta stamped himself as the driver to beat in the inaugural IndyCar Music City Grand Prix.

IndyCar-Nashville Practice IndyCar driver and Tennessee native Josef Newgarden prepares to play in his charity ping pong tournament, Thursday Aug. 5, 2021 at Pins Mechanical Company in Nashville, Tenn. Newgarden won the tournament and hopes to take home a bigger trophy when IndyCar races Sunday through downtown Nashville. Newgarden and Joey Logano high-fived and Austin Cindric slapped hands and got a pat on the back. “Secretly, I hold this event because I know I’m better than everyone at pingpong,” Newgarden said. Much like a pingpong ball, Newgarden bounced from one spot to the next this month, hustling to promote IndyCar’s inaugural street race in Nashville. Newgarden was raised about 25 miles north of Nashville in Hendersonville and now lives with his wife closer to the city.

Josef Newgarden is the toast of Nashville.

IndyCar is ready for its debut race through Nashville's city streets.

Helio Castroneves might skip trying to scale the Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge the way he climbs fences when he wins at other race tracks.

Still, the migration toward streaming will hit full speed next season as NBC Sports plans to exclusively stream two IndyCar races on Peacock. The rest of the IndyCar schedule, which is expected to be 17 races but has not yet been released, will air on USA Network. Miles said IndyCar had “a major disruptive streaming platform” offer to buy the entire IndyCar rights for exclusive worldwide streaming. But the finer details include a major online presence as all races on NBC and USA will be simultaneously streamed on Peacock. Racing fans are racing fans, and if we can convert NASCAR fans into IndyCar fans, or IndyCar fans to NASCAR fans, so be it.

IndyCar has signed a multi-year extension with NBC Sports that guarantees a majority of the racing schedule will air on its main NBC channel.

Michael Shank will use IndyCar's monthlong break to work on the long-term future of his race program.

LEXINGTON, Ohio — (AP) — Josef Newgarden snapped his streak of late race misfortunes Sunday to win for the first time this season, earning the first IndyCar victory of the year for Team Penske on the same weekend the storied organization celebrated the 50th anniversary of its first win. Now he's led 172 of 205 laps — or 83.9% — over three races and finally put Team Penske in victory lane in the 10th race of the season. The last time the Penske organization went this late in the year without a victory was its 1999 winless season. Team Penske on Saturday marked the 50th anniversary of its first IndyCar win, with Mark Donohue at Pocono. Roger Penske greeted Newgarden in victory lane.

Josef Newgarden snapped his streak of late race misfortunes to win for the first time this season, earning the first IndyCar victory of the year for Team Penske on the same weekend the storied organization celebrated the 50th anniversary of its first win.

IndyCar Mid Ohio Preview Auto Racing Josef Newgarden poses besides his Team Penske Chevrolet after winning the pole for the IndyCar race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Saturday, July 3, 2021 in Lexington, Ohio. It isn't true that Mid-Ohio hasn't had a single upgrade since it opened in 1962, but the facility seems frozen in time. And that's the contrast of Mid-Ohio, which appears to be idyllic Americana everywhere but on the track. The pole came on the 50th anniversary of Team Penske's first IndyCar win, with Mark Donohue at Pocono. Herta, winner at Mid-Ohio last year in the second race of a doubleheader, marveled at the minuscule margin.

IndyCar will celebrate Independence Day in the middle of Ohio.

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. — (AP) — Alex Palou sailed past Josef Newgarden with two laps remaining Sunday to win at Road America and reclaim the IndyCar points lead as Team Penske lost its third consecutive race because of a late caution. Newgarden got a good jump on the restart but Palou dipped left and sped around him for the lead. Palou, meanwhile, became the first Chip Ganassi Racing driver other than Scott Dixon to win multiple races in a season since Dario Franchitti in 2011. His second win of the season put Palou back on top with a comfortable margin. Palou won by 1.9106 seconds over Colton Herta of Andretti Autosport.

Alex Palou sailed past Josef Newgarden with two laps remaining Sunday to win at Road America and reclaim the IndyCar points lead.

IndyCar Road America Ware Auto Racing FILE - Cody Ware gets ready for a NASCAR Daytona 500 auto race practice session at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., in this Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021, file photo. Ware will make his IndyCar debut at Road America this weekend driving a car for Dale Coyne Racing that has an association with Ware's father. (AP Photo/John Raoux, File) (John Raoux)ELKHART LAKE, Wis. — (AP) — Josef Newgarden has earned the pole position for Sunday’s IndyCar race at Road America as he attempts to help Team Penske earn its first win of the season. Newgarden had a fastest lap of 1 minute, 46.0186 seconds on a road course that extends just over 4 miles and features 14 turns. Magnussen is a replacement for Felix Rosenqvist, who won at Road America last year but was injured in a crash last week at Detroit.

Josef Newgarden has earned the pole position for Sunday’s IndyCar race at Road America as he attempts to help Team Penske earn its first win of the season.

Ed Carpenter isn’t comfortable as a team owner putting too many restrictions on his drivers — not even a breakout young star thick in the championship race.

Rinus VeeKay was on a 75-mile training ride when he lost control of his bicycle, flew over the handlebars and landed so hard on his left shoulder that the impact also cracked his helmet.

IndyCar Detroit Auto Racing Pato O'Ward celebrates by jumping into James Scott Memorial Fountain after winning the second race of the IndyCar Detroit Grand Prix auto racing doubleheader on Belle Isle in Detroit Sunday, June 13, 2021. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya) (Paul Sancya)DETROIT — (AP) — Pato O'Ward closed an emotional weekend for Arrow McLaren SP by becoming IndyCar's first repeat winner of the season with a victory dedicated to his injured teammate. O'Ward called his teammate Sunday morning and promised to win the second race for him. O'Ward had been promised by Zak Brown, the CEO of McLaren Racing, a Formula One test for his first IndyCar victory. Sunday's IndyCar race was far less eventful than Saturday's, when Rosenqvist's crash led to a nearly 90-minute red flag and a later stoppage ultimately decided the race.

Pato O’Ward has become IndyCar’s first repeat winner of the season by charging through the field on a final restart to snatch the victory away from Josef Newgarden at the Raceway at Belle Isle Park.

Oliver Askew got a late call from former team Arrow McLaren SP to be the replacement driver for Felix Rosenqvist in Sunday's IndyCar race at Bell Isle.

Jimmie Johnson is struggling at the Raceway at Belle Isle Park, which is just his second career street course and fourth career IndyCar race.

Scott Dixon was again atop the leaderboard for the final practice before the Indianapolis 500.

The Indianapolis 500 will open its gates to 135,000 spectators on Sunday for the largest sports event since the start of the pandemic.

Team Penske had an uncharacteristically slow first day of Indianapolis 500 qualifying and Will Power will have to avoid being bumped from the 33-car field when the lineup is finalized.

Rinus VeeKay continued IndyCar’s youth movement Saturday by scoring his first career victory with a win on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Romain Grosjean survived a fiery Formula One crash, then left the series behind for a move to IndyCar.

Colton Herta has rebounded from a first-lap crash in the IndyCar season opener to win the pole on the downtown streets of St. Petersburg.

Alex Palou scored his first career IndyCar victory in his debut race with Chip Ganassi Racing by winning the series opener at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama.

Pato O'Ward set a track record at Barber Motorsports Park to win the pole for the IndyCar season-opening race.

Newgarden won the season finale, using a spectacular two-car pass for the lead in a valiant effort to win a second consecutive title. Dixon has won two of the last three championships, a run interrupted last year when Newgarden won his second title. Newgarden tied Dixon with his series-best fourth win of the season but Newgarden was in too large of a hole to catch his rival. It came to a close in front of a sold-out 20,000 spectators, the largest crowd of the season for IndyCar. There was nothing Newgarden could do, even on a day he did everything he had to, to deny Dixon a sixth championship.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – IndyCar opened the second week of March giddy to finally start its season. The entire industry left St. Pete in March unsure how IndyCar could survive. Yet here IndyCar is, back on the St. Pete streets preparing to crown a champion in Sunday's season finale. Now this cruel 2020 season closes right back at St. Pete, the only street course to survive the schedule disruptions and where it all fell apart in March. Askew missed two races but returned for St. Pete, his final race in another unpopular firing by Arrow McLaren.

FILE - In this Friday, July 17, 2020, file photo, Scott Dixon gets ready for qualifying for an IndyCar Series auto race at Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Scott Dixon has controlled IndyCar’s title race since the start of this disrupted start-and-stop season. The American has whittled 85 points off of Dixon's lead and turned Sunday's season finale into a championship-deciding event. “It was like 20,000 scenarios -- 1% of the scenarios means we can win the championship,” Newgarden said. “Had I not spun, I think it would have been a different scenario going into the last race,” Dixon said.

McLaughlin's pandemic-postponed IndyCar debut at last comes Sunday in the season finale at St. Petersburg, Florida. “I obviously never thought I’d get a chance this year due to the nature of the beast with COVID,” McLaughlin said Thursday before boarding yet another flight, this one headed to his first IndyCar race. It’s something that I’m just going to go in like a sponge, soak everything up, see what comes out of it. I’m pretty confident that I’m going to like the series, I’m going to like the cars, I’m going to like everything.”McLaughlin has accomplished all he can racing touring cars in Australia, where he's won 56 races, including last year's Bathurst 1000, and all those titles. He drives for Roger Penske in Supercars and in 2019 the boss asked McLaughlin if he was interested in driving an Indy car.

(AP Photo/Darron Cummings)INDIANAPOLIS – Scott Dixon looked invincible in the first half of this IndyCar season. Now, the Iceman needs everything he can muster to clinch his sixth IndyCar title. And Dixon hasn't just completed every lap of every race this season, he's led in points every day of this strange, abbreviated season. As always, the (IndyCar) points title comes down to the last race." If Dixon does claim the title, he and Foyt both would have won their sixth crowns at age 40.

INDIANAPOLIS – Will Power will start from the pole Saturday at Indianapolis after posting the fastest lap in morning qualifying. It's his fifth pole this season and the 61st career pole, which is second all-time behind Mario Andretti (67). “We made a lot of changes last night," Power said, explaining he was not satisfied with Friday's car. And when Newgarden won Friday's race , with Dixon finishing ninth, the lead was trimmed to 40 points with two races remaining. “It will take more horsepower we'll use more in these conditions, where as in July it would have been easy to do a two-stop race," Power said.

INDIANAPOLIS – Josef Newgarden doesn't intend to just give up on his season title defense. With the Harvest GP win, Newgarden moved within 40 points of what once was a seemingly safe 120-point lead of five-time series champ Scott Dixon with two races remaining. Both will run the final two races this season in those cars, and both are already getting started on next season, too. He's had six straight top-10 finishes including a win from the pole at Mid-Ohio and has moved up to third in points. After starting the season with three straight wins, he's finished 10th, 10th and ninth in the last three races, putting his sixth series title back in play.

The Pagoda is seen before a practice session for the Indianapolis 500 auto race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Saturday, Aug. 15, 2020, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)INDIANAPOLIS Andretti Autosport claimed the top of the speed chart midway through Indianapolis 500 qualifying, with former race winners Ryan Hunter-Reay and Alexander Rossi leading a strong Honda showing. Teammate Hunter-Reay was waiting on pit lane to make his run when Rossi radioed feedback from his four laps. Hunter-Reay made a quick adjustment then bumped Rossi with a qualifying run of 231.330 mph. We knew we had the speed, Hunter-Reay said.

Marco Andretti packs up his gear following practice for the Indianapolis 500 auto race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2020. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)INDIANAPOLIS The horsepower boost sent speeds skyrocketing over 233 mph early on Fast Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Andretti Autosport cars quickly jumped to the top of the board with Marco Andretti logging a lap of 233.491 miles per hour (375.77 kilometres per hour). It's the fastest lap in a practice which is considered unofficial since Sebastien Bourdais went 233.116 mph in 2017. The first thing you need is speed and then you need to put the four laps together," Andretti said.

Josef Newgarden leads Will Power, of Australia, right, during the IndyCar Series auto race, Saturday, July 18, 2020, at Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)NEWTON, Iowa Josef Newgarden led nearly wire-to-wire Saturday night to win the IndyCar race at Iowa Speedway, giving team owner Roger Penske a sweep of the doubleheader and his fourth victory across three series this weekend. Team Penske has 13 drivers completing in five series across two continents this weekend. The two Penske entries in the IMSA race at Sebring struggled earlier Saturday. The veteran driver did the same thing in Race 1, leaving black marks on the wall about 30 yards apart.

Two-time and defending champ Josef Newgarden, who won the second race of the Iowa doubleheader, has yet to turn 30. Pagenaud, who like Newgarden drives for Team Penske, won the first Iowa race on Friday night. The natural ebb and flow of sports dictates there must be a wave of youngsters waiting to replace them. Not surprisingly, Ferrucci was fired by his Trident Racing team. Take the doubleheader this weekend, where Herta and VeeKay were in contention Friday night before a caution flag waved.

The IndyCar series will welcome fans for the first time of the year during the REV Group Grand Prix doubleheader Saturday and Sunday, July 11-12, at Road America in Plymouth, Wisconsin. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File)NEWTON, Iowa Few people can appreciate the level of success that Chip Ganassi Racing drivers Scott Dixon and Felix Rosenqvist have had during the IndyCar team's pandemic-challenged 30th anniversary season more than Tony Kanaan. Then consider the 45-year-old Kanaan sees the 39-year-old Dixon in the gym almost every day, each pushing each other to stay fit and young. Dixon went on to win his third straight race after triumphs at Texas and on the road course at Indianapolis. All of it will take place Friday, with the first lap determining where drivers start in the opening race and the second lap where they start the second.

IndyCar Rev Group Grand Prix winner Alexander Rossi enters Victory Lane Sunday, June 23, 2019, at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis. Road America allowed fans back in for its events starting last month. Fans this weekend will get temperature checks at gates and receive masks and hand sanitizer as they enter. The only drivers to open an IndyCar season with at least three straight victories are A.J. Drivers believe the Road America course wont be as grueling with all of its straightaways despite its 14 turns.

In this photo provided by Chris Owens/INDYCAR Series, Scott Dixon, left, jumps off his car toward team owner Chip Ganassi as the two celebrate Dixon's IndyCar auto race win at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas, Saturday, June 6, 2020. (Chris Owens/INDYCAR Series via AP)FORT WORTH, Texas FORT WORTH, TexasThrough all of the uncertainty and unknowns after more than eight months since the last IndyCar race, Scott Dixon and another pair of former champs relied on their experience for podium finishes. NBC Sports said Sunday that the Saturday night prime-time telecast drew nearly 1.3 million viewers, making it the most-watched IndyCar race outside the Indianapolis 500 on any network since 2016. It was the biggest audience for an NBC telecast of any IndyCar race away from the Brickyard. I mean, it felt like a normal IndyCar race to me.

FILE - In this June 8, 2019, file photo, Josef Newgarden does a burnout after winning the IndyCar auto race at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. IndyCar opens its pandemic-delayed season with an all-in-one-day show Saturday on the fast high-banked 1 -mile oval at Texas Motor Speedway, more than eight months after the 2019 finale. Only Indianapolis Motor Speedway has hosted IndyCar races longer than TMS, which has had races each year since opening in 1997, including the season finales from 1999-2004. Hinchcliffe put together a three-race deal with Andretti Autosport that includes the Indianapolis 500 after he abruptly lost his ride with Arrow McLaren last year. Kanaan is closing out his IndyCar career with the TK Farewell Tour," racing at oval tracks and the Indianapolis 500.

FILE - In this June 10, 2017, file photo, Will Power, of Australia, pumps his fist as he crosses the finish line under yellow to win an IndyCar auto race at Texas Motor Speedway, in Fort Worth, Texas. IndyCar is getting ready for an all-in-one-day season opener on the fast track in Texas, more than 2 months after drivers were set to roll on the streets of St. Pete. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File)FORT WORTH, Texas Scott Dixon, Alexander Rossi and the rest of the IndyCar drivers were in sunny Florida around spring break ready to start the season. Instead of the streets of St. Pete, the pandemic-delayed season will get started at the fast 1 1/2-mile track in Texas with an all-in-one-day opener. Practice, qualifying and the 200-lap race will be held Saturday, the same day that IndyCar has chartered planes to carry teams back and forth between Indianapolis and Texas Motor Speedway.