©IndyCar
Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden dominated IndyCar’s season opening round in St Petersburg, Florida, the two-times series champion leading 92 of the event’s 100 laps.
Staring from pole, Newgarden led from the drop of the green flag, only briefly relinquishing the front spot during his pitstop rotations.
The Nashville native was in a league of his own all afternoon, crossing the checkered flag 7.9s ecodns ahead Arrow McLaren charger Pato O’Ward whose presence among the front-runners prevented a clean sweep of the podium by Penske with Scott McLaughlin and Will Power completing the top four.
“I had a lot of fun today,” Newgarden said after his 30th career win in IndyCar. “I think it’s so deserving for the work they (Team Penske) put in.
“We’ve worked really hard to close the gap. We didn’t have the speed we needed on road and street courses last year, at least on a consistency basis, and today we brought that speed.
“We had the execution, as always.”
