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Barber IndyCar: Josef Newgarden gets first Penske win in third race

Josef Newgarden claimed his first IndyCar victory with Penske at Barber Motorsports Park in only his third race for the squad, after a late puncture for team-mate Will Power

Newgarden was one of the few frontrunners to begin the race on the harder tyre, and moved up from his seventh place starting position to third as those on the softer 'red' compound lost pace - pulling off an assertive move on reigning champion team-mate Pagenaud along the way.

He then undercut Scott Dixon, whose stop was slowed by a problem with Ganassi's fuel hose, to move into second behind polesitter and early leader Power.

Now on the red tyres while the other leaders ran the harder black Firestones, Newgarden put Power under pressure for a spell without seriously threatening his team-mate's lead.

A late caution brought out by Spencer Pigot spinning at Turn 6 prompted the leaders' final pit visits, with Dixon jumping Newgarden via a quick stop.

But Newgarden got back past on the restart lap with an impressive move at the penultimate corner.

Newgarden then set his sights on Power again but before he could attempt to overtake his team-mate, he was called into the pits when Penske's data suggested he was developing a left-rear puncture.

That consigned Power, who had led 60 laps, to a 14th-place finish.

Newgarden then led to the finish, albeit with Dixon just half a second behind him, to score Penske's first win of the season and his fifth in the series.

Pagenaud completed the podium, with fellow Penske driver and early second-place runner Helio Castroneves fourth ahead of Alexander Rossi and James Hinchcliffe.

Andretti had its Indianapolis 500 signing Fernando Alonso watching on, and the double Formula 1 world champion saw two of his team-mates in the top 10 with Rossi's fifth and Takuma Sato in ninth but early problems for their stablemates.

Marco Andretti lost three laps to gearbox issues even before the green flag, while Ryan Hunter-Reay picked up damage in a first-lap brush with James Hinchcliffe and finished 11th.

Sebastien Bourdais had to settle for eighth, winning an aggressive late battle with Sato and then chasing seventh-placed Tony Kanaan to the flag, but retains the championship lead.

RESULTS - 90 LAPS:

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Josef Newgarden Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 1h54m08.7076s
2 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda 1.0495s
3 Simon Pagenaud Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 2.5706s
4 Helio Castroneves Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 11.1592s
5 Alexander Rossi Andretti Herta Dallara/Honda 12.0469s
6 James Hinchcliffe Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 12.5905s
7 Tony Kanaan Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda 15.4105s
8 Sebastien Bourdais Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 16.0651s
9 Takuma Sato Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 20.1764s
10 Mikhail Aleshin Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 20.7064s
11 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 22.2061s
12 Max Chilton Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda 22.9713s
13 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara/Honda 24.3457s
14 Will Power Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 26.3177s
15 Charlie Kimball Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda 35.4868s
16 Ed Jones Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 39.5644s
17 Carlos Munoz AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Chevrolet 50.3679s
18 Conor Daly AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Chevrolet 51.2029s
19 Zach Veach Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 56.2545s
20 Spencer Pigot Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 1 Lap
21 Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 3 Laps

LEADING CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:

Pos Driver Points
1 Sebastien Bourdais 117
2 Scott Dixon 111
3 Josef Newgarden 110
4 Simon Pagenaud 106
5 James Hinchcliffe 102
6 Helio Castroneves 84
7 Ryan Hunter-Reay 65
8 Takuma Sato 65
9 Ed Jones 62
10 Alexander Rossi 60
11 Tony Kanaan 59
12 Mikhail Aleshin 54
13 Graham Rahal 50
14 Will Power 50
15 Carlos Munoz 48
16 Max Chilton 48
17 Marco Andretti 45
18 Spencer Pigot 44
19 Conor Daly 41
20 Charlie Kimball 37
21 J.R. Hildebrand 36
22 Zach Veach 11


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