Newgarden takes advantage of Penske's perfect strategy in Detroit

Joseph Newgarden can thank Tim Cindric, head of strategy for Team Penske. The 2017 champion won yesterday in the streets of Detroit, taking advantage of an excellent choice from Roger Penske's team, deciding to stop him very early on the 17th lap, to switch from rain tires to slicks, on a Michigan trail drying up.

Defeated by Alexander Red (Andretti Autosport – Honda) to obtain pole, a few hours earlier, the American thus made a profitable choice, by not remaining in action with rain tires seriously starting to deteriorate.

Quite the opposite from Rossi and the main other leaders, who pitted under a yellow flag two laps later. Back in the lead, Newgarden never let go of the controls until the finish and won for the 12th time in his career, the 2nd this year, and took back control of the general classification from his teammate simon pagenaud.

The only driver powered by a Chevrolet unit in the top 5, Newgarden is ahead of Rossi and Takuma Sato (Team RLL – Honda). Felix Rosenqvist (Chip Ganassi Racing – Honda) and Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport) complete the top 5.

simon pagenaud failed in sixth position, not without having made a nice comeback from 13th position, with a race described as fun by the winner of the Indianapolis 500. Sébastien Bourdais (Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan – Honda) took 11th place.

Note the retirement of Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing) after an extremely rare error by the five-time champion IndyCar, eliminated after contact with the protective wall.

This is something you don't see often.

Scott Dixon crashed while running 3rd in the @DetroitGP, and Chip Ganassi can't believe it. Watch on @NBC: https://t.co/YhD47Pqu5K #INDYCAR pic.twitter.com/YWLrDTjYNS

- IndyCar on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) 1th June 2019

The second race of the weekend will take place this Sunday in the streets of Belle Isle.