Ryan Hunter-Reay earned his second win of the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series season Sunday, taking victory under yellow in the caution-filled ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway. Team Chevy’s Josef Newgarden also followed Hunter-Reay across the finish line to give Chevy a podium at the Tricky Triangle and complete a 1-2 American driver sweep.
A total of 12 cautions were put out over the 200-lap race, and 13 cars retired due to contact or mechanical issues. This included Graham Rahal, whose car made contact with Tristan Vautier’s on a Lap 93 restart, forcing Rahal to take a DNF. The Rahal Letterman Lanigan racing driver is currently trailing Juan Pablo Montoya in the championship, with 466 points to Montoya’s 500.
Montoya headed into Pocono with just a nine point lead over Rahal, but with a strong third place finish from the Team Penske driver and Rahal’s DNF, the Colombian was able to extend the lead to 34 points. He might have been able to push for the win, Montoya explained post-race, but with just one race left in the season and six championship title contenders, he wasn’t taking any chances.
“We took our time and were smart. I think we had a car that could win the race, but it wasn’t worth risking it. We did what we needed to do today,” Montoya told IndyCar.com
The 2015 IndyCar season will come to a close next week when the series heads to California for the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma. Click here for full results from the ABC Supply 500 at Pocono, and here for a schedule of next weekend’s IndyCar festivities.
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