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Newgarden Holds Off Dixon To Win At Barber

Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden won Sunday’s 2017 Grand Prix of Alabama from Barber Motorsports Park, holding off a hard-charging Scott Dixon late in the race to capture the win for Chevrolet.

Newgarden’s Team Penske teammate Will Power led the field to green after starting on pole position and got a clean start, but soon found the field back bunched up behind him after a caution for debris came out on the first lap. He successfully defended the lead position when the green came out and dominated the first half of the race, but soon found himself under pressure from Dixon and Newgarden – the latter of which had charged through the field after starting back in seventh.

The second caution of the day came out on Lap 63 when Spencer Pigot’s car broke down on track, leaving the 23-year old Ed Carpenter Racing driver stranded. That sent the leaders into the pits for tires and fuel, with Power’s crew getting him back out just ahead of Dixon and Newgarden. The Australian then hit a bit of bad luck, however, after a slow puncture sent him back into the pits and allowed Newgarden to easily inherit the lead with 14 laps to go.

Newgarden, who took his first Indy win at Barber in 2015, kept Power and defending IndyCar Series champ Simon Pagenaud behind him for the remaining laps to take his first win of the season and move into third in the championship points standings. IndyCar heads to Phoenix next for the first oval race of the 2017 season. Click here for full results from Barber and here for a full schedule for Phoenix.

Sam loves to write and has a passion for auto racing, karting and performance driving of all types.

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