By Bob Priddy, Missourinet contributing editor
(NASCAR)—Martin Truex Jr., has become the second driver to lock in a position for the second round of NASCAR’s playoffs by Beating last week’s winner, Denny Hamlin, to the finish line at Richmond. He let a 1-2-3 finish for Joe Gibbs racing. Christopher Bell was third.
Truex had to come back from a penalty on the race start when he Hamlin, the pole-sitter, to the start line. NASCAR ordered him to the back of the 37-car field for a restart. He got to the lead on the 132nd of the race’s 400 laps and led the last fifty. Hamlin led almost half of the laps but couldn’t catch Truex at the end. Larson, who started the race from the back because of pre-race inspection failures, raced past Truex for his first lead on the 133rd lap but finished sixth. The finish gave him enough points to make him the third driver assured of a spot in the round of 12 that will go forward for the championship after next Sunday’s night race at Bristol.
(INDYCAR)—Alex Palou came from 16th place early in the Grand Prix of Portland to get his third win of the season and vault him back into the points lead with just two races left in the INDYCAR season. He finished 1.3 seconds up on alexander Rossi with teammate and defending series champion Scott Dixon getting the last podium slot.
The win vaults Palou past Pato O’Ward, who led early but faded to 14th at the end. A handful of drivers are still given a chance to win the championship—Palou, O’Ward, two-time champion Josef Newgarden, who is 34 points back. Dixon, in fourth, trails by 49 and Marcus Ericsson has a distant hope from 75 points behind.
A total of 108 points are available in the concluding two INDYCAR races: Laguna Seca next weekend and the finale on the streets of Long Beach on the 26th.
(FORMULA 1)—The world’s major open-wheel racing series have created cockpit safety systems designed to protect drivers from flying debris or in other cars landing on top of other cars.
INDYCAR’s system is enclosed except for the top for driver access. Formula One has a similar system but it does not include a windshield. It’s called a “halo” in F1. And seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton is convinced he isn’t wearing a halo today because his car had one for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
Hamilton and Max Verstappen, who have an intense competition for this year’s championship going, tangled in the first chicane on the race’s 26th lap, with Verstappen trying to pass on the outside. His car rode over the track curb, pitching it onto the top of Hamilton’s car, the right rear wheel of Verstappen’s car rolling over the halo protecting Hamilton. The tire slightly penetrated the top of the halo.
Hamilton said in the paddock after the race that he was reminded of his own mortality and the risks he takes: “It’s a big shock. It’s only when you experience something like that that you look at life and realize how fragile we are.” He is convinced the halo saved his life. There was no sign of concussion but he will see a specialist after complaining that his neck was sore. “
“Honestly, I feel very fortunate today,” he continued. “Thank God for the halo, that ultimately, I think, saved me, and saved my neck… I don’t think I’ve ever been hit on the head by a car before and it’s quite a shock for me, because I don’t know if you’ve seen the image but my head really is quite far forward. And I’ve been racing a long, long time, so I’m so, so grateful that I’m still here.”
F1 officials consider Verstappen’s actions the main cause of the crash and have announced a three-grid place drop at the next race, and the loss of two standings points. The two drivers have had other incidents this year as they have fought for the top spot in the series.
Neither driver scored any points in the race, leaving Verstappen five points ahead of Hamilton, with eight races left on the schedule.
The winner of the race was McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, his first victory on the circuit in three years and McLaren’s first GP victory since Jenson Button won at Brazil in 2012. Making the event even sweeter for McLaren was Lando Norris’ second-place finish. Third went to Valtteri Bottas, Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate.
(Photo credits: Truex: NASCAR/Sean Gardner/Getty Images; Palou and Pagenaud and Rossi at Gateway 2019: Bob Priddy; Verstappen-Hamilton crash: Formula 1)