How Penske denied faster Rossi the IndyCar title
Alexander Rossi was the standout performer of a ferociously competitive 2019 IndyCar season, but he wasn't the champion. Josef Newgarden was, thanks to a Scott Dixon style approach and the canny help of his Penske team
"Bloody hell, Tim Cindric is going to win this championship, isn't he?" one reasonably unbiased media member exclaimed at Texas Motor Speedway back in June, as Andretti Autosport's Alexander Rossi flashed past the chequered flag less than a second behind Penske man Josef Newgarden. "That's the second time in two weeks that he's managed to pull something out of his ass that gets Newgarden ahead of Rossi."
It's fair to say that Rossi shared that observer's sentiments, and it's not hard to see why.
In Detroit, last year's championship runner-up Rossi had been leading race one when Penske president and Newgarden tactician Cindric had called in his man from third place... just a lap before the full-course yellow flew for second-placed Scott Dixon crashing out after making a rare error.
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