Tanner Foust is king of the hill, A number 1, in New York, New York.
The Andretti Autosport driver survived an incident-filled final to take the checkered flag in today’s Red Bull Global Rallycross Volkswagen Rallycross NY event.
Andretti teammate Scott Speed finished second on the track behind Foust, but after today’s race, Speed was dropped to ninth place as a result of a penalty:
With that, Nelson Piquet Jr. moves up to the runner-up position and Ken Block moves up to third. Piquet now also has a 35-point lead in the championship going into next Saturday’s race at The Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway (2 p.m. ET, NBC and NBC Sports Live Extra.
The final was marred by several run-ins that necessitated two restarts, but Foust endured through it all.
“The final was really brutal,” Foust told NBC Sports. “I was in the unlucky position of monkey in the middle, just sandwiched [on the front row] in two starts. It was absolute chaos. I can’t believe this Polo keeps running after all of that, because it was a brutal first two starts.
“[But] I’m just really excited. It’s exactly what we have to do. It’s still a tight points championship between [Speed and Piquet], and I’m just glad to get in front of them this time. For the rest of the season, there’s a lot of pressure to do well.”
In Semifinal One, Ken Block grabbed the holeshot from the middle of the front row. The Hoonigan man maintained his lead up to a Red Flag at Lap 2 for Bucky Lasek, who appeared to suffer damage to his car and slowed on the track.
That gridded the field again for a restart, which had Piquet and Block go side by side through the first few corners before Piquet, the former Formula One and NASCAR driver, managed to take the lead.
While Block kept up the pressure on Piquet, Steve Arpin tried to take second from him when he took his joker lap on Lap 3 of the six-lap semifinal.
Block staved off the challenge, but Arpin would hold back Joni Wiman for third place and a transfer into the final along with semifinal winner Piquet and runner-up Block.
Semifinal Two saw Foust and Sverre Isachsen rocket into first and second out of the start, while Speed surprisingly fell all the way back to last place.
But Speed was able to get into the final the hard way.
After moving into fourth on Lap 3, he set his sights on Rhys Millen, who occupied the last transfer spot to the final. On Lap 5, he made contact with Millen before taking the critical position from him, and in the end, Faust, Isachsen, and Speed all advanced to the main event.
With Wiman, Austin Dyne, Patrik Sandell and Millen finishing first through fourth respectively in the Last Chance Qualifier, the 10-car grid was set for the final.
The 10-lap trophy dash started in wild fashion. Block spun out in the first corner, while Arpin was turned around at the Turn 4 hairpin and couldn’t get himself going again, triggering the Red Flag.
The subsequent restart quickly turned chaotic when Isachsen, who had gotten the lead, was hit coming out of the gate and could not return to the race.
Eight cars then took the second restart that ran for six laps. On this go, Faust was able to get the lead over Piquet into the first corner and went on to the checkered flag from there.
Piquet fell back as far as fourth before using his joker to reclaim the second position. But as the field headed for the white flag, Speed was able to wrestle second from Piquet, securing the 1-2 finish for the Andretti team.
