Rossi: winning more races still necessary to win championship - MotorSportsTalk

With four races remaining in the 2019 NTT IndyCar Series season, only four drivers still have a legitimate shot to win the championship. This year’s championship contenders are a “who’s who” of Indy car racing, with seven championships and 81 race victories (including three Indianapolis 500 victories) between the four of them.

For current series points leader Josef Newgarden, along with third-place Simon Pagenaud and fourth-place Scott Dixon, hoisting the Astor Cup at Laguna Seca would be a perfect way to cap-off an impressive 2019 campaign.

But it wouldn’t be the first time for any of them. Pagenaud won his first championship in 2016, while Newgarden won his first the following year. Scott Dixon is a five-time champion, having won the title in 2003, 2008, 2013, 2015 and last year.

The man Dixon defeated to win his most recent championship is Alexander Rossi, who is the only one of the four championship contenders to have not yet won a title. Rossi, who ended the 2018 season 57 points behind Dixon, enters the final four races with quite possibly the best opportunity he’s ever had to win the title in his relatively young IndyCar career.

The 27-year-old Rossi currently sits second in the points standings, 16 points behind the 28-year-old Newgarden, and has an excellent chance to win at least one more race this season, something he believes will be necessary to win the title.

“We’re going into three more in a row and they’re very important races so we’re at a point where you can’t make any mistakes and every position counts for something,” Rossi told NBC Sports. “We can’t just look at it from a championship perspective, we need to win races.

“It’s getting down to the point where the difference between first and second is going to be pretty minuscule at the end.”

If the past is any indication of the future, Rossi should be a contender in each of the next three consecutive races. He enters this weekend’s ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway as the defending race champion. He also started and finished second in last year’s race at Gateway and led 32 laps en route to an eighth-place finish in IndyCar’s return to Portland last Labor Day weekend.

However, Rossi is quick to point out that he cannot simply rely on previous success if he wants to win the title.

“I think you have a little confidence internally, but we still had Mid-Ohio where we won there last year from the pole and didn’t have quite the same level of performance this year,” Rossi said. “Things change year-to-year.

“The tires change constantly and teams get better. You have to make sure that despite the fact that you were good there the previous year, you’re still evolving forward and getting better.”

Indeed, any IndyCar competitor who wants to be in championship contention towards the end of the season needs to be on their A-game week in and week out, thus it shouldn’t be a surprise that the four drivers in the championship hunt are considered the best of the best. Rossi knows that he and his entire Andretti Autosport crew need to remain picture perfect and capitalize on any mistakes their Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing counterparts make.

“The pressure is on I think all of the top four guys in the championship,” Rossi said. “It’s amazing that every year this championship comes down to the final race, and it’s going to be no different this year.

“We just need to make sure we’re in a good position to come out on top.”

The NTT IndyCar Series returns to action on August 18, with the ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway. Live race coverage begins at 2:00 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

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Jett Lawrence remains perfect in the Pro Motocross series after recording another perfect round at Hangtown in Rancho Cordova, California. In his second start on a 450, Lawrence won his second National with his fourth consecutive moto win. It is getting increasingly difficult to find the right superlatives to describe the exploits on the reigning 250 West Supercross champion.

“The track was so brutal out there,” Lawrence told NBC Sports Jason Thomas. “The bike handles amazing even when it’s not too friendly. You had to be really patient; you couldn’t take too much. I didn’t eat enough before that second moto. I kind of lost energy halfway through, but luckily I could use technique and balance and just keep that flow going.”

Lawrence leaves Hangtown with an 18-point advantage over Ferrandis in the 450 Motocross standings, but perhaps more importantly, he climbed to 19th in the SuperMotocross standings and should he stay there, he has an automatic invitation to the Main events in the SMX Championship.

“On this track, you just have to manage,” Lawrence continued. “If you try to take too much and not respect the track, it will bite you very quickly. It was humbling on the first few laps. I got kicked on the cutout at the start of the third section, the tabletop going to the left. I had to get my focus because the boys were coming.”

Still in his first few races since returning from a concussion suffered at Houston in the Supercross series, Dylan Ferrandis finished second with results of third in Moto 1 and second in Moto 2. While Ferrandis was happy with the result, he remains hopeful that he will contend for victory shortly.

“The first moto was very hard for my physically, Ferrandis said. “I got arm pump and when you get arm pump your body gets tired. But I’m very happy because we made a big change for the second moto. We tried stuff every session today and in the last moto the bike was much better, but unfortunately I wasn’t sure what I could do with this bike because the track was very hard and difficult to pass.”

RESULTS: How they finished in the 450 Overall at Hangtown

With the rash of injuries at the end of the Supercross season, the podium was filled with heartwarming stories. Cooper Webb returned to action last week in Pala and failed to make the podium. He is steadily improving with a third-place finish in Hangtown. after finishing with a 4-2.

“It’s incredible what seven days can do,” Webb said. “Last week I felt like I was going to get lapped in the second moto. This week, I could see the leader. It was nice. I fought hard, learned how to suffer again there and that felt nice.

Moto 2 wasn’t pretty for Lawrence. On several occasions in the opening laps, he nearly high sided as he rode the front wheel through the ruts. The reward was worth the risk. By the halfway point, Lawrence had 4.5-second lead over Webb, who was embroiled in a tight three-rider battle for second with his teammate Aaron Plessinger pressuring him and Ferrandis ready to take advantage if those made contact.

It took 20 minutes for Plessinger to get around Webb and once he did, he trailed Lawrence by four seconds. But then, with three minutes remaining, Plessinger crashed and had difficulty restarting the bike, handing second back to Webb who has seven seconds behind Lawrence. Plessinger fell to fourth with results of third and sixth.

Adam Cianciarulo rounded out the top five with a 5-4.

Heartbreak for Aaron Plessinger as he was charging forward 💔#ProMotocross #SuperMotocross #HangtownMX pic.twitter.com/vQtKIsuhVg

— Pro Motocross (@ProMotocross) June 4, 2023

Last week Hunter Lawrence won the overall with a 3-1. He repeated that feat in Hangtown in an exact replica of his Fox Raceway results last week. In Moto 1, Lawrence got off to a slow start and lost 10 seconds in the opening laps. Forced to overcome a sixth-place position in the race at the end of Lap 1, he once again caught the riders ahead of him when the field hit heavy traffic. For the second week, scored another 3-1 for the Hangtown National win.

“The start was crucial’ I knew I had to go,” Lawrence told NBC Sports’ Jason Thomas. “They laid a lot of water down, so I didn’t want to be behind any longer than [I was]. First hot one of the year, was a bit of a wakeup call, so I’m happy to get out of here safe and healthy.”

Lawrence’s third-place finish in Moto 1 featured a fierce battle for final spot on the podium when he caught Spain’s Guillem Farres and France’s Tom Vialle. With Lawrence hailing from Australia, the international nature of the sport was highlighted.

Lawrence left Hangtown with a 10-point advantage over Haiden Deegan in the Pro Motocross championship battle.

Click here for 250 overall results

Justin Cooper finished second in both motos to finish second overall. Hangtown represented a huge improvement from Fox Raceway where he finished fifth overall with a 5-4 finish in the two motos. Cooper pressured Haiden Deegan in the second half of Moto 1 and he earned the holeshot in the second moto and stayed within three seconds of Lawrence in that race.

“He was following me a little bit, checking out my lines, seeing where he was better,” Cooper said. “It’s disappointing to give up the lead like that but it was way better than last weekend. I will definitely take two seconds. I want to be on the top of the step. I feel like I get close to the top step but I never get it done. That’s building up the frustration – the fire. I really want to get one of these wins, so it’s time to start digging.”

Haiden Deegan earned the first holeshot of his career in Moto 1 and rode away from the field, building a four-second lead in the opening laps. Cooper trimmed the lead at the halfway point and for a while it leveled off at two seconds. Then Cooper made another charge with three to go and closed to within a second. Deegan was biding his time, however.

“I was saving a little. I knew at the end Justin was going to try and put a charge on. I let him get up close and then sent it super hard at the end to break him a little at the end.”

Deegan’s first moto win comes in only his fourth National and he remains perfect in regard to podiums this year.

“This was a dream since I was a little kid, to win,” Deegan said. “And in my fourth race, it’s gnarly. I was just sending it. I was getting a little tired at the end becasue I left my mouth open the whole time. It’s unreal; I’m so hyped. I wanted to win bad and I proved it to you guys.”

Chaos erupted in turn 1 in Moto 2 Jeremy Martin went and another rider ran over his arm. Michael Mosiman crashed further down the track on that same lap. Both riders were helped off course by the Alpinestars Medical team.

Deegan grabs his first 250 Mx moto win!1️⃣#ProMotocross #SuperMotocross #HangtownMX pic.twitter.com/1FH5s1ZHfn

— Pro Motocross (@ProMotocross) June 3, 2023