Josef Newgarden favored by PointsBet at Portland by a slim margin

By Sep 2, 2022, 7:23 PM EDT
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Josef Newgarden is the PointsBet Sportsbook favorite to win his first race at Portland International Raceway in Sunday’s Portland Grand Prix (3 p.m. ET, NBC). For more details on how to watch, click here.

In three previous starts on this track, Newgarden swept the top 10 and earned top-fives in his last two attempts. He is coming off a win last week in a race for which he was also favored and has six consecutive top-10s on road courses in 2022. Newgarden won at Road America. He shows a line of +380 prior to the weekend’s activities.

The two-time series champion will be serving a six-position grid penalty in Sunday’s race.

One way to view American Odds is to move the decimal point two positions to the left. That will let a bettor know what they will make on a $1 bet, so the return on investment this week for Newgarden is $3.80. For bettors more comfortable with fractional odds, a bet of +300 is the same as 3/1.

Ranked second is Patricio O’Ward (+425) with a line that is only 45 points higher. O’Ward does not have the same momentum as Newgarden on this track type and has not earned a top-10 on a road course in his last five attempts. Three of these races ended deep in the pack outside the top 20. In his favor, O’Ward won at Barber Motorsports Park earlier this season when he posted at 10/1.

Scott Dixon and Scott McLaughlin each have +650 odds this week.

Dixon is the only perfect driver in regard to top-10 results on road courses this season. More importantly, he won two of the last three races on this track type at Exhibition Place in Toronto and on the Streets of Nashville. His last effort on a permanent road course was eighth on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

McLaughlin has top-10s in his last five road course starts, including a win at the Mid-Ohio Sportscar Course and a second-place finish in the most recent event at Nashville.

Rounding out the top five this week is Alex Palou at +700. He was one of the fiercest competitors on road courses entering the first Indy road course race earlier this year. Beginning with his victory in last year’s Portland race, he logged with six consecutive top-fives. Since then, he has only two such finishes with a second at Mid-Ohio and a third last week in Nashville as the highlights.

The 2019 winner in Portland, Will Power is just outside the top five with the sixth-lowest line of +725. Power’s win that year is his only top-10 in three starts on this track.

Previous Betting Lines

St Petersburg: Colton Herta tops the list
Texas: Scott Dixon favored
Long Beach: Herta favored for second street race
Barber: Herta still favored, but line gets longer
Indy GMR Grand Prix: Herta continue to be road racing favorite
Indy 500: Dixon favored; Jimmie Johnson solid dark horse
Road America: Alex Palou is slightly favored
Mid-Ohio: Josef Newgarden tops the list
Toronto: Newgarden narrowly favored in tight field
Iowa: Newgarden still favored as he stretches betting line lead
Indy Gallagher Grand Prix: Pato O’Ward, Felix Rosenqvist lead tight field
Streets of Nashville: Newgarden narrowly edges Palou
Gateway: Newgarden remains the favored son

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Ford unveils a new Mustang for 2024 Le Mans in motorsports ‘lifestyle brand’ retooling

Associated PressJun 9, 2023, 7:00 PM EDT
Ford Mustang Le Mans
Ford Performance
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LE MANS, France — Ford has planned a return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans with its iconic Mustang muscle car next year under a massive rebranding of Ford Performance aimed at bringing the automotive manufacturer “into the racing business.”

The Friday unveil of the new Mustang Dark Horse-based race car follows Ford’s announcement in February (and a ballyhooed test at Sebring in March) that it will return to Formula One in 2026 in partnership with reigning world champion Red Bull.

The Mustang will enter the GT3 category next year with at least two cars in both IMSA and the World Endurance Championship, and is hopeful to earn an invitation to next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. The IMSA entries will be a factory Ford Performance program run by Multimatic, and a customer program in WEC with Proton Competition.

Ford CEO Jim Farley, also an amateur sports car racer, told The Associated Press the Mustang will be available to compete in various GT3 series across the globe to customer teams. But more important, Farley said, is the overall rebranding of Ford Performance – done by renowned motorsports designer Troy Lee – that is aimed at making Ford a lifestyle brand with a sporting mindset.

“It’s kind of like the company finding its own, and rediscovering its icons, and doubling down on them,” Farley told the AP. “And then this motorsports activity is getting serious about connecting enthusiast customers with those rediscovered icons. It’s a big switch for the company – this is really about building strong, iconic vehicles with enthusiasts at the center of our marketing.”

Ford last competed in sports car racing in 2019 as part of a three-year program with Chip Ganassi Racing. The team scored the class win at Le Mans in 2016 in a targeted performance aimed to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ford snapping Ferrari’s six-year winning streak.

Ford on Friday displayed a Mustang with a Lee-designed livery that showcased the cleaner, simplified look that will soon be featured on all its racing vehicles. The traditional blue oval with Ford Performance in white lettering underneath will now be branded simply FP.

The new mark will be used across car liveries, merchandise and apparel, display assets, parts and accessories and in advertising.

Farley cited Porsche as an automaker that has successfully figured out how to sell cars to consumers and race cars in various series around the world while creating a culture of brand enthusiasts. He believes Ford’s new direction will help the company sell street cars, race cars, boost interest in driving schools, and create a merchandise line that convinces consumers that a stalwart of American automakers is a hip, cool brand.

“We’re going to build a global motorsports business off road and on road,” Farley told the AP, adding that the design of the Mustang is “unapologetically American.”

He lauded the work of Lee, who is considered the top helmet designer among race car drivers.

“We’re in the first inning of a nine inning game, and going to Le Mans is really important,” Farley said. “But for customer cars, getting the graphics right, designing race cars that win at all different levels, and then designing a racing brand for Ford Performance that gets rebranded and elevated is super important.”

He said he’s kept a close eye on how Porsche and Aston Martin have built their motorsports businesses and said Ford will be better.

“We’re going in the exact same direction. We just want to be better than them, that’s all,” Farley said. “Second is the first loser.”

Farley, an avid amateur racer himself, did not travel to Le Mans for the announcement. The race that begins Saturday features an entry from NASCAR, and Ford is the reigning Cup Series champion with Joey Logano and Team Penske.

The NASCAR “Garage 56” entry is a collaboration between Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet and Goodyear, and is being widely celebrated throughout the industry. Farley did feel left out of the party in France – a sentiment NASCAR tried to avoid by inviting many of its partners to attend the race so that it wouldn’t seem like a Chevrolet-only celebration.

“They’re going right and I’m going left – that NASCAR thing is a one-year deal, right? It’s Garage 56 and they can have their NASCAR party, but that’s a one-year party,” Farley said. “We won Le Mans outright four times, we won in the GT class, and we’re coming back with Mustang and it’s not a one-year deal.

“So they can get all excited about Garage 56. I almost see that as a marketing exercise for NASCAR, but for me, that’s a science project,” Farley continued. “I don’t live in a world of science projects. I live in the world of building a vital company that everyone is excited about. To do that, we’re not going to do a Garage 56 – I’ve got to beat Porsche and Aston Martin and Ferrari year after year after year.”

Ford’s announcement comes on the heels of General Motors changing its GT3 strategy next season and ending its factory Corvette program. GM, which unlike Ford competes in the IMSA Grand Touring Prototype division (with its Cadillac brand), will shift fully to a customer model for Corvettes in 2024 (with some factory support in the IMSA GTD Pro category).