AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Josef Newgarden threw down the gauntlet shortly after winning the IndyCar opener of the “desert doubleheader” at Phoenix Raceway that paired Roger Penske's open-wheel series with NASCAR for a first-ever twin billing at an oval track.
His victory in IndyCar's first race at Phoenix since 2018 set up Team Penske for a sweep on the same weekend the organization kicked off a season-long celebration of its 60th year in motorsports. Roger Penske had his six drivers spanning two series at the same track, where they mingled and cheered each other on, eager to make the boss proud.
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FILE - Josef Newgarden waits for the start practice for the Indianapolis 500 auto race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Friday, May 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)
Team Penske pose for a photo as they celebrate its 60th season in motorsports on Friday, March 6, 2026 at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona. L-R, Joey Logano, Josef Newgarden, Austin Cindric, Roger Penske, David Malukas, Scott McLauglin and Ryan Blaney. (AP Photo Jenna Fryer)
Ryan Blaney hoists the trophy in Victory Lane after winning a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Phoenix Raceway, Sunday, March 8, 2026, in Avondale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Darryl Webb)
Team Penske pose for a photo as they celebrate its 60th season in motorsports on Friday, March 6, 2026 at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona. L-R, Joey Logano, Josef Newgarden, Austin Cindric, Roger Penske, David Malukas, Scott McLauglin and Ryan Blaney. (AP Photo Jenna Fryer)
“It will be so disappointing if the Cup guys do not deliver,” Newgarden said after Saturday's win. “We got to go first. It worked out. Now you got to put the pressure on.”
He didn't let up later that night at a dinner with Team Penske partners, where Newgarden continued to talk trash to NASCAR teammates Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric and Joey Logano. Then Newgarden wore a Blaney shirt and sat on his pit stand Sunday cheering as Blaney won the Cup Series race to complete a Phoenix sweep; in addition to the two race victories, David Malukas won the IndyCar pole and Logano won the pole for the NASCAR race.
Newgarden, Malukas and Scott McLaughlin all joined Blaney in victory lane to celebrate.
“Josef put the pressure on us. He said, ‘This weekend is going to be absolutely ruined if you guys don’t do it on Sunday,’” Blaney said. “It’s always special to win for Roger. You don’t want to mess it up. We had three out of the four boxes checked. We had IndyCar pole, Cup pole, IndyCar win. You got to finish it out, right? There’s a little more internal pressure because you don’t want to be the guys that don’t finish out the whole weekend for RP.”
These are the moments that inspire the Penske employees who strive to make the boss proud. Penske, who turned 89 last month, has been fielding championship-contending teams for more than five decades, setting an industry standard for excellence.
Penske was an aspiring racer but gave it up in 1965 to focus on his business ventures. He didn't leave motorsports, though, and the next year launched a sports car program that was the foundation for his racing empire.
He now fields cars in NASCAR, IndyCar, IMSA sports cars and the World Endurance Champioship series. Penske has won a record 20 Indianapolis 500s, three Daytona 500s, and in January won the Rolex 24 at Daytona for the third consecutive year.
Team Penske has more than 650 major race wins and 48 championships across multiple series The last decade has seen 20 championships, which includes 14 consecutive seasons earning at least one series title.
He owns the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the IndyCar series, a role that makes him the promoter of the Indianapolis 500 and in charge of IndyCar's schedule. He owns the Detroit Grand Prix and last year added to his portfolio the Long Beach Grand Prix, the most prestigious street race in the United States.
Penske this year has partnerted with Jerry Jones for this weekend's inagural IndyCar race in Arlington, Texas, and the series in August is scheduled to race through Washington, D.C. in the Freedom 250, an event supported by President Donald Trump.
He needed early-season races to close the traditional long gap between IndyCar's season-opener and its second event, which sometimes didn't happen for three or more weeks. This year, he loaded the schedule with a record four consecutive races in March to open the season and build momentum for IndyCar.
So he worked out a pairing with NASCAR to share Phoenix oval over the weekend, marking the first time the once bitter rivals have shared an oval track. NASCAR and IndyCar did partner on the road course at Indianapolis after Penske bought the track in 2020 but that doubleheader failed to generate the enthusiasm seen in Phoenix.
It culminated with a new feat in Team Penske history: the first time his IndyCar and NASCAR teams won on the same track on the same weekend.
“As most people know, Roger Penske does this to win races. That’s what he loves to do,” said NASCAR team President Michael Nelson. “To give him something he hasn’t achieved before, to give him race wins with two different series means the world to all of us.”
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FILE - Josef Newgarden waits for the start practice for the Indianapolis 500 auto race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Friday, May 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)
Team Penske pose for a photo as they celebrate its 60th season in motorsports on Friday, March 6, 2026 at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona. L-R, Joey Logano, Josef Newgarden, Austin Cindric, Roger Penske, David Malukas, Scott McLauglin and Ryan Blaney. (AP Photo Jenna Fryer)
Ryan Blaney hoists the trophy in Victory Lane after winning a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Phoenix Raceway, Sunday, March 8, 2026, in Avondale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Darryl Webb)
Team Penske pose for a photo as they celebrate its 60th season in motorsports on Friday, March 6, 2026 at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona. L-R, Joey Logano, Josef Newgarden, Austin Cindric, Roger Penske, David Malukas, Scott McLauglin and Ryan Blaney. (AP Photo Jenna Fryer)
Iran has launched more attacks on Israel and Gulf countries while more than a week of heavy U.S. and Israeli bombardment continues. Iranian state TV announced early Monday that Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei has been named supreme leader in defiance of threats by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Here is the latest:
Joseph Aoun told a group of European officials in a video meeting that armed groups in his country had provoked Israel into pummeling Lebanon, saying the militants sprang an “ambush for Lebanon, the Lebanese state, and the Lebanese people.”
Without naming Hezbollah directly, Aoun sharply criticized the Iran-allied militant group, saying it “does not give any weight to the interest of Lebanon or the lives of its people.”
Israel began striking Lebanon after Hezbollah fired missiles at Israel in retaliation for the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and the killing of Iran’s supreme leader.
The team’s coach had said they want to return home as soon as possible. However, Trump has said he wants Australia to grant the team asylum, saying, “The U.S. will take them if you won’t.”
The president said on social media Monday that five members of the team have “already been taken care of, and the rest are on their way.” He said some feel they must go back to Iran because they’re worried about the safety of their families.
Trump did not elaborate on how Australia was resolving the issue, after speaking to the country’s prime minister.
▶ Read more about the Iranian women’s soccer squad.
As the missiles swooshed through the sky, consecutive loud booms reverberated in the streets of Tel Aviv and people ran for shelter.
Israel’s army said the barrage of projectiles came from Lebanon, where it is fighting with Hezbollah. Projectiles from Hezbollah don’t have a pre-warning like missiles do from Iran, which can leave people scrambling as the sirens ring.
France and four other European members of the Security Council requested the urgent meeting Monday as Israeli strikes have continued to pound Lebanon since Hezbollah struck Israel in retaliation for the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
The United States, which holds the council presidency this month, has not yet scheduled a session on Lebanon.
Israel’s U.N. ambassador, Danny Danon, said another council meeting would not change the situation on the ground.
“Discussions will not disarm Hezbollah,” he said.
“The Lebanese government must disarm Hezbollah and take full control of southern Lebanon,” Danon said. “If Lebanon does not do so, Israel will disarm Hezbollah to protect its citizens.”
Turkey’s NATO air defense systems intercepted the ballistic missile Monday, however the country’s president warned Iran to avoid “provocative steps.”
Speaking at the end of a Cabinet meeting, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country values its friendship with Iran and has been working toward preventing the conflict, but that Tehran risks damaging “Turkey’s friendship.”
“No one should engage in calculations that would leave deep wounds in our nation’s heart and mind,” Erdogan said. “In light of today’s incident, I once again remind (Iran) to avoid persisting in mistakes and stubbornness.”
The Pentagon last week formally designated the San Francisco tech company a “supply chain risk” over its refusal to allow unrestricted military use of its technology.
The lawsuits aim to undo the designation and block its enforcement, and come after an unusually public dispute over how Anthropic’s AI chatbot Claude could be used in warfare.
Anthropic filed two separate lawsuits Monday, one in California federal court and another in the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., each challenging different aspects of the Pentagon’s actions against the company.
▶ Read more about Anthropic and the U.S. military
The Pentagon has identified the seventh U.S. service member killed in combat during the Iran war as Army Staff Sgt. Benjamin N. Pennington, 26, of Glendale, Kentucky.
Pennington died Sunday after being wounded during an attack on March 1 at Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, a Pentagon statement said.
He was assigned to 1st Space Battalion, 1st Space Brigade that is based at Fort Carson, Colorado. The unit’s mission focused on “missile warning, GPS, and long-haul satellite communications,” according to its website.
Pennington was posthumously promoted to staff sergeant, according to an Army press release.
Six Army reservists were killed in Kuwait when an Iranian drone struck an operations center at a civilian port
President Masoud Pezeshkian, a relative moderate in Iran’s Shiite theocracy, wrote on X that “solving the country’s problems can be achieved through his wise leadership and by creating an atmosphere built on people’s trust and participation.”
The supreme leader, chosen by a clerical body, has the final say on all major policies, including war, peace and the country’s disputed nuclear program.
Cluster bombs travel through the air then burst open before landing, breaking up into dozens or hundreds of smaller bomblets to maximize the likelihood of hitting targets.
Col. Jonathan Raz of Israel’s Home Front Command said Monday that the area of Yehud in the country’s center was hit by a cluster bomb, killing at least one person and leaving others in critical condition.
Israel’s military said Iran has been using cluster bombs on a “nearly daily basis,” noting that Iran fired similar projectiles during the previous 12-day war last June.
The U.N. children’s agency says deaths and injuries to children since Israel retaliated in Lebanon for Hezbollah strikes are “staggering.”
UNICEF’s Middle East director Edouard Beigbeder said that according to the latest reports at least 83 children have been killed and 254 wounded since March 2.
That’s more than 10 children killed, and approximately 36 injured, every day, he said in a statement.
Beigbeder said the figures “are a stark testament to the toll that conflict is taking on children.”
“As military strikes continue across the country, children are being killed and injured at a horrifying rate, families are fleeing their homes in fear, and thousands of children are now sleeping in cold and overcrowded shelters,” he said.
Checkpoints on the border between Iran and Turkmenistan have begun operating 24 hours a day to facilitate the transit of those seeking to leave Iran amid the war with the U.S. and Israel, Turkmenistan’s officials said Monday.
So far, some 250 people from 16 countries have crossed into the Central Asian nation from Iran, officials said. Those crossing into Turkmenistan are being offered food and assistance in contacting their families or embassies.
Turkmenistan, a former Soviet country that has remained largely isolated under autocratic rule since it gained independence, shares a 1,148-kilometer (713-mile) border with Iran. During the Israel-Iran war in 2025, Turkmenistan, despite its harsh visa policies, provided an evacuation corridor for more than 4,000 people from 52 countries who sought to leave Iran.
The United Arab Emirates announced Monday the deaths of two noncombat members of its armed forces following the crash of a helicopter due to a “technical malfunction.”
This comes as the ministry continues to work against what it said were hundreds of missiles and drones fired by Iran toward the country in a war that started over a week ago.
President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi on Monday also urged deescalating the conflict in the region to avoid further “unprecedented repercussions” that could impact global economy and energy security.
“The national security of Arab countries is an integral part of Egyptian national security,” he said during an EU video conference held with some Arab leaders to discuss U.S.-Israel war on Iran, according to a statement by the president’s office.
El-Sissi also called for supporting Lebanon and exerting efforts to “prevent Israel from invading Lebanon during this difficult stage” and targeting the country’s infrastructure.
The secretary of state says the United States is “well on our way” to destroying Iran’s ability to threaten its neighbors and the world with missiles.
Speaking Monday at a State Department ceremony to honor Americans wrongfully detained abroad in countries including in Iran, Rubio said the goal of the continuing U.S. air strikes is to eliminate Iran’s ballistic missile stockpile, its ability to produce them and its ability to launch them.
“We are well on our way to achieving that objective” he said, adding that it is being done “with overwhelming force, with overwhelming precision.”
The Trump administration has designated the Sudan branch of the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization, accusing it of getting training and other support from Iran. It’s the fourth chapter of the group the U.S. has hit with the label.
The State Department said Monday that the Sudan branch would be classified as a “specially designated global terrorist” group with immediate effect and would be labeled a “foreign terrorist organization” once a congressional review of the move is complete on March 16. It said the group was responsible for “mass executions of civilians” among other things.
The SDGT designation imposes sanctions but the FTO designation ramps up those penalties to include making it a crime to provide material support for the group or its members.
The administration has previously designated the Lebanese branch of the group an FTO and the chapters in Egypt and Jordan as SDGTs.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Monday that “it is up to this regime and the so-called Revolutionary Guard alone to stop the fighting.”
He added that “so long as this not the case, I assume that Israel and America will continue their defense against this regime.”
Merz said the threat posed by the Iranian government reaches far beyond the region, pointing to its support for Russia in the war in Ukraine. He said that “Iran is the center of international terrorism, and this center must be closed. And the Americans and Israelis are doing that in their way.”
Qatar’s Defense Ministry said Monday it intercepted all 17 missiles and six drones launched from Iran toward the Gulf nation on Monday, as Iran continues to attack neighboring Arab states. There was no damage or casualties, the ministry said.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that Ukraine had received 11 requests from countries seeking assistance in countering threats linked to Iran. They include Iran’s neighbors, European countries and the United States.
Writing on social media, Zelenskyy said the requests focus on Ukraine’s experience in defending against drones, including interceptor systems, electronic warfare and training.
He said Kyiv is ready to help those who helped defend Ukrainian lives and independence. He added that Kyiv had already responded to some requests with specific decisions and support, and would consider further assistance as long as it does not weaken Ukraine’s own defenses.
“Ukraine’s priority is clear: the Iranian regime must not gain any advantage over those defending lives, and everyone must work together to achieve tangible stabilization both in the region and in global markets,” Ukrainian leader said.
Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said he condemned Iran’s attacks on civilians in Gulf nations and other actions that threaten freedom of navigation and safety in the Strait of Hormuz during a phone call with his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi.
Motegi said he repeated Japan’s position that Iran must never possess nuclear weapons. He also insisted that Iran promptly release two Japanese nationals. Motegi said Araghchi provided Iran’s position and promised his country’s full cooperation in ensuring the safety of Japanese nationals.
Turkey’s Defense Ministry said debris from the downed Iranian missile fell on empty fields in Gaziantep province, in southern Turkey. There was no damage or casualties.
The ministry stressed that while Turkey values peaceful relations and stability in the region, it would not hesitate to act if its land or airspace is threatened.
“We once again emphasize that all necessary steps will be taken firmly and without hesitation against any threat directed at our country’s territory or airspace,” the statement read. “We remind everyone that complying with Turkey’s warnings in this regard is in everyone’s interest.”
The statement said the missile was downed by NATO units stationed in the eastern Mediterranean.
Monday’s interception was second since the start of the Iran war. Iran has fired missiles and drones at several countries across the region since the United States and Israel attacked it over a week ago.
The United Arab Emirates says 15 ballistic missiles and 18 drones were fired on the Gulf country on Monday.
That has brought the total projectiles fired at the UAE since the start of the U.S. and Israel war against Iran to 253 missiles and 1,440 drones, the Emirati Defense Ministry said. Four foreign nationals have been killed and 117 people wounded in the attacks, it said.
The U.S. State Department on Monday ordered non‑emergency staff and family members to leave the U.S. Consulate in Adana, in southern Turkey. It also advised American citizens to depart southeast Turkey.
The decision marks the 10th U.S. diplomatic mission placed on ordered departure since the start of the war with Iran, and the first such move involving a NATO ally.
Israel said it had begun “a wide-scale wave of strikes” in Tehran, Isfahan and in southern Iran.
In the early days of the war there were barrages with dozens of missiles, but that has dropped to less than 10 or 20 missiles being launched at a time, said Israeli military spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani.
Iran is still firing missiles frequently toward Israel, sending people running for shelter multiple times per day, especially in central Israel.
Shoshani noted that Iran still has “a significant amount” of missiles, as Israel has concentrated on attacking Iran’s missile launchers rather than its weapons arsenals. Israel claimed previously it has destroyed around 60% of Iran’s launchers and has also targeted missile production facilities.
Funeral processions were held Monday for two Palestinian women and a 12-year-old girl who were killed in an Israeli attack in the Gaza Strip.
The three were killed Sunday when tank shelling hit two tents in Abu Shemeis camp for displaced people in central Gaza, according to Awda Hospital. A 6-month-old boy was severely wounded, it said.
The camp is located around 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the so-called Yellow Line separating Israeli-controlled areas from the rest of Gaza. The dead included a journalist, Amal Shamali, who worked for Radio Qatar, according to the hospital.
The Israeli military didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Mourners carry the bodies of Hezbollah fighters who were killed by Israeli airstrikes during their funeral procession in Khraibeh village, eastern Lebanon, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Israeli tanks are parked in a staging area in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon, Israel, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
This image taken from video provided by Iran state TV shows Mojtaba Khamenei, a son of Iran's slain supreme leader, who has been named as the Islamic Republic's next ruler, authorities announced Monday, March 9, 2026. (Iran state TV via AP)
Flames rise from an oil storage facility south of the capital Tehran as strikes hit the city during the U.S.–Israel military campaign, Iran, Saturday, March 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
