Josef Newgarden Tag

By INDYCAR ST. PETERSBURG, Florida – The streets of St. Petersburg have become Will Power’s qualifying playground. The Team Penske veteran continued his amazing dominance of NTT P1 Award qualifying for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, laying down the best lap Saturday in the Firestone Fast Six to earn the race’s pole position for the eighth time in 10 years. The Australian now accounts for half the pole positions in the history of the event and has won the race on two occasions (2011, 2015). FIRESTONE GRAND PRIXRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer ST. PETERSBURG — Felix Rosenqvist’s debut NTT IndyCar Series race weekend has gone about as well as could be expected for the Swede. After leading one of the Friday practice sessions, the two-time Macau Grand Prix winner ended up qualifying third for Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Rosenqvist’s No. 10 NTT Data Honda advanced out of a chaotic group one that was marred with two red flags. In the second round of qualifying, the Chip Ganassi Racing driver qualified seventh and seemingly failed toRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the NTT IndyCar Series season for the full-time drivers in the series leading into the 2019 season opener at St. Petersburg on March 10. Age: 28 Team: Team Penske Years in IndyCar: Seven Career Wins: 10 Career Podiums: 22 After winning the title in 2017 in his first year with Team Penske, Josef Newgarden entered last season looking to make it back-to-back championship wins and while it was a successful season, the Hendersonville, Tenn. native ultimately fell short ofRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Let’s face the music. As much as I prefer seeing the NTT IndyCar Series champion represent the No. 1 in their car, history has been against them due to various shortcomings. Over the past two seasons, the reigning INDYCAR champion have carried the No. 1 banner, but weren’t able to retain it. Heading into 2019, five-time champion Scott Dixon did a photo shoot standing next to his PNC Bank Honda. What stood out was the No. 1 appearing on his car instead of the iconic No.Read More

By Aaron Bearden, Open Wheel Editor Motorsports Tribune reviews the season of the top 12 drivers from the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series championship. Our list continues with the fifth-place finisher, Josef Newgarden. Josef Newgarden, No. 1 Hitachi/Verizon Chevrolet 2018: 5th in the championship  Wins: 3, Top 5: 6, Top 10: 14, Poles: 4, Laps Led: 485 Best Finish: 1st (Phoenix, Barber, Road America) Josef Newgarden’s 2018 matched the highs of his 2017 championship season, but a lack of podiums and season-long consistency kept the Tennessean from mounting a successful title defenseRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Motorsports Tribune reviews the season of the top 12 drivers from the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series championship. Our list continues with the sixth-place finisher, Simon Pagenaud. Simon Pagenaud, No. 22 Team Penske Chevrolet 2018: 6th in the championship  Wins: 0, Top 5: 4, Top 10: 14, Poles: 0, Laps Led: 31 Best Finish: 2nd (Texas, Toronto) While this past season wasn’t the kind of season Simon Pagenaud was hoping for, there was still some bright spots along the way. The 34-year-old Frenchman endured a rough start toRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer Motorsports Tribune reviews the season of the top 12 drivers from the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series championship. Our list continues with the 11th-place finisher, Robert Wickens. Robert Wickens, No. 6 LUCAS OIL Honda 2018: 11th in the championship  Wins: 0, Top 5: 7, Top 10: 10, Poles: 1, Laps Led: 187 Best Finish: 2nd (Phoenix, Mid-Ohio) It’s hard to imagine a more dynamic, more attention-deserving and more awe-inspiring winless rookie season in Indy car racing of the past decade than the one Robert Wickens had inRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer SONOMA, California — Neither of the IndyCar Series title contenders scored bonus points as Ryan Hunter-Reay snatched the Verizon P1 Pole Award for the INDYCAR Grand Prix of Sonoma at Sonoma Raceway Saturday. For the three drivers who are hunting down points leader Scott Dixon, their tasks became increasingly difficult after the New Zealander’s qualifying effort. He’ll start alongside Hunter-Reay in second, with Josef Newgarden following as the highest of the chasing trio after qualifying third. The reigning series champion kept his strong pace from FridayRead More

By Josh Farmer, Contributing Journalist SONOMA, California – Life just keeps getting better for Verizon IndyCar Series rookie Patricio ‘Pato’ O’ Ward. Two weeks removed from claiming the 2018 Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tire championship, O’Ward qualified fifth for his first Verizon IndyCar Series race in tomorrow’s IndyCar Grand Prix of Sonoma. The result has the 19-year-old from Monterrey, Mexico surrounded by former series champions, Indianapolis 500 winners and in the middle of a championship fight heading into his first IndyCar race. “I honestly don’t know what to think aboutRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer SONOMA, California — The answer is simple, it’ll take chaotic circumstances, and having a picture perfect weekend for championship contenders Alexander Rossi, Josef Newgarden and Will Power to prevent Scott Dixon from capturing his unprecedented fifth Verizon IndyCar Series championship at Sonoma Raceway. Among the three title chasers, Rossi is the closest to Dixon, trailing the points leader by 29 points and in many people’s eyes, the best among the three in terms of catching Dixon. Heading into Saturday, he has the most work to doRead More