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| Josef Newgarden takes the win on a Road Course and takes home the $1,000,000 prize put forward by The PeopleReady Force for Good Challenge. By posting a win on at least once this season on the three types of tracks that comprise the NTT INDYCAR SERIES schedule – road course, street circuit and oval – a Driver will share $500,000 with their team and donate $500,000 to that driver and team’s chosen charity. Newgarden, who previously won this season on the Texas Motor Speedway oval and the Long Beach street circuit, has chosen two charities to split the $500,000 portion – SeriousFun Children’s Network and Wags and Walks Nashville. Image Credit: Penske Entertainment via FB/META (2022) |
J-New Re-Enters Championship Picture Winning The Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America
Team Penske's Josef Newgarden takes the win at the Sonsio Grand Prix at
Road America presented by AMR making this his 22nd career INDYCAR victory and
his second at Road America - all behind the wheel of a Chevrolet-powered car.
This win moves Josef Newgarden to P3 in the season points race from P5 - leapfrogging over Pato O'Ward and Alex Palou respectively.
P2 - Marcus Ericsson and takes over the season points lead from Will Power who, with his altercation aided finish at P19, is P2 in the season challenge.
P3 - Pole sitter Alexander Rossi survives to be on the Podium but remains in play for the championship at P7.
This race marks the end of the first half of the 2022 season where not one driver has repeated as the NTT P1 Pole Award winner - NTT P1 Pole Award Winner for the Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America presented by AMR, Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport Honda - 7th career and first pole in 3 years - 8th new NTT P1 Pole Award winner in 8 races this season.
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| Pre-Race Top Six NTT INDYCAR SERIES Season Championship Points Standings |
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| Post-Race Top Six NTT INDYCAR SERIES Season Championship Points Standings |
This excerpted and edited from NTT INDYCAR SERIES -
FIFTH GEAR: SONSIO GP AT ROAD AMERICA PRESENTED BY AMR
By Curt Cavin | Published: Jun 13, 2022
The number of interesting aspects to the Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America
presented by AMR were almost too numerous to count and are the foundation of
today’s Fifth Gear.
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Let’s get right to it.
Newgarden Again Dominates Road America
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Two-time series champion Newgarden won this race by 3.37 seconds over Indy
500 winner Marcus Ericsson (No. 8 Huski Chocolate Chip Ganassi Racing Honda)
as Ericsson passed Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi (No. 27 NAPA AUTO
PARTS/AutoNation Honda) on the final restart. Rossi was bidding for his
first race win since 2019, coincidentally at Road America.
Newgarden pushed his season win total to three races and is third in the
standings, only 32 points out of the lead as the season approaches its
official midpoint. Newgarden won for the 23rd time in his NTT INDYCAR SERIES
career, tying him with Tommy Milton for 19th place on the sport’s all-time
list. The next win pulls him alongside Ralph DePalma and Bobby Rahal. Two
more ties him with Gordon Johncock.
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Standings Shakeup at the Top
With series leader Will Power having two moments of trouble and finishing
19th, Ericsson regained the points lead for the second time this season. The
Swede’s margin over Power is 27 points.
Eight of the top 10 positions in the standings changed hands this weekend,
but what should concern the title hopefuls is Newgarden moved up two
positions. He stands to gain more in the weeks ahead.
Newgarden is the defending champion of the race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car
Course, where he has won twice overall. He also has two career wins at
Toronto’s Exhibition Place – site of the Honda Indy Toronto on July 17 – and
could be in line to sweep the Iowa Speedway doubleheader sponsored by Hy-Vee
on July 23-24 as he has won three races at the short oval track. Two races
after that comes the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and
Valvoline, an event Newgarden has won three times, including the past two.
Ericsson has become a legitimate threat to win the championship. He has
finished fourth, first, seventh and second in the past four races.
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Two title contenders took big points hits Sunday, gaining only five points
each. Pato O’Ward (No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet) finished 26th when his
car had a mechanical failure nine laps from the finish. Chip Ganassi
Racing’s Alex Palou (No. 10 The American Legion Honda) got back on track
after early contact with Ericsson – more on that in the next item – but
still finished last in the 27-car field.
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Team Battles Highlight Road America
Ericsson found himself amid a dustup with Palou, his Ganassi teammate, in
Turn 5 on the race’s fourth lap. Their slight wheel contact led to Palou
driving into the gravel trap with damage, something the reigning series
champion wasn’t happy about.
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Although replays suggested Ericsson simply capitalized on an opening to gain
a position, Palou’s comments added spice to the race and provided intrigue
for how they work together moving forward.
Michael Andretti’s team had some hotly contested racing between Romain
Grosjean (No. 28 UniFirst/DHL Honda) and Colton Herta (No. 26 Gainbridge
Honda), but it lacked the comments delivered by Palou. However, it was fun
to see three Andretti drivers dueling in the final laps, with Rossi holding
off Grosjean for third place, with Herta giving the team three finishers in
the top five.
Andretti Autosport is a team to watch in the second half of the season.
Rossi has strung together three straight top-five finishes to climb to
seventh in the standings, and Herta, who won the GMR Grand Prix at
Indianapolis Motor Speedway, will be the defending champion of the
season-ending Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna
Seca (Sept. 11).
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More Competitive Racing
Sunday’s race featured another large dose of thrilling action, particularly
behind Newgarden and Rossi, who combined to lead 42 of the 55 laps – and
more given that all the other laps led were by drivers who were out of pit
sequence.
The exchanges mid-pack were tremendous, especially with so many different
fuel strategies in play. The result were 226 total on-track passes, just off
last year’s series record 231 at this track. For position, there were 191
passes, just off last year’s record of 194.
The action came on the heels of a similar race at The Raceway at Belle Isle
Park, where there were a circuit-record 280 total on-track passes, with 148
of them for position. Fifty-nine passes were in the top 10, with 23 in the
top five. INDYCAR president Jay Frye called those “big numbers for a street
course.”
Several drivers had noteworthy runs, including Felix Rosenqvist (No. 7 Vuse
Arrow McLaren SP) who continued to impress with his fourth consecutive
top-10 finish. He led seven laps en route to finishing sixth. Rahal
Letterman Lanigan Racing had one of its best races with Graham Rahal (No. 15
Fifth Third Bank Honda) finishing eighth, rookie Christian Lundgaard (No. 30
Fleet Cost & Care Honda) 10th and Jack Harvey (No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda)
13th.
Simona De Silvestro (No. 16 Paretta Autosport Chevrolet) achieved her goal
of completing all 55 laps. She finished 21st in a competitive 27-car field.
She will compete at Mid-Ohio and in the Nashville street race on Aug. 7.
Up Next: Second Half of Season Begins
After five consecutive on-track weekends, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES now takes a
two-weekend break before the second half of the season gets rolling with the
Mid-Ohio race on July 3.
Newgarden won last year’s race after leading 73 of the 80 laps. Ericsson and
Palou finished second and third, respectively, with Scott Dixon (No. 9 PNC
Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) fourth. Dixon has won a track-record six
races at the track, most recently in 2019.
The Mid-Ohio race will be the ninth of 17 events scheduled for this season.
There is still a variety of races to come, with four held on permanent road
courses, three on ovals and two street races. The season ends Sept. 11 at
WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
NTT INDYCAR SERIES News Conference
Press Conference - Sunday, June 12, 2022
P2 Marcus Ericsson / P3 Alexander Rossi
THE MODERATOR: Second and third place have arrived, Marcus Ericsson
finishing second, as well as Alexander Rossi finishing third. Marcus' third
podium of the season, seventh career podium. Alexander Rossi, second
straight podium finish after also finishing there last week at Belle Isle,
third straight top five, 27th career podium.
Marcus, primarily the restart there at the end, being able to pass Rossi,
how difficult, how satisfying?
MARCUS ERICSSON: Yeah, it was a really good race for us. We were strong all
weekend. Already on Friday the car felt good. Had a good qualifying
yesterday. Was my best qualifying of the year with P4.
I think the race was pretty straightforward. Pretty good from our side.
Obviously a lot of cautions that got you out of rhythm. Yeah, car felt good.
Got some opportunities there in the end to try and get a better position.
Alex had a bit of a slide out of the last corner so I got a run on him and
managed to get by.
Overall good day. P2 is a really good result for the championship, back in
the lead. Super happy. The team did a really good job on pit stop strategy,
so really thankful to the No. 8 Huski Chocolate Honda Ganassi crew.
THE MODERATOR: 27-point lead over Will Power as you take the lead in the
overall standings.
Alex, your thoughts on another podium finish for you?
ALEXANDER ROSSI: Yeah, probably a little disappointing when you start on
pole and can't convert. It was generally a good day I think. I think Josef
had a little bit better pace than us. I think we were the second best car.
Pretty aggressive on the restart there to try and do something. Just kind of
overstepped a little bit. That's what allowed Marcus to get by.
Ultimately I don't know that we would have been able to win. Got held up
with Scott McLaughlin a little bit coming into the pits when we were trying
to leave on the first sequence. With the lap cars, Josef was the first to
get to him. From there on it was trying to close the gap that got started
there.
A little disappointing, but all in all I think it was a very positive
weekend for us for obvious reasons A good run of races, look forward to
going to Mid-Ohio.
THE MODERATOR: Almost two shots at Josef there. Can you talk about those.
ALEXANDER ROSSI: He went pretty early on the first one. I went with him on
the second and actually got too close.
Yeah, he executed well. It was my mistake, which allowed Marcus to get by.
You got to try in those situations to go for the win.
THE MODERATOR: Questions.
Q. Marcus, Alex said basically tried to win going into turn five. What was
that move like from your perspective? Talk us through that situation.
MARCUS ERICSSON: Yeah, from inside the car, the door was open there. I went
for the move. Alongside him at the apex, made the corner. From my side he
turns into me from the outside lane. You hate to see your teammate retire
from a contact with you. That's the last thing you want to do.
I don't see I did anything wrong. It was a fully race move. Might have been
early in the race, but this race is a track-position race. If you get an
opportunity, you need to go for it.
As I said, there was nothing wrong with that move. That was clear on the TV
pictures.
Q. Is this sweeter knowing that the championship leader had a bit of an
issue early in the race as well?
MARCUS ERICSSON: Yeah, I haven't even looked. Obviously a lot of cautions
and stuff. I knew you had to try to capitalize on that. We lost the lead
last weekend, but it was nice to get that back and get P2.
Coming into the small break we have now with some good confidence. We're in
a good position for the second half.
Q. (No microphone.)
MARCUS ERICSSON: Yeah, I would like to stop that (laughter).
I think, no, yesterday was the eighth different polesitter in eight races I
think, if I'm correct. I think that says a lot about INDYCAR at the moment.
It's the most competitive series in the world. We have 27 cars this weekend.
I think that's incredible. Out of those 27 cars, it feels like at least 15
of them cars can win the race if they have their day.
It's really fun to be part of that. Yeah, I think it's going to be tough all
year. Miss a little bit one weekend, you're P10 or P15. It means you need to
be on top of things all the time.
Last weekend was a good example. A bit off on strategy, didn't work our way.
We managed to finish seventh. That's the results we need to if we want to
win the championship.
Q. (No microphone.)
MARCUS ERICSSON: Like I said, from inside the car it was clear. I was
alongside him at the apex. I was surprised that we hit at the middle of the
corner. Like I said, I made the corner, didn't go up on the curb. It was not
like I was oversteering or anything like that. I was surprised to get the
hit there.
I don't know what more to say. I only saw it once on the TV. It looked like
a good move to me. Again, I hate to see my teammate retire from a contact
with my car, but I don't feel that was on me. I feel like it was more on his
side there.
Q. (Question regarding the issue in the pits with Scott McLoughlin.)
ALEXANDER ROSSI: I honestly don't remember. I think Brian was telling me to
wait. There's nothing you can do about it. That's just an unfortunate
sequence that happens. I think it certainly cost us the lead there.
That being said, I do think Josef had a really strong car today so I don't
know necessarily that we would have been able to beat him. Maybe, I don't
know.
But it's neither here nor there. That's just part of the way it works.
Ultimately it's good to avoid contact and lose a little bit of time.
Q. Marcus, you're back in the points lead, up 25 over Will Power. You get
two weeks off. How do you feel the rest of the points race is going to shape
out for you?
MARCUS ERICSSON: It's going to be tough all the way. Like we talked about,
it's so competitive in the series at the moment. Any given weekend can be a
new winner. It's hard to be even in the top 10 if you don't get everything
right.
I think it's going to be a tough season, a long season. We put ourselves in
a really good position now, leading. So we just got to keep doing what we've
been doing. The last 12 months we were the top scorer in the championship. I
think that says something about where we've been performing since Detroit
actually last year, it was actually 12 months ago today.
Yeah, I think we're in a strong position, but it's going to require a lot of
hard work, keep doing what we've been doing.
Q. You're all teammates, but do you feel you're the lead Ganassi car at the
moment?
MARCUS ERICSSON: I think we're all equal, to be honest. We have Scott Dixon,
which is a legend, one of the best ever. Obviously Alex, Jimmie.
The cool thing with Ganassi is we all get treated the same way.
(Indiscernible) enough to continue. Yeah, that's how I see it.
Q. Marcus, how beneficial is this result for you given you're back in the
lead in the championship going into the break?
MARCUS ERICSSON: Yeah, it's very big. I think we had a decent day in
Detroit, but obviously it's never nice to lose the lead. So that was one of
the goals going to Road America, to regain that lead.
Obviously Will and Pato and Alex, I think all three of them had bad days.
That's good for us, since they were the closest ones in the championship
going in.
But, yeah, like we said, it's going to swing a couple more times. It's a
matter of being consistent now, bringing home the results. Today P2 was
definitely a very good result for us with the way the race played out.
Q. Alex, what went through your mind when you saw Josef in front of you
after that pit stop? Do you think you had the pace to chase him down or you
lost the race on that move?
ALEXANDER ROSSI: I think through the subsequent three stints we were
catching him. The last stint we were coming pretty hard at him. It was going
to be really hard to pass him, I think.
But, yes, I think that certainly cost us a lot of time, A, because we lost
the lead but 'B' he was the first to hit the lap traffic. It's always a
little bit easier for the first car to get through the lap car as you come
up on them.
Ultimately, yeah. But again, I don't want to take anything away from the
pace and performance that he had all day. Like, we were a little bit off on
the balance to start, and it took us a little bit to get it back in the
window. Then the pace was good.
But, yes, it didn't help. I don't know ultimately what the end result, if it
would have been any different.
Q. Alex, is there anything that you or the team can do to get over that
proverbial hump that you're kind of stuck behind the last few weeks?
ALEXANDER ROSSI: I don't know. Is there anything I'm stuck behind?
Q. Is there a hump.
ALEXANDER ROSSI: Sorry, it's breaking up.
THE MODERATOR: Are you over the hump?
ALEXANDER ROSSI: Are we over the hump? Well, I am 30, so... I guess
(laughter). It's not awesome.
Yeah, I mean, I think you get a little bit of confidence as results come.
Yeah, I mean, I guess we're still looking for a win.
But, yeah, I mean, it's certainly been a lot different these past couple
races than it has been for the races preceding that. That's a good thing.
There's still areas we can improve and need to be better. We'll certainly
look at that and analyze that going into Mid-Ohio.
Q. Definitely have to be looking forward to the break until the beginning of
July.
MARCUS ERICSSON: I want to go racing again (smiling). I love what we're
doing. It's fun that it's been so hectic the last few weeks.
But I think for sure for all the crews and everyone, it's good to get a bit
of a break here before the second half. Also personally it's been pretty
full on since the 500 win a couple weeks ago, so it's definitely going to be
good to sort of get a couple days off, recharge, then refocus again for the
rest of the season.
THE MODERATOR: We'll go ahead and let you guys go. Congratulations. We'll
see you at Mid-Ohio in just a few weeks' time.
[ht: FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports]
NTT INDYCAR SERIES News Conference
Press Conference - Sunday, June 12, 2022
P1 - Josef Newgarden
THE MODERATOR: Congratulations, Josef Newgarden. The second win here at Road
America. Third win of the season, 23rd of your career. Now ties the great
Tommy Milton for 19th on the all-time list. Most importantly today the
People Ready Force For Good Challenge, $1 million. Half goes to your
favorite charity. A spectacular day.
Tell us about it a little bit.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It was a great day. Great, great day. Felt really good
going into it. Felt like we had a car to win today. It was just about
executing.
My team really put me in position on that first stop. Rossi was not going to
be easy to beat today. I felt like he was very strong. I felt like we were a
little bit better than him, but he was by no means going to be simple to go
by.
That first stop is really what set the tone for us. Once we got in position,
it was about getting through the lap markers, the alternate strategy quicker
than him, building a gap, maintaining it. I felt like our PPG car was hooked
up and had it from Team Chevy on the power side pretty much as always this
year.
Really comfy. To be able to win this million bucks, give half of it to
charity, is very cool. Very, very cool. I'm sure our recipients are going to
be thrilled with that.
THE MODERATOR: On the Zoom joining us are your friends that are going to be
the recipients.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Fantastic.
THE MODERATOR: Kathryn Hurley is the founder of the Nashville chapter of
Wags & Walks.
Kathryn, say hello.
KATHRYN HURLEY: Hi.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Kathryn.
KATHRYN HURLEY: Hi. We are absolutely thrilled. Congratulations, Josef. I
mean, you know what we're going to do this year with all the dogs here in
Nashville. That was bigger than me winning the Super Bowl for the Detroit
Lions. We are absolutely so, so thrilled.
It's going to impact literally thousands of dogs here in Nashville and allow
us to build an amazing adoption center. Congratulations to you, Ashley and
your little one at home.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Thank you.
For people don't know, our dog Axel was adopted through Wags & Walks.
Kathryn really started the charge in Nashville. Wags & Walks started in
L.A. Kathryn started the Nashville chapter for it. They've been doing an
amazing job. They work with a lot of great people in Nashville. They save
all sorts of dogs. All sorts. You should hear some of these heartbreaking
stories that these guys through to find these dogs homes. We need more of
that.
We're very happy to be able to get some money to this group because they've
done a lot for us and for a lot of people in Nashville. Very thrilled.
Thank you, Kathryn, for all your work.
KATHRYN HURLEY: Thank you so much. Congratulations again.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you for joining us. By the way, the $10,000 for each
and every race continues through the rest of the season. You may not be
done.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: We'll work on it more.
KATHRYN HURLEY: The good news continues.
THE MODERATOR: Blake Maher is the CEO from the (indiscernible).
BLAKE MAHER: Congratulations, Josef, on a big win for you and your whole
team. Couldn't be more grateful for the win today and all you do for
SeriousFun, a true champion for us.
(Loss of audio.)
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: We want to help these groups as much as we can. To have
something like this challenge I think fires you up more competitively, that
you want to get it done for them. You know it's just a bonus and a plus for
these two groups.
Yeah, not quite as emotional. I just know how impactful it is, so I get
really competitive and want to make it happen.
THE MODERATOR: Tremendous day. So congratulations many times over.
Questions.
Q. What type of dog is Axel?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: He's a mutt. He has a lot of different breeds. He's a smart
little fellow. Cute, adorable. 30 pounds. He's a lot of things. He's got
Shepard in him. All sorts of stuff. I couldn't even tell you.
Q. You said on the TV interview you had forgotten about the $1 million
prize. How can you forget about something like that?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I do forget about it at points. Like, I didn't think about
it coming into this weekend. I totally forgot that that was a thing. There's
a point you get reminded about it. You're like, Oh, yeah, that's right.
But for me, it's not something you really dwell on because it doesn't matter
ultimately at the end of the day. I'm not going to try to win this race
because this is on the line. You never approach any race that way.
I want to win the race because I want to win the race. It's a great little
bonus. It's not a little bonus, that's a big bonus. It's just one of those
things that kind of comes with it.
It's not motivating for me that I have to do something extra because of
this. I'm putting my best effort forward every weekend. I know if we can
just focus on our job, get the job done, at times I get reminded, This is
also going to come with it. That's very, very cool obviously.
THE MODERATOR: Blake, do you have anything else to say? We lost you there.
BLAKE MAHER: Josef, I just wanted to make sure you heard our
congratulations. We're so excited for you and the team. Thank you for being
a champion for SeriousFun, whether you're at camp, welcoming kids to the
racetrack, your ping-pong tournament. This, of course, is such a huge
feather in your cap. We're so proud to work with you and thankful for all
you do for all the kids at the camps around the world.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Thank you, Blake. We're so fortunate to have people like
you and SeriousFun Children's Network. Keep up the great work as always.
BLAKE MAHER: Hope to see you soon. Take care.
THE MODERATOR: Blake, thanks. You've been a great friend for INDYCAR in the
past and for years to come.
More questions.
Q. It seemed like the first pit stop was the key to the race. You were able
to beat Rossi out. From that point on it seemed like every time...
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It was going to be that point or another point. Truthfully
I was hoping for an all green start, no cautions, because I felt that's
where we could find the exposure in Rossi's game.
I was kind of biding my time but felt like I had the straight speed
advantage with him. I felt like my Chevy was much quicker than him on the
straights. I was going to wait for an opportunity.
All the yellows really took away that potential. We were running most of the
laps under caution, so the reds weren't going to drop off as much. We needed
to make the difference somewhere else. We came in right on his tail. I made
sure, Look, I'm going to give my team ample opportunity, get as close as I
can to Rossi on the pits.
If it wasn't going to happen on the pit stop, it was going to be an out lap
or a back end of a stint (indiscernible). The pit stop is what ended up
being the pivotal point for us. If that wasn't the point, I think we could
have made that point somewhere else today.
Q. Pit selection seemed to work in your favor. I believe you were the last
pit out.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, yeah. We were first out, if you will, first box,
which always helps. You got a clear out. You don't have to worry about
typically a lot of the mess going on in the middle or wherever you're
located at.
It does pay to start up front.
(Loss of audio.)
Q. Obviously the difference on a late restart this year versus last year was
considerable. Can you forget that stuff?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I don't really think about it. If you want to talk about
last year, it's not anything anyone did wrong. It's a part that failed that
I think was a $50 part. No one has ever seen it fail. It's not like it was a
prep issue.
I couldn't have affected anything. I or the team couldn't have affected
anything to make it different. Had no thought about it. I was just focused
on today.
The thing I focus on is we're in position. You don't have many opportunities
to be in position to close. I just want to close. That's where my head was
at today, yep.
Q. With the two late restarts there at the very end, were you surprised on
both cases how much you were able to gap Rossi going up the hill with the
green flag there?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Not after watching him. I kind of knew where the strength
and weakness was. I felt like we had a good advantage on him in certain
areas. We tried to exploit that as best as possible.
It was two really good starts, great attack mode from Team Chevy. All of
that contributes to being able to push the gap. I was hopeful we could do
that, but I can't say I was surprised. I felt like we had that potential. I
knew if we just do our job, we can do that, and was happy to see it kind of
come to fruition.
Q. You get a good cut of it the bonus. After buying some baby stuff for the
newborn, what is the first dumb thing you're going to buy with the money?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I don't know. I don't know. Probably a bunch of McDonald's.
Probably over a hundred dollars worth of McDonald's at least. That's
probably stop one. After that, I don't know. We'll have to see.
Q. Will had a line in the interview that it's hard to get wins except for
Josef, he's got multiple. How hard is it to win now compared to earlier in
your career? What do they mean now?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It's extremely difficult. It's hard to win a pole. Hard to
win a race. The landscape is not constant these days. I think 10 years ago
you used to have sort of consistent trends. When a team would find a
performance edge, they would typically carry that edge across the entire
year.
Whereas now I think people find these little edges on each other like every
weekend. It's going up and down all the time.
You see a McLaren strong at one track, Andretti strong at another, Ganassi
pops up, ECR pops up, we're in the mix. Then a Shank pops up. It's never
ending.
We say every year it's the closest competition we ever had. Somehow it keeps
getting tighter. It must be just the development of this car has really hit
a fine point. You're just constantly tuning little things now, millimeters
of changes.
The driving style is getting tighter, with simulators, all this stuff you
can analyze. It's impossible to hide something from the competition.
Yeah, it is very difficult to win these races consistently. To be able to
put multiple on the board, it's a job well done to everybody in the 2 group.
Q. Three wins is like what drivers are looking for, if you want to win the
championship, you have to win three races. Do you feel like you've got the
momentum in the championship or is that still with Marcus after the 500 win?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It's been a little bit too up and down for us. Kind of
feast or famine. I think we genuinely had the potential for four or five
wins up to this point. So we've done three of the potential five, let's say.
The other ones that we weren't winning, we were finishing too far back.
We've got to up our consistency. It's a little abnormal for us. I feel like
we're a fairly consistent group. So I'm not going to lose sleep on why that
was happening. Sometimes you get in these little micro trends where we
didn't have the consistency we needed.
Number one, we need to clean that up. We need to win a couple more races
before the year is out because of the way the first part of the season went.
We definitely have wins on the board. But definitely more than wins,
consistency is going to rule the day this year, for sure.
Q. (No microphone.)
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, I mean, I felt good coming into the season. I felt
good about last year. I remember we were getting hounded, up to this point
last year we were getting hounded on why we hadn't won a race.
For me it was funny because I'm like, You guys must not be inside our
internal network and seeing. We're just totally fine, totally fine. There's
not a problem with the team. We're where we need to be. Just wasn't clicking
off for some reason.
I felt that way going into this season and I feel that way now. I think
we're in a good spot. We have to clean up the consistency. For one reason or
another that didn't happen up to this point. I know if we keep doing our
normal thing, that will come.
We just need to keep on a good track here till the finish. Feel very
positive about our group. I mean, we don't have anything negative going on.
Honestly, there's nothing that I could be complaining about. We got a really
strong team, everything is in a good place, great partnerships with Tammy
Chevy and everyone else. Yeah, feel good about it.
Q. (Question about the late caution.)
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, I mean, I think I cooked my stuff a little bit too
much on that second stint. I was aggressive with traffic. That's where I
think I got the gap, was I was more aggressive than he was cutting through
either a lap marker or an alternate strategy. So that ripped a really nice
gap for us.
After that it was more just trying to manage it. I kept watching my gap to
him. I was trying to study where he was strong and where I was weak. I just
kind of focused on tire management after that point.
I could tell he was very good in the beginning through 75% of the stint. I
think we had the edge in the last 25%. Look, we have a good gap here, got
more overtake, let's just try to manage tires. That was my game plan as I
got to middle to finish. I think that worked well for us.
I was surprised. We didn't get to see what was going to happen in the first
stint because of all the yellows. That's where I thought I was going to find
the exposure for him. I was a little bit worried, we missed that
opportunity, but let's see what happens on the primaries. It worked out. I
think we had a fast car all around.
Q. Can you explain how restarts work here.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, typically in INDYCAR now the rule is there's a
restart zone that's designated. Typically it's around the final corner,
sometimes sort of encompassing the entire final corner, sometimes it's a bit
more.
In our case, it's kind of 13 to 14, that lead-up into 14 is the restart
zone. So the procedure for us is the pace car lets us get temperature, does
a pretty quick lap, then slows us down. By the time we get to the carrousel,
packs us up. As we get to turn 12, he tries to get away. We let him get away
to where we can start 13 to 14. That's our process.
Q. (No microphone.)
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Rossi was as tight as he could be to me when I got on the
gas. He definitely wasn't getting jacked up, to use your words. It's just
the point. INDYCAR sort of designates the restart area or zone that you can
start in. We know that. That's what I did today.
Q. From our point of view once you got the lead, it seemed like you were
pretty comfortable. Was it that comfortable to you? Anything you think you
could have done better?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I would say it was only fairly comfortable today. I didn't
feel like we were lights out better than anybody. But I felt like we were
just as good. I felt we were kind of toe-to-toe with Rossi today. It was
just about managing the tires the best.
I think raw pace on the primaries, we were probably similar. It was a matter
of when you wanted to push them.
Yeah, what can we learn? There's always a lot of little stuff. We're going
to go back and analyze the sectors, look at straights versus corners,
mechanical changes that we made. We're going to analyze all of it and see
where we can optimize for next year.
At this point the broad strokes are very good for this track, these
conditions. Now that I'm also saying that, we're going to come back next
year and it's going to be a completely new challenge, they're going to
resurface this place. We are still going to analyze and learn what we can
from this season, but pretty open book next year.
Q. This track could be quite a bit different. Do you think that's a good
thing? Do you think it needs it or rather it stay like it is?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I'm indifferent. If it's up to me...
(Loss of audio.)
[ht ; FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports]
Next up???
Mid-Ohio - The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Presented by the All-New 2023 Civic
Type R on Sunday, July 3 (noon ET, NBC, Peacock Premium, INDYCAR Radio
Network).
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