Newgarden wins 1st IndyCar title
Josef Newgarden lost the battle but won the war.
Somewhat content to sit behind teammate and eventual race winner Simon Pagenaud for the last 20 laps of the 85-lap race, Newgarden finished second in Sunday’s Grand Prix of Sonoma at Sonoma Raceway to clinch the IndyCar series title.
“It was so crazy cool to do this,” said Newgarden, who became the first American to win the overall title since 2012. “This is a dream come true to win a championship.”
Newgarden, a 26-year-old
from Tennessee who is in his sixth IndyCar season and first season with Team Penske, had to overcome the urge to overtake Pagenaud — the defending series champ — in the final stages of the race. But thanks to counseling from Tim Cindric, Newgarden’s in-race tactician, he was able to keep his cool.
“My natural instinct is to beat everyone who is in front of me,” Newgarden said. “But Tim kept telling me what the situation was . ... I give a lot of credit to Tim to keep me in check.”
“My job was to keep Josef focused,” said Cindric, president of Team Penske. “There was no reason to push things. Thankfully, he listened.”
Not that Newgarden, who had four wins and four second-place finishes this year, was happy with being reined in.
“I was 100 percent ticked off,” he said. “I was steaming in the car because I didn’t win when I was doing everything to win. But then I started to look at the big picture.”
And with about 15 laps to go, Newgarden realized his dream was about to come true.
“At that point, I felt comfortable,” he said. “I knew we had it.”
Sunday’s race had the potential for a lot of discomfort for Newgarden, who came into Sunday with a four-point edge over New Zealand’s Scott Dixon. Dixon, who has won four IndyCar titles (the last in 2015), couldn’t overcome a poor starting position — sixth in the grid — and moved only two spots up to finish fourth behind Pagenaud. That dropped the Chip Ganassi driver to third in the final standings.
Pagenaud, a Frenchman who clinched the 2016 overall title with a win at Sonoma, moved up to second in the standings with Sunday’s bittersweet win.
“What’s important is to perform at your best,” he said. “A champion is someone who can bring his extra ‘A’ game. I think we did just that . ... This was the most I’ve ever pushed a car this year . ... We gave it everything we had, but we came up 13 points short.”
There was a moment when Pagenaud thought he still might have a chance to repeat as series champion. Midway through the cautionless race, only the second of the 17-race series not to have a yellow flag, his lead over Newgarden was more than 30 seconds.
“When I had that gap, I was thinking, ‘Ooh, maybe I could win this,’ ” he said. “I knew I had to take all the risks and Josef had to be on the defensive.”
Newgarden was able to close the gap when Pagenaud made a pit stop on the 65th lap, and Pagenaud was resigned to the inevitable.
“It was a good fight, and I enjoy a good fight,” he said, “but, overall, the best man won. He was the strongest.”