With fans back, Newgarden gets pole position at Road America
ELKHART LAKE, Wis. — Josef Newgarden won the pole position Saturday for the opening race of a weekend doubleheader at Road America, with IndyCar welcoming fans to its races for the first time this season.
Newgarden, a Chevy driver and member of Team Penske, had a time of 1 minute, 45.5191 seconds on a course that is slightly more than 4 miles and includes 14 turns. Newgarden, whose speed was 136.946 mph, also earned the pole at Road America in 2018 and went on to win that race.
This marks Newgarden’s 10th career pole position.
Jack Harvey will start in the second position for the second straight race and will try to improve upon his 17th-place finish from last weekend at Indianapolis. Harvey had a time of 1:45.7290.
Rounding out the top five were Ryan Hunter-Reay, Graham Rahal and Will Power, who posted the fastest practice time earlier in the day.
Newgarden ranks third in the points standings as he chases leader Scott Dixon, who is seeking his third straight IndyCar victory to start the season. Dixon was ninth in qualifying.
This is only the third event on the IndyCar schedule after the coronavirus pandemic caused the season to start nearly three months late.
The series is treating each event separately, guided by local and state regulations. Road America’s sprawling, 640-acre layout surrounding the course allows fans to practice social distancing and roam the property rather than crowding into a grandstand.
“Since we’ve been here before, we know there’s plenty of room,” said Jason Shelley of Indianapolis, who said he usually attends four or five IndyCar races each year. “It’s kind of like watching a race in a state park, so this is the one place where I feel comfortable and safe because I know I can get away from people. I’m not going to be stacked on top of people. That’s why we came.”
Steve Lemon, a fan from Kankakee, Illinois, who usually attends about three races a year, said that “if it had been an oval, we wouldn’t have gone.”
Fans received temperature checks at gates and received masks and hand sanitizer as they entered.
Wearing a mask was encouraged but not required, and a stroll through along the Road America property indicated the majority of spectators were spending at least part of the time unmasked.
“All the staff and drivers and everybody are wearing masks, but I don’t think the fans are quite as good about it,” said Jim Cossaart, a spectator from Bristol, Vermont. “Human nature, I guess.”
IndyCar also plans to have spectators next weekend for a doubleheader in Iowa, where the oval track has grandstands. IndyCar is hoping fans will fill 50% of the speedway’s capacity for the Indianapolis 500 on Aug. 23.