Newgarden leads drivers’ pack to Long Beach
IndyCar is ready for its closeup. After the season opener in St. Petersburg (Fla.) and last weekend’s oval opener outside Phoenix, the paddock heads for Hollywood and one of the jewels of the Verizon IndyCar Series calendar.
Because of its storied past and pristine location, Long Beach has long been one of the most prestigious events on the calendar, so expect Sunday’s Toyota Grand Prix (4:30 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Network) to be a battle.
Many teams look strong, but perhaps none more than Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Both of its drivers are off to sterling starts, including reigning Long Beach champion James Hinchcliffe, who is absolutely a threat to repeat. Then again, teammate Robert Wickens is arguably the hottest act in the series and more than capable of stealing the spotlight.
That is one of many intriguing story lines this weekend.
Long Beach could look nothing like St. Petersburg: They’re both street circuits, and that’s about where the similarities end, the reigning champ said.
“We were quick at St. Pete last year,” Hinchcliffe said, “and that car was completely different than the one we had at Long Beach.”
That’s because the circuits demand much different skills from the drivers. Where St. Petersburg is all about rolling speeds, Long Beach is more of a braking and traction track, said 2016 Long Beach winner Simon Pagenaud.
“We’ve seen in the past that what works at St. Pete doesn’t always work at Long Beach,” Pagenaud said. “It’s quite a different setup.”
It’s time to stop being surprised by Wickens: The guy is good. And not just for a rookie. It’s time to ditch the caveats that come with the compliments for the
29-year-old driver.
Think about how close we were to seeing this former European touring car series star win back-to-back IndyCar races on totally different circuits. If Alexander Rossi doesn’t get bold in the final laps of St. Petersburg, Wickens leaves the season opener with a pole and a win before nearly holding on for a victory at Phoenix.
As it is, he is eighth in the championship with 57 points and still hunting for his first victory. Even without a win, though, his quick start has caught the eye of the series’ stars.
“It’s really quite impressive what he’s doing,” Pagenaud said. “He’s adjusting really well, adapting. I think his adaptation to the new form of racing is quite impressive.”
Newgarden’s run might be going under-appreciated: Josef Newgarden has won 50% of IndyCar’s past eight races. That’s an incredible run. Since the beginning of the 2010 season, only three others have accomplished such a feat: Ryan Hunter-Reay (2012), Scott Dixon (2013) and Will Power, who managed it three times (2011-12, 2013-14 and
2016).
Everyone knows Newgarden, the reigning series champion, is one of the brightest young talents IndyCar has seen in a long time, but the Team Penske driver seems to be raising the bar higher every week.
There’s one other stat we should keep an eye on as the season progresses. Newgarden has said he wants to be the next generation’s Scott Dixon, who has won four championships in 18 seasons. Interestingly enough, Newgarden, who is two races into his seventh season, is on nearly the same trajectory as the Chip Ganassi star.
Through 102 races in professional open-wheel racing, each had tallied at least seven wins, 20 podium finishes and a championship. Dixon finished his seventh season (in 2007) with four wins and 10 podiums while finishing runnerup in the championship (to Dario Franchitti).
Newgarden has a lot of work to do if he’s going to keep pace, but he’s off to a fantastic start.
Pagenaud is poised to bounce back from a slow start: For the first time since 2013, Pagenaud doesn’t have a top-five finish in either of the first two races. However, if it hadn’t been for a mistake in a slippery Phoenix pit lane — the same one that caught podium finisher Alexander Rossi and pole-sitter Sebastien Bourdais off guard — the 2016 series champion likely would have left Arizona with a much better result than 10th.
“That was definitely disappointing, because we had a really good car,” the Team Penske driver painfully recounted this week. “Nothing I could have done differently there. … It’s just unfortunate, because it’s a waste of an opportunity. I felt like I had a car to win or a top three at the worst.”
Pagenaud said he has moved on and is focused on climbing the championship standings. While he doesn’t expect the racing to be much like it was in St. Petersburg, where he finished 13th, he did say the No. 22 team learned a lot from that first race and know what the car needs.
“At the end of the day, I think we have the performance,” Pagenaud said. “I actually see a lot of performance and potential for us in the next few races, so I’m quite excited and positive.”
Dixon will win at Long Beach: The “Ice Man” has had a fairly quiet beginning to the season. Too quiet. Despite two top-10 finishes, including a nearpodium at Phoenix, Dixon is flying under the radar.
That’s not too surprising considering his (usually) soft-spoken demeanor and the rather lofty standards he’s set for himself throughout his illustrious career. My only concern is that Dixon hasn’t shown quite the pace some other teams have early this season, but like fellow IndyCar titan Team Penske, it’s hard to keep Chip Ganassi Racing down for long.
Look for Dixon and new teammate Ed Jones to be the quickest they’ve been this season and for Dixon to reach victory lane at Long Beach for the first time since 2015.