Heading into the Honda Indy Toronto, Josef Newgarden was confident in his team and predicted a solid run at the end of the weekend. However that didn’t happen as Newgarden finished 20th and 13th in the pair of races.
In the first race, Newgarden would get involved in a lap one multi-car wreck after Simon Pagenaud got spun, and then worked his way through the field to 10th, before contact on the white flag lap with Will Power ended his day early.
The second race simply didn’t go his way either with strategy of when to take rain tires and when to take slicks not panning out, resulting in a 13th place finish. Part of the deal in making it harder to choose when to use which tires is the fact that the entire track is not the same type of pavement – some of it is new concrete, some is old concrete and some is a mix of new and old asphalt.
“There’s a lot of different surfaces along the course, especially the apexes,” Newgarden commented. “Every apex is a little different around this place. It’s a little tough. You can’t really do anything in the middle of the corner; you got to make your car work good on the entrance and the exit.”
The way this weekend went, though, fits Newgarden’s season to date as they’ve shown speed across the board – though haven’t posted the finishes to equal it.
“It’s been up and down for us,” Newgarden said of his season to date. “There’s been points where we could’ve had big results – maybe a win – just hasn’t materialized. We just haven’t caught a break all year. Besides from that, I think our performance is strong so it’s about getting the breaks to fall our way. If we can do that, we can finish the season a high note.”
Despite the struggles, the speed that they have shown gives confidence in knowing that the Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing team is capable of winning races.
“It helps as you’re confident as a driver in what you need to do in the car,” he explained. “You’re more positive. That’s what I’m trying to do. I feel better about the last couple of weekends with some good top-10s.”
The Tennessee native would get his start in racing at the age of 13, racing go-karts. From there, he began to work his way up the ladder, eventually landing a seat in the Verizon IndyCar Series. Reaching the top of the ladder marked the “fondest memory” of his career, in being able to run the Indianapolis 500.
“That’s just a cool thing,” he described. “When you’re able to sit in an IndyCar and run laps around the speedway, it’s not something that you get to do very often and it’s very surreal.”
Along the way, he has kept fans entertained with his unique personality in whom he is, however he says that while he may seem as someone who’s out there, he really likes his alone time.
“I’m pretty private guy, more than people realize,” he said. “They think I’m really outgoing but I like to be by myself a lot.”
