2016 IndyCar Preseason Power Rankings

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Jul 12, 2015; West Allis, WI, USA; Verizon IndyCar Series driver Josef Newgarden talks to the media during qualifying for the ABC Supply Wisconsin 250 at Milwaukee Mile Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports /

9. Josef Newgarden

Josef Newgarden’s breakthrough was the feel-good story of the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series season. Newgarden won his first two IndyCar races and captured his first ever Verizon P1 Award, on the way to being one of the six championship contenders going into Sonoma. He’s one of the drivers who has been looked at as the future of the league, and finally in 2015 that looked like it was becoming a reality. So what is he going to do for an encore?

Newgarden has reached the next level of his career, and has unlimited potential in front of him. The biggest question is how the behind the scenes developments in the off-season will affect his continued progress. When CFH Racing disbanded, it also meant that the two team owners Newgarden had always worked with – Sarah Fisher and Wink Hartman – left the team and the sport. He’s now solely answering to Ed Carpenter. How will not having the only support system he’s ever had in IndyCar affect the young gun from Tennessee? And how will Ed Carpenter Racing shake out in general in 2016?

Now driving the No. 21 instead of the No. 67 (thanks to Century 21 taking over as his primary sponsor), Newgarden is the best he’s ever been. But some of his contemporaries are getting better too, like Graham Rahal and Mikhail Aleshin, and James Hinchcliffe is about to come back. He’s got some tough competition, yet he also has momentum. Hopefully Newgarden will use that to his advantage and have another great year in 2016.

Next: 8. Mikhail Aleshin