Will Josef Newgarden Leave Ed Carpenter Racing?

Josef Newgarden’s contract with Ed Carpenter Racing expires after 2016, leaving fans wondering if Newgarden is headed to Penske, Ganassi or Andretti.

As Newgarden’s contract with Ed Carpenter Racing expires at the end of this season, rumors have begun to swirl that the Tennessee native will leave ECR for either Team Penske, Chip Ganassi Racing, or Andretti Autosport.

More from IndyCar

These are the same rumors that circulated in 2015, when Newgarden was courted but decided to sign a one-year extension with what was then Carpenter Fisher Hartman Racing.

But a lot has changed in a year.

The original folks that backed Newgarden’s IndyCar efforts – Sarah Fisher, Wink Hartman and their crew – exited the sport when CFH dissolved in the offseason, leaving Ed Carpenter to return the team to the Ed Carpenter Racing banner.

Meanwhile, Newgarden has continued to show strong all around. He won at Iowa Speedway, and he’s made headlines for weeks as fans and media continue to admire how he’s gutted races out after the injuries he suffered at Texas.

He’s the hottest driver about to hit the free agent market, so will this be the year he moves on?

If Newgarden had any inclination toward driving for the Big Three, this would seem to be his best opportunity. He has three wins over the last two seasons and is among the Top 5 championship contenders for the second year in a row.

He’s no longer a potential star – he’s a definite star.

Plus, he checks all the off-track boxes that a major team should want: someone who’s got a great public image, is fantastic with fans, and oh yeah, happens to be a young American driver in a sport that’s still trying to win over more American viewers.

And while Newgarden has a rapport with Carpenter, he’s pretty much the one big piece that remains from what used to be Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing and then CFH. It’s probably easier for him to leave now than it would have been a year or two ago.

So let’s assume that he’d entertain the idea of another team. Where would Newgarden go?

Andretti Autosport has the most obvious need. Carlos Munoz‘s contract also expires after 2016 and the team could still lose Alexander Rossi to Formula One.

If Andretti decides to move on from Munoz, who has one win over three full IndyCar seasons, or if Rossi walks it would be a very nice save for Andretti to hire Newgarden and create an all-American lineup alongside Marco Andretti and Ryan Hunter-Reay.

But if Newgarden’s short-term goal is an IndyCar championship it’s also true that Andretti is a step behind both Penske and Ganassi at the moment.

Juan Pablo Montoya will soon be coming up to decision time for Penske, but the Colombian has made clear that he’d like to return. And while Montoya has struggled in 2016 it was just a year ago that he dominated the first part of the season.

Would Penske take a risk and let go of a veteran who’s still performing very well in order to bring aboard a younger driver reaching new heights? It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve heard that story, though it would seem unwise.

Likewise, fans are wondering how long Tony Kanaan will stay in the No. 10 at Ganassi, though he hasn’t expressed that he wants to go anywhere.

The team just signed rookie Max Chilton this year to fill the spot left by Sage Karam – do they really want to abandon two rookie projects in two consecutive seasons to open up a seat for Newgarden?

Without a clear opening at either Penske or Ganassi, perhaps the wisest move upward would be for Newgarden to sign a short-term deal with Andretti until one of the veteran drivers does decide to retire.

But would Andretti even want what equates to a rental? Or in that case, Newgarden could also just sign another one-year deal with ECR and wait for Penske or Ganassi in 2018.

Newgarden still has three races left for ECR and then it will likely be months before the off-season picture becomes clear. But with how high his stock has raised over the last two years, it wouldn’t be surprising at all to see him driving for a new team in 2017.