Josef Newgarden: From Next To Now
By Asher Fair
After a win at Barber, the IndyCar driver that once had the most potential has turned into the IndyCar driver with a great chance at winning this year’s championship and many, many more.
In 2012, it was clear that 2011 Indy Lights champion Josef Newgarden had potential to be a star in the Verizon IndyCar Series. A dominant 104-point championship victory in Indy Lights helped land the 21-year-old young rookie a ride with Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing in the 2012 IndyCar Series.
In just his third career IndyCar start, Newgarden started on the front row along with four-time IndyCar champion Dario Franchitti. However, he failed to make it through turn one due to a “rookie move”.
2012 — 2016
Newgarden showed speed throughout the rest of the 2012 season, but he did not finish in the top 10 in any race. He continued to show speed throughout the 2013 and 2014 seasons, but he did not win a race and finished no higher than 13th in the championship standings.
He did, however, score two podium finishes in 2013 and 2014. He finished in 2nd place at Baltimore in 2013 and 2nd place at Iowa in 2014, proving that he could race well at both road/street courses and ovals.
In 2015, Newgarden really started transforming that potential into great finishes. He won his first career race at Barber and went on to be victorious at Toronto before 2nd place finishes at Iowa and Pocono. He finished in a new career-high 7th place in the championship standings and was mathematically eligible to win the championship heading into the season finale at Sonoma.
In 2016, Newgarden only won one race, but it was a dominant win at Iowa, where he finally took the top spot on the podium following two consecutive 2nd place finishes at the track for his first career oval victory. He led 282 of the race’s 300 laps, and he did so with a broken hand that he suffered in this terrible crash shown below not even one month beforehand.
Transition to Team Penske
Following a career-high 4th place finish in the championship standings in 2016, Newgarden was set to become a free agent after two seasons with CFH and Ed Carpenter Racing. He ended up landing with Team Penske when the team let go of two-time Indy 500 champion Juan Pablo Montoya after three seasons.
Team Penske drivers took each of the top 3 spots in the championship in the 2016 season, and Newgarden was 4th. The transition to Team Penske looked like it would easily transform Newgarden into a true championship contender.
But we all remember Simon Pagenaud’s first season with Team Penske. Coming off of three consecutive top 5 finishes in the championship standings with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Pagenaud looked like he would be a legitimate championship contender right away for his new powerhouse of a team.
However, things did not go as planned. Pagenaud failed to win a race all season long and finished in a career-worst 11th place in the championship standings. With Newgarden being an even younger driver than Pagenaud, growing pains in his transition to Team Penske were expected.
Don’t tell that to Newgarden, though. He opened up the season with a solid 8th place finish at St. Petersburg before placing on the podium at Long Beach in 3rd place in just his second race for the “super team“. This past weekend, he won at Barber for the second time in three seasons to cap off his best career three-race start to a season.
The Future Starts Now
Newgarden currently sits in 3rd place in the championship standings just seven points behind the leader, Sebastien Bourdais (117-110). Whatever growing pains that were supposed to happen when he arrived at Team Penske haven’t been an issue as of yet.
Make no mistake about it: Josef Newgarden is the real deal. He has already asserted himself as the “alpha dog” of Team Penske by becoming the first driver from the four-car team to win a race this season in just his third career race with the team. This past weekend put to rest any doubt that may have still existed in regard to Newgarden’s ability to be a true front-runner for a championship. The driver that had the most potential to be a star five years ago is now a star, and he appears to be just getting started.