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IndyCar: St. Petersburg was one of Josef Newgarden’s worst tracks; he still dominated

By Asher Fair

FORT WORTH, TX - JUNE 08: Josef Newgarden, driver of the #1 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, stands on the grid during the US Concrete Qualifying Day for the Verizon IndyCar Series DXC Technology 600 at Texas Motor Speedway on June 8, 2018 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images)
FORT WORTH, TX - JUNE 08: Josef Newgarden, driver of the #1 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, stands on the grid during the US Concrete Qualifying Day for the Verizon IndyCar Series DXC Technology 600 at Texas Motor Speedway on June 8, 2018 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images) /
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Josef Newgarden dominated the 2019 IndyCar season opener, the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, despite the fact that St. Petersburg was statistically one of his worst tracks heading into the race.

Entering the 2019 IndyCar season opener, the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, this past Sunday on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, the average finish of Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden at the 14-turn, 1.8-mile (2.897-kilometer) temporary street circuit was just 13.14 over the course of seven starts.

The 28-year-old Hendersonville, Tennessee native’s top finish at the track in his seven career starts there was just seventh place, which he recorded in the 2018 season.

Of the 16 tracks on the 17-race 2019 schedule, Newgarden has previously competed at 14. Before the 2019 season began, he had been victorious at six of these 14 tracks a total of nine times over the course of his IndyCar career, which began in the 2012 season.

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Newgarden’s average finish of 13.14 on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida heading into Sunday’s race was his 11th best average finish among his average finishes at these 14 tracks, and his top finish of seventh place at the track was his 11th best top finish among his top finishes at these 14 tracks.

Only his average finishes at Texas Motor Speedway (14.43 in seven races), the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course (16.00 in five races) and Indianapolis Motor Speedway (17.43 in seven races) were worse than his average finish on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida heading into Sunday’s race, and only his top finishes at Texas Motor Speedway (eighth place in 2013), Portland International Raceway (10th in 2018) and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course (11th in 2017 and 2018) were worse than his top finish at the track.

Despite all of this being the case, Newgarden dominated the 110-lap 2019 season opener at the track by leading 60 of its laps, including its final 30 and 59 of its final 60, after starting in second place in his #2 Chevrolet. He won the race by 2.8998 seconds over Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon, who finished in second place in his #9 Honda.

But winning at tracks where he had not experienced much previous success is nothing new to Newgarden. When he earned the first of his two career victories on the streets of Toronto, Canada back in the 2015 season, his average finish at the track was 16.00 over the course of five races there, and his top finish was his 11th place finish in the second race at the track in the 2014 season.

When Newgarden earned his first career victory at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in the 2017 season, his average finish at the track was 14.00 over the course of five races there, and his top finish was his 10th place finish at the track in the 2016 season.

The fact that the 2017 IndyCar champion has started off the 2019 season in this manner should be alarming for the rest of the field.

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Circuit of the Americas is scheduled to host the next race on the 2019 IndyCar schedule. This race, the IndyCar Classic, is the second race of the season. With the Austin, Texas natural terrain road course being a track at which there has never previously been an IndyCar race, how will Josef Newgarden and the rest of the field perform? Tune in to NBC Sports Network at 1:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 24 for the live broadcast of this race.