Tenth in the championship. Eight races to go. Six are ovals. An imposing deficit of 143 points to Alex Palou atop the drivers’ standings.
Josef Newgarden’s title hopes are remote at best, but the NTT IndyCar Series’ master of ovals is in his element this weekend with the Hy-Vee doubleheader, where he’s expected to use the pair of races to draw closer to Palou. So where does the two-time Indianapolis 500 winner place his approach to Iowa and the rest of the events on the calendar in his quest to win this third title? Is it an all-out attack?
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“We’re surrendered to fate in a lot of ways,” the Team Penske driver told RACER. “It’s been a really hard year. Indy was amazing; everything about it was incredible for the team. And then when you look at the championship, it’s been the opposite. It’s been worse than feast or famine. This one’s been a super roller coaster. Super highs and lows. So, we are where we are. The last two events in particular were really tough. Laguna ended up being a bust, and then Mid-Ohio turned into a bust. So that’s a lot of why we’re 143 back. That’s really bad. So I’m not going to say we can’t win the championship. Anything’s possible, and I always believe that.”
Having won almost every oval IndyCar race in recent years, Newgarden should be able to make inroads on Palou, or whoever’s leading the championship after Iowa. But the 2017 and 2019 series champion also knows he’ll need more than the ovals to catch up to his rivals at the front of the battle for the drivers’ crown. With the street race at Toronto up next on the schedule and a late August trip to Oregon for the road course at Portland, Newgarden must deliver at all eight races to thrust the No. 2 Chevy into championship contention.
“What I don’t want to rely on is Iowa,” he said. “I think most people, they look at us and they go, ‘Well, this is going to help you.’ But I’m more worried about Portland and Toronto. We can be great here. We can be great on the other ovals. That’s good, but it’s not going to be enough. We’ve got to have a great Toronto. We’ve got to have a great Portland. We were good at St Pete, great at Long Beach. I think Toronto can be good. And I know we can build the Portland car great.”
Newgarden’s comeback attempt starts Saturday night at 8pm ET across 250 laps, and continues Sunday with another 250 laps at 12:30pm ET, with both airing on NBC.