Just over half a second separated Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden from victory last weekend at the IndyCar Kohler Grand Prix at Road America. He and his No. 2 Chevrolet crossed the finish line just 0.5779 seconds behind the Honda-powered No. 9 car of Scott Dixon/Chip Ganassi Racing.
“It stings a little bit coming home second when you feel like you have a winning car,” said Newgarden after the race. “Scott was great today, so was Ganassi Racing. Those guys did a great job, certainly very deserving of the win. But that’s tough coming up a little bit short.”
Yet despite having a best finish of second-place, the Kohler Grand Prix was an auspicious race for Chevrolet and Team Penske; their cars claimed four of the top six positions (second through fifth) in the event. Josef Newgarden is fifth in the standings after the IndyCar race at Road America, with 318 points to title frontrunner Scott Dixon’s 379.
The next event on the Verizon IndyCar calendar is the Iowa Corn 300 at Iowa Speedway. Maybe Josef Newgarden, who has had four podium finishes this year (including one win), will have better luck there.
Comment
INDY car racing is proving to be more exciting to watch than NASCAR with no special staged formats and if NBC showed the races on a non-cable channel it would have attracted an even bigger audience.