Josef Newgarden earns pole for IndyCar race at Road America

ELKHART LAKE, WIS. • Josef Newgarden insists this season hasn’t been overly frustrating for Team Penske even without a victory to show for it yet.

Perhaps this is the week Newgarden or another Team Penske driver finally breaks through. This is the longest Team Penske has gone without a win to start a season since 1999, and it finished that year winless.

“We’ve been well within striking distance.” said Newgarden, who earned the pole position for Sunday’s IndyCar race at Road America.

Indeed, Team Penske’s had plenty of close calls through the first eight races of the season. It just hasn’t quite closed the deal.

That was particularly apparent during last weekend’s doubleheader at the Raceway at Belle Isle Park in Detroit. Team Penske’s Will Power seemed in control of the first race until his car wouldn’t restart after a red flag. Newgarden was edged by Pato O’Ward in the second race.

“We’re in the hunt every weekend, so I’m not dissatisfied with where we’re at,” Newgarden said. “We just need to pick it up here and hopefully have some of these results turn our way. That’s really what we need here for this second half, just to get a couple of things turning our way. I think other than that it’s been a really good year for the most part.”

Newgarden earned the pole Saturday by posting a fastest lap of 1 minute, 46.0186 seconds on a road course that extends just over 4 miles and features 14 turns. He will be joined on the front row by Colton Herta. Jack Harvey will start third.

Three of the top six qualifiers were Team Penske drivers, with Will Power fourth and Simon Pagenaud sixth.

Newgarden benefited from his choice of tires.

Drivers have their choice of two different tire compounds marked by a red or black stripe on the shoulder of the tire. The red tires are softer than the black ones and often faster initially but tend to degrade within a lap or two.

Newgarden opted to use black tires in the “Fast Six” final round of qualifying while the other drivers were using reds.

“We made an early decision on that,” Newgarden said. “That’s not always worked out. There’s been other cases, even this year, where you thought maybe the blacks would be better in a Fast Six scenario, and they haven’t been. This is the first time you’ve seen it truly be better.”

Herta expects tire usage to be a major factor in Sunday’s race as well.

“I think it’s going to be a tire race,” Herta said. “Tire deg (degradation) is going to be the talk of it. Whoever has the best car that’s nailed down at the rear the most, if they can save those rear tires, especially on the reds, is going to be the best.

“It’s surprising, too, because even the black tires don’t seem to be so good with deg this weekend, too. There is deg at a similar rate of deg with the reds.”