Photo Credit: Chris Jones/indyCar
On June 24 after practice two for the Kohler Grand Prix of Road America at Road America it was announced that Josef Newgarden, driver of the No. 21 Direct Supply Chevrolet, was cleared by the IndyCar Medical team to continue to race for the remainder of the weekend.
The American driver, ran 30 laps in today’s two practice session for the race this weekend at Road America. He ended up 15th overall on the speed charts with a speed of 139.088. This is his first time being inside an IndyCar since he was involved in a crash with fellow competitor Conor Daly, in which he suffered a fractured right clavicle and also a fracture in his right hand.
“Both hands hurt overall,” Newgarden said after today’s first practice, “but I think the clavicle will hold up. It’s a little sore, but I think it will be OK for the weekend.
“I feel the pain in the hands everywhere. I think the clavicle has been surprisingly better than I thought. Braking and going into the corners is not much of an issue. It’s going to be sore, but I think I can manage the pain.”
The Henderson Tennessee native is happy with the progress he has made dealing with the injuries and looks forward to improving his race car preparing for the race this weekend.
“I’m more optimistic than yesterday,” Newgarden stated. “I’m happy I was able to run today and see how I can get into the car. I think we have some more work over the weekend trying to get the performance where we need to from a car standpoint.
“I think we got a lot away from the car perspective. I am more focused about that more than what I’m dealing with. I think I can manage the pain over the weekend, but I’m more concerned with the car.”
Next up for Newgarden and the rest of the IndyCar drivers is another practice session from Noon to 12:45 ET and then the Verizon P1 Award knockout qualifying at 4:00 p.m. ET. Both sessions will be streamed live on racecontrol.indycar.com and you can catch qualifying delayed on NBCSN at 5:30 p.m. ET. The race will air live on Sunday starting at 12:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN as well as the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR radio network.
