Photo Credit: IndyCar
Josef Newgarden, driver of the No. 21 Fuzzy’s Ultra-Premium Vodka Chevrolet, started the Iowa Corn 300 at Iowa Speedway in the second position. Not long after the green flag waved he took the lead and never looked back. His car was a rocket and at some points during the race he was 12 seconds faster than the rest of the field which allowed him to put up to third place a lap down at one point He went on to win his first win of the season.
“Well, it was a lot of fun, I will tell you that, maybe because the car was so good,” Newgarden quoted. “I mean, it wasn’t really falling off much. It just seemed really good. So it was fun. Some stints it was like a video game. You put on new tires, catch people at the right point, you could just slice and dice. I think that’s a lot of credit what we’ve built at this team with Ed Carpenter Racing. We had a good car here last year. We had a good shot at winning it then. We had a great race, but we were disappointed we couldn’t get it done last year. We really wanted to get it done this year. We finally got it done, like you said.
“The car was amazing. Absolutely what we needed. I think we were a little tick better. I have to give a shout out to JR Hildebrand. He made it that much better. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to test. But JR, I don’t think we realize how lucky we are to have someone like him at our disposal whenever we need it. We took a great car that we had last year that I think was a race-winning car, he made it better with his input. Thanks to JR Hildebrand. We got a great crew, great people. Finally got it done today. Happy to get that oval win for the team.”
The American driver led 282 laps out of the 300 which is an all-time IndyCar record.
“I wasn’t even thinking about that, to be honest,” Newgarden quoted. I didn’t know that was a statistic to chase. I didn’t know that was a statistic actually. That’s cool. That’s just even better. That’s cool that we got that, too. More happy for the guys with everything we got done. For me, I was just trying to get to the end. That was kind of my main goal, was getting to the end.
“It was very apparent to me early on that we had a car that could win. For me, I was like, Well, shoot, I can’t give up on the thing. If we weren’t very good, doesn’t mean I was going to give up, but I probably would have backed off a little bit and tried to conserve. But I couldn’t. The car was so good that I couldn’t let my guys down. I just tried to focus on gritting it out and getting the most out of the thing. Like I said, just an amazing day I think for our entire team and all our people that work on this car and get it in the shape that it is.”
The Hendersonville, Tennessee native has moved into second place in the championship standings, only 73 points behind Simon Pagenaud. With the season winding down Newgarden has a real chance to be in contention for the Astro Cup in September.
“That’s cool,” Newgarden added. “I didn’t know that yet. I was curious how far we’d move up. If we want to challenge him, we have to continue to march forward. 72 points is a huge deficit. He has a very big lead over everybody. You can’t just finish well. I think for us we’ve been finishing well, we’ve been in the hunt. You want to beat him, actually have to beat him in the races I think. He’s going to be strong everywhere we go. He’ll show that.
“We’ll go to Toronto, try to do the same thing, try to have a good weekend, not have any crashes. We know Texas is coming. That’s going to push us down. That’s going to be tough to swallow when we get there. I think if we make enough hay, we’ll still have a shot at winning the thing when we go to Sonoma.
“I’m not too concerned about it yet. It’s all about making hay when you can. You have to win races. At the end of the day we’ll see where we’re at. Hopefully we’re close enough at Sonoma that we can challenge for a championship.”
The 2011 Indy Lights Champion suffered a broken right clavicle as well as a broken right hand after a horrendous crash during the rain shortened Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway, yet he hasn’t missed race this season, just a pair of test sessions. Iowa is a very physical track for the drivers, however Newgarden made it look easy the way he drove his car during the race.
“I’m not going to lie to you, I kind of impressed myself.” Newgarden stated. “Don’t take that in like a cocky way. I was really nervous coming into the race. I didn’t want to tell anybody that. This place is super physical. I can’t express to you how physical it is. A couple things can make that easier. If you have as good of a car as I had today, it makes your race so much easier to drive. If you have a car you’re fighting, you’re loose with, your constantly sideways, it’s a lot more physical to drive.
“I think I caught a break by having a great car. That made it easier. Man, I was surprised I could hold on. I was a little nervous about it. My game plan was I was going to ease up if I couldn’t hold on a little longer. I never thought about pitting. I could tell in the first stint, I was like, I got to be stupid if I can’t get through this whole race. This car is so good, we can clearly win it with this car.
“I’m going to feel like an idiot if I don’t get to the end. That was enough motivation for me just to get through it. “I don’t want to make it a cop-out. I don’t think people should feel like I did some crazy feat. The hand is still a little broken. I was able to use it. It wasn’t too painful. The clavicle feels good with the plate in, was stable. It was a little more uncomfortable than normal around here, but it was doable. I don’t think it was anything crazy.”
Newgarden says he will spend Monday in bed or on ice and will prepare for Toronto. He knows with the bumps and everything around the track it will be more physical on him than Iowa and Road America combined.
“I would hope I’m feeling better,” Newgarden said. “It’s going to be tough. Yeah, I don’t know. I don’t think I have an answer for you yet. I don’t know where I’m going to be at. But I have confidence that I’ll be able to get through that. This place, to emphasize the physicality of it, I think I speed for everyone, Road America is a very physical track. This track is the most physical that we go to all year long. It’s a seven-eighths mile oval. You have no break. When you have a break, it’s maybe for three or four seconds down the backstretch. That’s your only break.
“You’re talking about running 14, 15 seconds continuously loaded up, three to four Gs on your body, and the wheel weight is about 15 foot pounds. You’re holding that the entire time. That’s not easy to do. If you go into the gym, hold up a 15-pound plate, it’s hard to hold that constantly for two hours. I think most people would agree that’s why it’s physical, that’s why it’s difficult. In some regards, I think Toronto will be easier, but it’s still going to be tough. I’m hoping I feel good tomorrow and be able to get through that race good.”
