IndyCar championship still a heated battle heading to Gateway
Indycar driver Josef Newgarden continues to stand atop the championship race after the ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway. Three races remain.
The 2019 NTT IndyCar Series championship battle tightened up … or maybe it didn’t, depending on how one looks at the points standings after Sunday’s rain-shortened ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway.
Josef Newgarden’s four wins from 14 races have kept him on top of the points for much of this year with Alexander Rossi in second place. Newgarden’s lead on Rossi grew from 16 points to 35 after the 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner was caught up in the opening lap melee heading into Turn 2. Newgarden, the 2017 series champion, finished fifth.
Rossi’s 18th place finish at Pocono ended a string of eight top-10 finishes, seven of them being fifth or better. The 2018 series runner-up managed to get back on track after his crew worked hard to fix his damaged car, but he could not turn enough laps to make up many more points before rain ended the race after 128 laps.
“The whole team worked tirelessly to get the 27 car back on track,” Rossi said. “Once we got out there, the car just didn't have the handling we needed so we held on to make up as many points as we could. Unfortunately, the weather came, and the race was called one lap before we could gain another spot. We have a couple days to rebound and go for race wins now — that's all that matters."
While Newgarden's lead on the second-place Rossi grew, the gap from third to fourth shrank. Simon Pagenaud (third in points, 40 back) finished third and Scott Dixon (fourth, 52) finished second.
Will Power won at Pocono Raceway and is fifth in points, but his deficit is 128 points. It would take tremendous amounts of bad luck for the first four drivers in points for Power to become a serious contender — especially because the championship-deciding race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca awards double points.
“(I’m) kind of too far out now,” said Power. “But it turns around eventually. If you keep performing and doing the work, eventually it turns around for you. Can't have bad luck all the time. It's not all bad luck, believe me. There's always a reason. It's rarely bad luck, honestly. Always put it down to something that wasn't done right.”
Dixon won the 2018 series championship and currently has the most momentum with his four most recent finishes of second, second, first and second. However, the 2008 Indianapolis 500 winner put himself in a difficult position with a pair of collisions with the wall in Detroit and Texas Motor Speedway in June.
“I think, honestly, until you're out of it, you're never really out of it,” said Dixon. “I don't know what the points gap was going in '15 for us, behind (Juan Pablo) Montoya, but I think it was in the 60s. It's definitely achievable from the point deficit right now.
“There's still a long ways to go. I think the next two will be pretty interesting. St. Louis is going to be a lot of fun, then Portland will be interesting.”
As for Pagenaud, the Frenchman won the other double points race this year: the Indianapolis 500. The 2016 series champion has only two finishes outside the top-10 this year, his most recent one being in the second of the Detroit doubleheader weekend in early June after a spin.
“Personally, I'm pretty excited that we gained points on Josef for a few races now,” said Pagenaud. “It's a championship, the best may win over the year. Obviously he's my teammate. I can only think of good things for him. But I also want to win, so does Scott, so does Rossi.
“It's good to be in it. I think there's three races to go, all the chances in the world for our team. We're going to keep pushing. That's what we've been doing. Just keep pushing, doing what we do, try to win races. That's going to be the name of the game till the end. I love it.”