He did a really good job and passed Will Power for 3rd in the final few laps. His crew did good in the pits and he ran as high as 2nd early in the race. Overall during the race the lowest he ran was 8th. He jumped up 4 spots in the Indycar season standings and is currently 8th, just 15 points out of 5th place!
Josef got another podium at Barber!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Not as good as a win like last year, but he still got to spray champagne.
Josef completed another great qualifying, this week at Barber
Motorsports Park for the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. He made it out of
round 1 group 1 with the third fastest time a 1:07.2853 (123.058 mph) He
advanced to the Firestone Fast 6 for the second race in a row and ended up starting 5th. He passed 3 cars right away and was up to second behind Helio. He took over the lead when Helio had a long pit stop.
Josef led the most laps of the race and is now 4th place in the Indycar points!!!!
2. There was an all-American top two with Josef and Graham Rahal.
3.Scott Dixon earned a podium finish. (Which isn't much of a surprise considering he's never not finished on the podium here.)
Josef Newgarden started from 5th position and in the first lap moved to 2nd place. Helio Castroneves led Josef until a slow pit stop by his Penske crew allowed Josef Newgarden to take the lead. The field was split on 2 pit strategies. The first group consisted of Graham Rahal, and the Second group of Josef, Helio and Dixon. In the end, Josef stretched his fuel to win the race, and Graham Rahal drove superbly to overcome an 18 second deficit and overtook Scott Dixon for 2nd place on the final lap!
The top 10 Finishers
1. Josef Newgarden: His first Indycar career win, and the first win for the newly merged Carpenter Fisher Hartman Racing Team.
2. Graham Rahal: His first podium since Detroit Race 1 in 2014. 3. Scott Dixon: His sixth podium finish at Barber in six races. (2nd, 2nd, 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd).
4. Will Power: Had a huge comeback after a penalty early in the race.
5. Ryan Hunter-Reay: The winner of the last 2 races at Barber. He started way back in 18th.
6. Carlos Munoz:Biggest mover of the race. Improved 16 positions.
7. James Hinchcliffe: Holds on to 6th place in the points standings.
8. Sebastien Bourdais: His third Top Ten this season.
9. Simon Pagenaud: Started 3rd and led 3 laps.
10. Marco Andretti: His 5th Top Ten in his 6 races at Barber Motorsports Park.
Top Ten included..
* All three Andretti drivers
* Drivers from 7 different teams
* 5 Chevys and 5 Hondas
* Drivers from 6 different countries
OTHER: * Josef was the Fourth Different Winner in 4 races this season.
* It was the Fourth Different Team to win this season
* 10 of the Top 12 Qualifiers were driving Chevys including the Firestone Fast 6
* There were 16 Lead Changes among 8 different drivers
Can't wait till the GP of Indianapolis on Saturday, May 9th on NBCSN.
Twitter comments from his fellow drivers and Indycar media after his first win say a lot about what a great driver and person Josef is. (of course his #1 fan, Alex, has been saying that for 3 years..)
Most importantly congrats to @josefnewgarden. It was a long time coming. Incredible talent, and more importantly a great guy. Congrats man!
— Graham Rahal (@GrahamRahal) April 27, 2015
Had fun making my way back to 4th.. Congrats to @josefnewgarden on his first win.. Was only a matter of time.
— Will Power (@12WillPower) April 26, 2015
Josef Newgarden finished a strong 8th in the rain delayed, wet and tricky GP of Alabama.
After starting fourth for the second race in a row Josef dropped to tenth by lap 4, but slowly worked his way back up to 6th before falling back to 8th after his final pit stop. He is now 10th in Indycar Points!
And it seems like Josef had some fun before the race too.
Here he is selling race tickets from atop a spider (with an 'interesting' voice):
He also had some fun with Hinch at the space camp at the US Space and Rocket Center:
OTHER JOSEF STUFF:
* There was a article about Josef in the USA Today before the Alabama Race!
* Sarah Fisher Hartman racing announced Klipsch Audio will be Josef's primary sponsor for the GP of Indy on May 10th.
Cool Car. Can't wait to see it in person when we're at the race!!!
So we weren't surprised when Alex wanted to do posts
about Josef throughout the Indycar season.
Now the season is about to begin
and we agreed to do a pre-season Josef post.
* Josef is in his third year with Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing as an Indycar driver. (YAY) Josef will use his experience from the first two years to win this year. (he better win or else Alexandra will be very upset)
* Josef will be having veteran Alex Tagliani for a teammate in the Indianapolis 500.
* This In-Car video of Josef taking a really, really fast
lap around Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama is awesome!
* Josef is pairing up with Rising Star Racing and will be monitored on his vitals and stresses during the Indy 500 in an effort to increase driver performance.
* Josef is still up to his video antics. In this one, Josef learns how to wear a scarf from Indycar driver Simon Pagenaud.
