Josef Newgarden Texas Part 2 Update

The Indycar race at Texas Motor Speedway finished two and a half months after it started. 

Josef was there, healthy and whole but wasn't allowed to race because of his terrible crash in the first part of the race in June.

(Josef is just 10 points out of 3rd in the season points standings.)

 

He finished last due to the earlier crash, so he spent the race as a spectator & security guard???, protecting and cheering on his boss Ed Carpenter.

 

 

 

Last weekend in Texas. They wouldn't let me rejoin the race, so I had to find a new gig. #IndyCar https://t.co/JFwVS0vTZl

— Josef Newgarden (@josefnewgarden) August 30, 2016

On to Watkins Glen!!!! 

Good Luck Josef

 

Josef Newgarden's weekend at texas

 The Good Part of Josef's weekend.

 

1.  He qualified 5th and had a really strong, really neat looking Emerald green car.

2.  The Firestone 600 in Texas was rained out on Saturday night, and the neat thing about rain delays is that it gives the drivers lots of free time.  Some of them, like Josef, were really nice and went up into the stands to hang out with the fans!

Getting up in the stands with @Hinchtown and the other @IndyCar guys was AWESOME! Thanks to the fans for hanging! pic.twitter.com/yqTHnVpu8s — Josef Newgarden (@josefnewgarden) June 12, 2016

3.  Josef got really bored and silly and goofed around a lot.

He was interviewed on NBCSN with Ed Carpenter, and he gave everyone some tips about social media, and reading twitter fast.

Thanks for tuning in tonight @IndyCar peeps. The rain always ruins our fun! pic.twitter.com/w9RH0oPTQa

— Josef Newgarden (@josefnewgarden) June 12, 2016

3.  The race started on Sunday afternoon and Josef was running in the Top 5 and even leading through the first 40 laps.

 The Bad Part of Josef's weekend.

 (but it turned out a lot better than it looked)

 

While passing Conor Daly on the outside, Conor lost grip and turned sharp right into Josef.  Josef went on his side and head first into the wall.  It was very, very scary.

 

 

Back to the Good Part.

Despite it looking really, really bad,

Josef only had a fractured clavicle and a bone in his right hand.

I'm sure that he hurts a whole lot, but hopefully he will be back racing soon.

 

 

post by Alex, age 8

PS  I'm really glad I was at my violin recital and didn't see the crash live or

I would've been super scared for him. 

By the time I got home and watched it  on tape I had seen on twitter that he was basically ok. :)

 

Firestone 600 at Texas

When Indycars arrive at Texas Motor Speedway, you expect fast, side-by-side racing.   Lucky for us, that's exactly what we got.  The number of passes on track for all the drivers was 1,172.

Though Scott Dixon's showcased his skill at the first oval of the season in Indianapolis, he had no luck when his car overheated near the end of the race.  At Texas his skill and luck came together to make him a 37 time Indycar race winner.

 

 

The top 10 Finishers

1.  Scott Dixon - His second win this season.  Could he be starting his midseason run for the championship like in 2013?

2.  Tony Kanaan - His highest finish of the season jumps him up to 9th in points.
 

3.  Helio Castroneves - His sixth Top Five finish in the last 8 races at Texas.
 

4.  Juan Montoya - 8 Top Tens in 9 races this season.  He still holds a 35 point lead in the championship.
 

5.  Marco Andretti - Highest finishing Honda.

6.  Carlos Munoz - Fourth Top 10 this season.

7.  Charlie Kimball - Another strong oval run to follow up on his 3rd place at Indy.

8. Ryan Briscoe - A solid run filling in for James Hinchcliffe.

9.  James Jakes - Only his second Top 10 of the season.

10.  Gabby Chaves - His second Top 10 in a row.
 

Top Ten included..
 

* 2 Penskes, 3 Ganassi Drivers, 2 Andretti drivers, 2 Schmidt drivers and one Bryan Herta driver.
* 5 Chevys and 5 Hondas 
* Drivers from 7 different countries

Other:

3 – Positions gained by Marco Andretti in the final 23 laps of the race (eighth to fifth).

3.59 – Average running position of winner Scott Dixon for the 248 laps of racing at Texas Motor Speedway.

9 – Drivers who led at least one lap.

10 – Top-five finishes at Texas by Helio Castroneves, who placed third.

11 – # of positions improved by Ryan Briscoe, the biggest mover of the race

37 – Indy car victories for Scott Dixon, which ranks fifth all time.

99 – Indy car wins for cars owned by Chip Ganassi.

1,172 – On-track passes during the Firestone 600.

Texas 600 Race Re-cap

 The Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway was awesome Congrats Ed Carpenter!

 

Will Power led the most laps, but after a late race penalty for speeding in the pits he was last on the lead lap (6th).  A yellow for Takuma Sato's engine expiring allowed Power to get fresh tires and he made a great charge to the front and almost caught Ed Carpenter.

 

What was exciting:

 

* Marco Andretti flew around the outside of lots of cars on the opening 2 laps...unfortunately his engine blew shortly thereafter

 

* There were a lot of green flag runs meaning lead cars had to deal with lots of lapped traffic.  There were only 6 cars on the lead lap at the end of the race. 

 

* Ed Carpenter won, giving Ed Carpenter Racing its second win for the year (Mike Conway won on the streets of Long Beach) and it was Ed Carpenter's third win of his career!

 

 

The top Eleven (because Josef finished eleventh):

 

Ed Carpenter (3rd career win)

 

Will Power (led most laps)

 

Juan Pablo Montoya (first podium and first laps led since returning to Indycar this season)

 

Simon Pagenaud (5th top 5 this year)

 

Scott Dixon ( 4 top fives this year)

 

Tony Kanaan (his car was charcoal gray. On the gray track it was like watching black and white tv)

 

Mikhail Aleshin (only rookie in the top ten in only his 2nd oval race ever! Wow!)

 

Helio Castroneves (last year's Texas winner)

 

Ryan Briscoe (10 Verizon Indycar series seasons)

 

Charlie Kimball (2nd top ten finish this year)

Josef Newgarden (after a career best P2 start he struggled with the rear of the car all night)

 

 

 

Facts:

 

* 8 Chevrolets & only 2 Hondas were in the top ten

 

* Only 3 different drivers led:

 

Juan Pablo Montoya, Will Power, and Ed Carpenter

 

* There were 11 different lead changes

 

* 6 penalties were handed out:

 

-1 to Power

-2 to Saavedra

-1 to Newgarden

-1 to Kimball

-1 to Briscoe

 

* There were 3 cautions for 23 laps

 

* The fastest 1-lap average speed was 214.824 set by Tony Kanaan

 

* The biggest mover was Graham Rahal, who moved up 9 positions

 

 

Varying Pit stops:

 

* 3 drivers made 8 stops

 

* 4 drivers made 7 stops

 

* 5 drivers made 6 stops

 

* 5 drivers made 5 stops

 

 

Josef Update #7 Detroit & Beyond

Why Detroit and Beyond you might ask....

well because as a Josef fan Detroit Race 1 and Race 2 were not something to remember.

('nough said)

 

BUT

 

Jump ahead a few days and head south to Texas and put Josef in his super shiny 'spacey' Strike car (because Alex says it looks like a spaceship)

and Josef had his BEST EVER Indycar qualifying effort!!!

 

He will start the Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway from P2 alongside Will Power on the front row!!!

 

 

Catch the race on NBCSN Saturday June 7th at 8:00 EST!