IndyCar series leader Josef Newgarden was relieved to cross the finish line after a rain shower in the final stages of the Grand Prix of Alabama made for what he described as a 'nerve-racking' finish.
Newgarden had managed to work up a sizeable lead over Sebastien Bourdais in the early stages of the race, however, it appeared the reigning champion was running a two-stop strategy against Bourdais' one-stop effort in dry conditions.
Rain began falling with 20 minutes of the timed race remaining, and Newgarden ducked into the pits soon after, ultimately winding up successful for his second win in four starts this year.
When asked about how eventful his race was in the press conference, Newgarden replied: "More hectic than you would want at the end. It seemed like it was pretty straightforward all day. We weren't having yellows. It was dry. Then that rain made it very nerve-racking.
"I think for us we did the only thing we could. We went to rains as soon as it intensified. We had to. I think it was the right thing to do, just because we're in the lead, we have the most to lose by not putting on rains early.
"The only thing that did was we kind of burned off the fronts of our rain tires because it was still dryish, there was still dry parts of the track. So we weren't getting the tires cooled off enough, which rain tires they're designed to be driven in the rain."
Newgarden's only challenger came from Bourdais; he had tried to one-stop before the rain came, however, as the raindrops began to fall the Frenchman attempted to try and brave the conditions on slick tyres but eventually had to stop as the conditions became too slippery.
Newgardem believes the race would have been Bourdais' to win had their gamble paid off in the treacherous conditions and could have tried it himself, but felt he had too much to lose by trying the same strategy after leading up until that point of the race.
"They were making them work as long as they could," he added. "But then you saw it got to a point where it's too wet. He was about wrecking every lap. I mean, we could have stayed out and risked it like them too, but for us, it made no sense. We had everything to lose. They had everything to gain. So I don't blame them with what they did.
"If it stopped raining, we just would have been in bad luck then. It would have been their race to win if it stopped raining at that point because they would have been able to make it work. But it was just a matter of how much water is going to come. That's the biggest thing. We were racing the weather.
"If you listened to my radio, that was what [strategist] Tim [Cindric] was saying. We're racing the weather right now. We're not racing anyone else. The rain was either going to come more and work out for us or it wasn't. Fortunately, it just kept coming down, and the more it came down, the more it just played into our hands."
