Josef Newgarden finished second in Sunday’s IndyCar race from Road America, but feels that he could have taken victory if he had planned his last pit stop better.
With just over 10 laps remaining on the lengthy 4.014-mile course, final pits took place for the trio of Team Penske drivers at the head of the field.
Scott McLaughlin pit first from second place, then the following two laps saw Newgarden then Will Power each come down pit lane from the lead.
The overcut proved to be very powerful, however, and Power emerged from the pits with a sizable lead despite only pitting one lap later.
Newgarden talked after the race how he should have known that staying out longer would be an advantage, and rued the fact that he took his last pit stop before Power.
“Great team day,” said Newgarden. “Really rewarding I think for the entire crew when you have to go through something like [rebuilding my wrecked car from qualifying], put it all together, we finish 1-2-3, it’s as good as it can get.
“At the same time we sort of gave that one away. I mean, I will say this, too. I felt like we gave it away, but all three of our cars were pretty stellar pace-wise. Whether it was the 3, the 12 or me, I think we all had similar pace.
“With that capability for any of us to win that race was there. You saw the 1-2-3 because of that, I think.
“Today the warm-up was really tough on the tires. It was literally nearly three seconds of an advantage on an overcut. Two-and-a-half, three-second advantage.
“You can’t get overcut on a day like today. You got to work that problem out. We pretty much had it worked out. You got to sort of manage the situation. I felt like I didn’t make the right call there.
“We could have kept going, and we should have. So when you go for the undercut, that’s what happens. You just get burned. We got burned at the end.”
Newgarden’s podium was his second of the year following his Indianapolis 500 victory and discounting the St. Petersburg win that was taken away due to improper use of the Push to Pass system.
The two-time champion now sits eighth in the points, and is over a full race worth of points behind his team-mate and points leader Will Power.
