Newgarden and Rahal top non-Penske drivers, difficult season for Dixon
Josef Newgarden was the top non-Penske driver of 2016, finishing in fourth place, just two points behind the third-placed Hélio Castroneves.
Newgarden achieved his first podium of 2016 in the season’s fourth round at Barber. In the Indy 500, he was the top Chevy qualifier in second place. In the race he was in victory contention in the closing laps, yet couldn’t save fuel enough and was forced to stop like everybody but the race winner Alexander Rossi. Newgarden finished the 500 in third place as the top Chevy driver behind the Andretti Hondas of Rossi and Carlos Muñoz.
Newgarden had a heavy crash in the Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway in June, suffering a broken right shoulder and hand. Despite the fractures, he was able to make a comeback two weeks later at Road America without missing a race. Two weeks after that he achieved the only season victory for Ed Carpenter Racing as he dominated the Iowa Corn 300. Newgarden achieved one more podium finish as he finished second at Watkins Glen.
Graham Rahal was the top Honda driver of the season, finishing in fifth place. He achieved his first season podium at Barber after tight racing for victory against Simon Pagenaud. Despite damage from the battle, he was able to bring his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda home in second place.
Rahal’s second podium of the season came two months later at Road America. In August at Texas Motor Speedway, Rahal achieved his only season victory with a last-lap pass on James Hinchcliffe. In the season finale at Sonoma Rahal finished his season with one more podium as he finished in second place.
The four-time Verizon IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon had a disappointing season as he tried to defend the title. The start of the season was promising as he won the second round at Phoenix, followed by a second place at Long Beach.
However, Dixon made his next appearance on podium only in July as he finished third at Iowa Speedway. He was dominating the following race at Toronto before a caution period ruined his strategy and he finished in eighth place.
After crashes at Mid-Ohio and Texas, even a flag-to-flag victory at Watkins Glen wasn’t enough for Dixon to stay in the title contention in the final race. A 17th place at Sonoma dropped him from third into sixth place in the standings, his worst Verizon IndyCar Series finish since 2005.
