Reigning IndyCar champion Josef Newgarden talks about the rivals he may have in the 2020 season, while he adds on the younger crop coming in too.
In the 2019 title fight, Team Penske’s Newgarden faced serious competition on his road to second IndyCar title. Throughout the season, Andretti’s Alexander Rossi was never far behind, and equally, own teammate Simon Pagenaud trailed him closely.
Other top IndyCar drivers also fought him, however many trailed off, as Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon did. As he now looks ahead to the 2020 IndyCar season, Newgarden sees a similar group as his main competition for the title.
Experienced campaigners like Pagenaud, Rossi, Dixon together with Team Penske’s Will Power looks like the top bet but Newgarden did note that rising IndyCar stars like Andretti’s Colton Herta and Felix Rosenqvist could also be in the picture.
“I think the pressure’s going to be similar to what you saw last year,” said Newgarden. “Really that core top five, top-six group has been pretty stable. I think you might have some new additions to jump into that, such as a Colton Herta, Felix Rosenqvist.
“I can see them having more of a complete year underneath them. I think sort of the typical core group, you’re always looking at Simon and Will. I know my teammates are always very, very strong. Then Dixon is always a consistent threat. Rossi, as well.
“I think Rossi has established himself in the conversation consistently. You have kind of that core group of guys that are fighting in the top five, top six, which is very tough. It’s more than just having one person to look at.
“Like I said, you have the intangibles of people that are very capable of just pushing into that. I think we’ll have some new guys in that conversation this year, without a doubt.” Speaking of the drivers, Newgarden then went on to give his two cents with regards to the younger drivers on pit lane.
Again, he stated that IndyCar race-winning driver Herta is to be taken seriously, however he did not hold the other younger drivers to such a high regard, as he said many are not as good at converting pace in a weekend to good results.
Additionally, he said that ‘bad seats’ in Indycar today are few and far between. “I think there’s a super strong group,” said Newgarden. “There’s a lot of teams coming in, a lot of drivers coming in nowadays that are very strong.
“I think the parity is better than it’s ever been. Really you can get plopped into any situation it seems like right now and have a good, fighting chance. There’s such a depth and talent not just from the drivers but the teams.
“You have good engineers, good mechanics everywhere. There’s really not any bad seats anymore. That’s certainly to the benefit of the rookies coming in now to the series. Just to name a few, Colton already is a young star. I think he’ll continue to be one.
“There’s a lot of guys you have to watch out for, try and be better than. That’s a good thing. The young guys push the old guys, and that’s what it’s all about. Nowadays it’s so much more than just being fast. Being fast is a critical element.
“A driver, they have to be quick when they come in, they have to be able to display that. But it’s so much more. It’s everything around it. How do we develop the cars year after year? How do we get on top of small tire differences or car changes?
“Are you able to drive the team forward continuously or problem-solve on weekends? Can you complete a full weekend? I think some of the guys that have come in have been fairly quick, but don’t really necessarily know how to string an entire race weekend where you transition from practicing the car, how do you qualify it, how do you race?
“It all has to really come together well to have a complete and successful weekend. It’s really just displaying those qualities. We all go through different rookie years. I know mine were not great. I didn’t have a good rookie year, but I learned a lot from it.
“I think I displayed the qualities necessary to stay within the sport. For rookies coming in, that’s really the key for them coming in, trying to display the qualities to the people that matter within the team in order to keep them there,” summed up Newgarden.
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