JOSEF NEWGARDEN No. 2 PPG CHEVROLET
START: 1ST FINISH: 1ST POINTS: 1ST
RACE RUNDOWN: Josef Newgarden and the No. 2 PPG Chevrolet team left no doubt in leading 92 of 100 laps to win Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, the inaugural race of the 2024 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season. It is his third win on the Tampa Bay-area street course and the 12th for Team Penske in the 20-race history of the event. After grabbing his 16th career NTT P1 Award on Saturday afternoon, Newgarden led the field through the first stint of the race, briefly relinquishing the lead after the first round of pit stops. He quickly used the grip of the newly applied Firestone alternate “guayule” tires and Chevrolet power to drive back to the front of the field in just six laps. From there, the reigning Indianapolis 500 Champion was barely challenged on the way to his 30th series win, breaking a tie with Team Penske legend, Rick Mears, for 13th place on the all-time wins list. In the process, Newgarden surpassed 4,000 career laps led and leads the championship standings heading into the non-points $1 Million Challenge at the Thermal Club in two weeks.
NEWGARDEN’S THOUGHTS: “I sort of told myself before going into the race, I sort of want to let it be, not overstep, and then early on in the race, I’m like, I’m going. I’m not here to wait around. We’re going to win this race. Just really thankful to the No. 2 PPG Chevy team for the effort they’ve put in to start the year. I should say the entire off-season to get to this point. It’s been a big process for us to try and come back and be better in areas that we were weak last year, and I touched on it earlier in the weekend, but Chevrolet has done a tremendous job for us. They’re a huge part of the equation. They’re a big lift for us coming into this weekend, and I think on the team side, we’ve also lifted our game and cleaned up a lot of areas where we were maybe not at the level we needed to be.”
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
