Josef Newgarden Again Closes on Scott Dixon's IndyCar Points Lead

From Autoweek

The IndyCar season began fractured, opening in June at Texas Motor Speedway before taking a full month off. Scott Dixon won the first three races anyway, and his sixth IndyCar title seemed like a foregone conclusion.

After four consecutive disappointing finishes in two doubleheaders at Mid-Ohio and Indianapolis, his championship lead is suddenly in question for the first time this season.

Josef Newgarden, who won yesterday's stellar but oddly scheduled Friday afternoon race, had a more quiet performance today. He ran in the middle of the top ten for much of the day, but charged past Patricio O'Ward late to secure a respectable fourth-place finish. Dixon, who came into the race on finishes of tenth, tenth, and ninth over his last three events, finished in eighth.

Newgarden is now 32 points back of Dixon with one race to go, meaning that his path to a title involves him winning at St. Petersburg while Dixon finishes no better than tenth.

Unlikely, but possible; Since his two wins to start that portion of the season, Dixon has finished no better than today's eighth in a road course race. St. Petersburg, a street circuit, is slightly different, but Newgarden has some reason to believe that the 2020 championship could be his third rather than Dixon's sixth.

Just behind the title contenders, a heated battle for third in the championship has begun to boil over. Second year driver Patricio O'Ward came into the race with the position, but back to back strong performances by both Will Power and Colton Herta have shuffled him to fifth, with Herta now holding the position by 13 points over Power and 25 over O'Ward. None of them can win a title at St. Petersburg or even move up to second in the standings, but they will all have something to drive for.

All three drivers involved in that battle were also involved in the race for today's win. O'Ward had a strong start early, but tire strategy eventually led him to lose pace with the leaders and lose a position to Josef Newgarden. He would finish fifth, nine seconds back. Ahead of him, Will Power led the majority of the race before tire strategy and issues with lapped traffic left him within reach of Alexander Rossi. The Andretti driver never made a move, however, and was quickly caught and passed in a particularly daring moment by his own second year teammate, Colton Herta. The driver that led most of yesterday afternoon's race before fading to fourth spent the next ten laps in hot pursuit, but never actually had a chance to make a similar move to pass Power.

The result marks Power's second win of the season, while the podium finish for Herta is, surprisingly, his first that did not result in a win. Yesterday's race actually reflected his odd stretch of fourth place finishes, almost all results of aggressive tire strategies during his strongest races that gave him a chance to lead but ended with him fading back late in the race. Today, he was in lock step with the leader, and he was the one able to pounce when his teammate's tires began to go from the head of the field late in the race. Herta and Power have been the two strongest drivers in the field over the past four races, and their battle with O'Ward will be one of the main draws in the season finale at St. Petersburg.

That race, originally scheduled as the season opener back in March, will finally be run in three weeks time.

RESULTS

1. Will Power
2. Colton Herta
3. Alexander Rossi
4. Josef Newgarden
5. Patricio O'Ward
6. Jack Harvey
7. Graham Rahal
8. Scott Dixon
9. Alex Palou
10. Simon Pagenaud
11. Felix Rosenqvist
12. Santino Ferrucci
13. James Hinchcliffe
14. Takuma Sato
15. Marcus Ericsson
16. Ryan Hunter-Reay
17. Rinus VeeKay
18. Sebastien Bourdais
19. Max Chilton
20. Conor Daly
21. Helio Castroneves
22. Marco Andretti
23. Charlie Kimball
24. Sage Karam
25. Dalton Kellett

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

1. Scott Dixon
2. Josef Newgarden -32
3. Colton Herta -101
4. Will Power -114
5. Patricio O'Ward -126