The NTT IndyCar Series is now past the halfway point with nine of the 17 races completed. While there have been ups and down for every driver so far this year, a brewing “rivalry” between the top two drivers in the standings may be a sign of things to come for the future of the sport.
Josef Newgarden and Alexander Rossi are both young American drivers in their late 20’s. They both have their own podcast. They have combined to win the two biggest prizes in the series, with Rossi taking the Indy 500 in 2016 and Newgarden the series championship in 2017. And boy are they both fast.
Newgarden recently held off Rossi for the final 13 laps of an electrifying race at Texas Speedway to grab his third win of the season and maintain a 25-point lead over Rossi in the championship standings heading into Road America this weekend.
Newgarden began the day in seventh and was passed by Rossi and Colton Herta early in the race to settle in around the back end of the top-10 for most of the day. A crash from Zach Veach on lap 135 opened the door for Newgarden to only lose one position by going off the leader’s pit strategy and opting for new tires and fuel to go longer during the middle stint of the race.
The strategy ultimately paid off when he was able to put in much quicker laps than the leaders as they approached 50 laps to go and he came out of the pits with the lead on lap 203 of 248. A big defense on Scott Dixon during a restart allowed him to stay in first, followed by a tense final stretch where he had to defend on Rossi every corner to come away with his first win on a super speedway. However, it was Rossi who made headlines for his one-handed save of his car after narrowly avoiding a crash between Dixon and Herta.
The race at Texas highlighted the game of inches that can determine who will raise the Astor Cup at the end of the season. The margin is extremely fine between these two, and they’ve proven to be the two to beat in the battle between Penske and Andretti this year.
The battle between the two has swung back and forth all year. Newgarden started the year off with the championship lead after some speed and solid pit strategy gave him a victory at St. Petersburg. He also got the best of Rossi at Barber Motorsports Park after starting 16th and aggressively sliding past Rossi at the hairpin in the final laps to finish fourth. Rossi bounced back by leading 80 of 85 laps at Long Beach and besting Newgarden by over 20 seconds.
Rossi has finished in second place three of the last four races, but two of those efforts have come as the runner-up to Newgarden himself. Newgarden benefited from a great strategy call at Belle Isle Race 1 to enter the pits early for slick tires in wet conditions, and a caution meant he inherited the lead. He once again had to hold off Rossi on the restart and throughout the closing laps even though Rossi had a faster car, very similar to the last race at Texas.
Newgarden took his first pole of the season in Belle Isle Race 2 with Rossi lined up next to him on the front row, but “saucy” Rossi got the best of Newgarden in the race. They both came out of the pits hot on the tail of James Hinchcliffe in the middle of the race, and Rossi began to make a move on Newgarden. Newgarden lost control of his car and took Hinchcliffe into the wall. Rossi miraculously managed to avoid any contact and saved the car by bringing it home in fifth place to significantly narrow the gap to Newgarden at the top of the standings.
The driving styles between the two also creates an exciting dynamic. While Newgarden is the bigger personality and loves the spotlight, he is more reserved in the car and tends to bide his time before striking through definitive moves or great strategy from the #2 team and race strategist Tim Cindric. Rossi is the much more reserved personality, but once he gets in the car he will use the limit of any track to attempt passes and is one of the more aggressive drivers in the whole series. Newgarden has shown some of those tendencies in big moments like on Will Power at Mid Ohio and Simon Pagenaud at Gateway in 2017, and also against Dixon in Texas this year. However, the varied style between these two makes their battle even more exciting.
Newgarden recently said on the Marshall Pruett Podcast that he doesn’t really see it as a rivalry because it implies some dislike between the two, and he feels Rossi always races him fair. Despite his kind words, any battle between two up-and-coming American drivers is going to be a battle that people want to see for years to come.
Newgarden had never won at the tracks where he claimed his first three victories this year before 2019. The rest of the schedule looks more promising for him as he won at Road America last year, Toronto, Mid Ohio and Gateway in 2017 and Iowa in 2016. Rossi will be the defending champ at Mid Ohio and Pocono in the later stages of the season.
Both will lineup within the top-four on Sunday at Road America, with Rossi in second and Newgarden right behind him in fourth. If the first half of the season has taught us anything, it’s that there will be many more opportunities for these drivers to prove who’s superior in the season’s final stretch.
Other Mid-Season Thoughts
- Colton Herta has proven he’s quick, but some of his decisions and luck have shown how tough it can be to race as a teenager in IndyCar. He became the youngest race winner in series history at COTA in March, but it’s been almost all downhill since his historic feat. A crash at Long Beach, engine problems in the opening laps at the Indy 500 and crashing out Dixon from third place at Texas has dropped him all the way down to 16th in the standings. He took the pole yesterday at Road America to also become the youngest pole sitter of all-time. Let’s see if he can make that count and return to the top of the field.
- I expected Santino Ferrucci to have a disappointing first year in IndyCar after a difficult past in Formula 2 racing. The young American has surprised basically everyone with five top-10 finishes so far and a career-best fourth at Texas two weeks ago. The Dale Coyne driver currently leads the Rookie of the Year standings by 12 points over the much-heralded Ganassi driver Felix Rosenqvist. He also has done an immense job to lead his teammate Sebastien Bourdais by three points entering Road America.
- It’s been fun seeing Marcus Ericsson finally put together some standout performances the past two races at Belle Isle and Texas. He finished on his first podium since 2013 in Formula 2 after a shaky Formula 1 stretch, and he led laps in the past two races for the first time in his IndyCar career. A seventh place finish at Texas in only his second oval race proves he may finally be feeling comfortable in America.
- Will Power has only finished on two podiums this year and has yet to win a race in 2019. Power has won at least once race in every year he’s competed in IndyCar, which stretches back to 2008. He’ll win at least one of the remaining eight races, and that could begin today as he lines up third at Road America.
- Takuma Sato may be 42 years old, but he’s proving to be more competitive than ever with RLL Racing. A win at Alabama and podiums at Indy and Belle Isle has him firmly placed in the top-five in the championship standings. He’s never finished a season higher than eighth.
- Scott Dixon may have run out of luck this year after an unbelievable run of form for his fifth championship last year. Crashes, mechanical problems and occasional lack of pace have fallen on the #9 car as he already trails Newgarden by almost 100 points in the standings. Dixon will have to go on a multi-win tear down the stretch if he wants to win his sixth championship.
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