The perfect track couldn't come at a better time for a struggling Josef Newgarden
Josef Newgarden needs to get his season back in sync.
He sits 11th in the INDYCAR standings, a near insurmountable 185 points behind championship leader Alex Palou. The Team Penske driver has led just two laps and has a best finish of ninth in the last six races after opening the season with a third-place run at St. Petersburg.
Newgarden needs a race at a track where he is ultra-comfortable and has a strong history.
Welcome to World Wide Technology Raceway, commonly known as Gateway. This place has been Newgarden's domain in recent years and possibly no one is looking forward to this weekend (Sunday, 8 p.m. ET on FOX) as much as Newgarden.
He won the first race in INDYCAR's return to Gateway in 2017. And won again in 2020. And 2021. And 2022. And 2024. That's five wins in his nine starts at the track, a 1.25-mile oval located just across the river from St. Louis.
This year, his qualifying hasn't gone well as he has an average spot of 13th — his worst average starting position in the last 10 years. At WWTR, Newgarden has been an awesome qualifier as he has started in the first two rows in eight of the nine races. The one race where he didn't start in the front two rows, he started in Row 3.
"The secret to our success on the ovals has been our cars," Newgarden said after the WWTR win a year ago. "You really can't will everything on an oval."
Here are Newgarden's make-a-difference stats at Gateway: Newgarden has led 599 laps, compared to the driver with the next-highest total being Will Power at 450. Scott Dixon has led 379 (which includes 78 laps in the 2003 race), followed by Pato O'Ward (159) and Colton Herta (134).
Series points leader Alex Palou has led ... no laps at WWTR, a place where Palou has started in the first five rows only once and has just one top-five finish.
Newgarden hopes his own prowess on ovals for him and his Penske teammates continues.
"You have to drive the car, get the most out of it," Newgarden said after that win last year. "When you have the best cars in the field, it makes your job a lot easier.
"I think that's been the case for us. We've had incredible oval cars consistently over the last five, six years. We've just had great, great oval cars."
This will be just the second oval race of the season (and the Indy 500 is so unique, it is unlike any other oval) and the first race this season where drivers return to a track where they raced the hybrid last year.
Newgarden will have his engineer Luke Mason double as his strategist this weekend. For the last two races, Mason has been the strategist while Raul Prados has been the engineer. But Prados is part of the Penske sports-car team that is competing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
For Newgarden, he has a strong connection with Mason.
"Luke's incredible," Newgarden said prior to the Detroit Grand Prix earlier this month about Mason taking over as strategist, at least in the interim. "That [role] won't be an issue."
And while Newgarden has just one podium this year, the intense competitor speaks with confidence.
"We can win any weekend," he said. "I always believe that."
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and IndyCar for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
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