ELKHART LAKE, Wisconsin – Qualifying well is one thing. Finishing is another thing altogether.
Just ask Josef Newgarden. Since a win at Barber Motorsports Park in April, the defending Verizon IndyCar Series champion hasn’t performed to his expectations despite showing speed. Two weeks ago at Texas Motor Speedway, he won the pole position but finished 13th, four laps down.
KOHLER GRAND PRIX: Tire designation for race start
Today at Road America, he’ll start from the pole with the goal of finishing as strong as he started.
“Qualifying first doesn't really guarantee anything in this series,” Newgarden said. “I think we've had speed, we've just got to make sure we execute on race day, and we've not done that for a little while. It's been four or five weeks I feel like since we've put together a really good race weekend. Probably longer than that; two months maybe.”
The key to winning the KOHLER Grand Prix, which airs on NBCSN and the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network starting at 12:30 p.m. ET today, is finding the appropriate balance to handle all challenges presented by the 14-turn, 4.014-mile road course. That means minimizing tire wear while maximizing speed.
“It'll be interesting to see downforce levels (that teams choose),” said Ryan Hunter-Reay, who will start third. “Tire degradation is going to be a factor, so you're going to have guys that maybe trim quite a bit (of downforce out) thinking that they're going to keep guys behind them on the straights, and then you have guys that run (more) downforce thinking it might be better on older tires, so I think that'll be the story line.
“Unfortunately it's not stickered on the side of everybody's car what downforce they're running, so it's hard to figure out who's who and what's what. But that'll be the key to the day, whoever figures that compromise out and gets through a full stint without as bad a (tire) degradation as some others. That'll be critical.”
Newgarden’s mini-slump – his best finish in the last five races was eighth at the Indianapolis 500 in May – has dropped him from first to fifth in the Verizon IndyCar Series drivers’ standings, 67 points behind leader Scott Dixon. Saturday’s pole that included one bonus point was encouraging, Newgarden said, but he was just 0.0482 of a second ahead of Team Penske teammate Will Power. Newgarden and Power will form an all-Chevrolet front row for the start of today’s 55-lap race.
Getting there wasn’t easy, said Newgarden, driving the No. 1 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.
“Look, you've got to throw everything at it to get these poles now,” he said. “We did everything – not everything, but we threw different gears at it, different downforce levels. We were trying stuff. We were tuning the car through the qualifying session, and you've got to do that. If you're just a tenth (of a second) off here or there – we didn't do that gear change, maybe Will would have gotten pole.”
The Penske teammates aren’t the only ones with standalone speed. Hunter-Reay, in the No. 28 DHL Honda, will join Andretti Autosport teammate Alexander Rossi on Row 2 of the starting grid, followed by two more Honda drivers, Robert Wickens and Sebastien Bourdais. Wickens was fast throughout the first three practice sessions Friday and Saturday, but was disappointed to finish fifth in Saturday’s qualifying.
“When you start a weekend as strongly as we have, you kind of have that confidence going in,” said Wickens, driver of the No. 6 Lucas Oil SPM Honda. “I like to think I'm always pushing the guys more and more, even though we're quick and always trying to find ways to be better. But sometimes you've got that little bit of extra speed (and) sometimes you don't. To be honest, this weekend I thought I had it, but then qualifying rolled around and now we're fifth.”
Without the usual prerace warmup session, teams starting up front aren’t expected to make radical changes before the race.
“You can always throw the kitchen sink at the car,” said Bourdais, the winner at Road America 10 years ago and driving the No. 18 Team SealMaster Honda for Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan this weekend. “But at the end of the day, it's not really a smart thing to do, especially when there's no warmup (race-morning practice). So I think we'll probably go for minor changes, things that we can have a good idea what they're going to do to the car that either we've done before during the weekend or things that are kind of for-sures.”
There are no “for-sures” in who will win the race, either. The first six road- and street-course races this season have seen six different drivers claim victory. Tire strategy will also play a key role. Each car must use at least one new set of Firestone alternate tires (red sidewall) and one set new or used of primary tires (black sidewall).
Three of the 23 drivers in the field – Simon Pagenaud, James Hinchcliffe and Max Chilton – will start the 55-lap race on the primary tires. The life of the softer, faster alternates could determine how long a stint lasts before pitting for fresh tires is needed.
KOHLER GRAND PRIX:
Race 10 of 17 on the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series schedule
Track: Road America, a 4.014-mile, 14-turn permanent road course in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. This will be the 28th Indy car race at the track, dating to the first event in 1982.
Race distance: 55 laps/220.77 miles
Fuel: 80 gallons of Sunoco E85 ethanol for each car
Full fuel stint: 12-14 laps