The talented young American driver was caught off-sequence by an early yellow flag and fought from behind all afternoon long, before eventually coming home in eighth place.
“It was a good day for the Team Penske Verizon Chevrolet," Newgarden said. "We were a top-five car –maybe even a podium car. The yellows just didn’t fall our way and we found ourselves caught out during that first stint."
Newgarden started fourth in his Team Penske debut and slotted into sixth early on. Knowing that pit strategy would be the key to victory on the tight St. Pete street course, Newgarden and race strategist Tim Cindric began planning accordingly. However, an early yellow flag in the middle of the first round of pit stops shuffled the field, leaving Newgarden to fight from the back after several cars were able to stay out on track having pitted under green before the caution.
"Tim (Cindric) was going to bring me in, but we had just passed pit lane as the caution came out," Newgarden said. "I’ve been caught out by those type of yellows before and I’ve been the beneficiary of those type of yellows. That is the risk in this type of racing and sometimes it’s just the way it all plays outs. A top-10 is not ideal, but it could have been worse. We finished the race and learned a lot. I feel like it’s a good starting point for our team."
For the remainder of the race, Newgarden tried to make up ground while running anywhere from eighth to 12th position as the No. 2 Verizon team looked for another caution flag to allow their strategy to come back around. Unfortunately, the race ran under the green flag to the finish and Newgarden was able to secure an eighth-place result – his top career effort at St. Pete.
After one race, Newgarden sits eighth in the Verizon IndyCar Series point standings, 29 points behind leader Sebastien Bourdais.
"It’s nice to get this first race under our belt and out of the way," Newgarden said. "It’s been a great first weekend with the team. We got what we needed out of it.”
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