ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – Josef Newgarden’s decision to use the harder Firestone black tires in Saturday’s Firestone Fast Six was enough to leave his competitors seeing red.
Newgarden determined earlier on Saturday that with the massive amount of tire degradation from the softer compound Firestone “Red” tires, the only way to go fast and stay there in qualifications was to use the harder “Black” primary tires. Newgarden and Team Penske discovered in practice there was too much drop-off in grip level between the first and second laps of a qualification simulation.
So, Team Penske entered Saturday’s final round of qualifications for Sunday’s REV Group Grand Prix with black-sidewall tires on their race cars, while nearly every other team were using the softer red-sidewall tires.
The plan worked to perfection as Newgarden won the 13th pole of his NTT IndyCar Series career, and his third at Road America, with a fast time of 1:46.0186 around the 14-turn, 4.014-mile Road America circuit for a speed of 136.301 miles per hour in his No. 2 Hitachi Chevrolet.
That knocked Colton Herta off the pole after Herta ran a fast time of 1:46.2616 (135.989 mph) with his No. 26 Gainbridge Honda on red tires.
“Today, Josef made the right call with the new Blacks,” Herta said. “I didn’t have a new set.
“It’s going to be a tire race. Those that can save and keep their rear ends tied down the most will benefit from it.”
Newgarden was the only driver in the Fast Six that used the harder compound tires in qualifications.
“We knew it this morning that this was what we were going to do,” Newgarden explained. “I didn’t know where everyone else was at, but I knew this was my plan this morning and everyone was onboard with it. Gavin (Ward, race engineer) was online, and Tim (Cindric, Team Penske president who serves as Newgarden’s race strategist) was as well.
“I’m just happy it worked out.”
Newgarden’s strategy was perfect for the track conditions and rubber wear. But, amazingly, no other driver or team decided to use the same strategy.
“I’m a little surprised more didn’t do that,” Newgarden explained. “The degradation has been the talk of the weekend. The tires are wearing out. So, we needed to mix it up.
“It was going to be hard to make used tires work. It was a huge drop off on second runs. It doesn’t matter what tires you are using. I was really happy with that. The car has been phenomenal. Gavin did a great job. The boys did a great job. Super happy for Hitachi. Second pole in a row. We’ve got to get them a win though. But this is a great day.
“Team Chevy has done such a good job for us; I would like to get them a win. Obviously, we were good last weekend, we just didn’t close the deal. So, we are going to work on that tonight and hopefully we can finish it off tomorrow.”
It was just one week ago that Newgarden was on the other side of the tire degradation game. He led the first 67 laps of the 70-lap Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix at Belle Isle before his set of Firestone red tires lost grip at the end of the race.
That allowed a hard-charging Pato O’Ward to make the race-winning pass on Firestone blacks with three laps to go. O’Ward went on to win the race.
This week, Newgarden wanted to get on the right side of the tire game.
“I back our decisions every time,” he said. “I’m always pleased with what we do. I think I have the best of best as far as what we are doing strategy-wise. Tim is aces and I have a great crew behind me. I never question it. It didn’t work out. People have been asking me constantly what we need to do. Do we need to change our approach?
“I’m going to maintain that we are doing just fine. We’ve had speed all year. It hasn’t worked out 100% on some of these weekends, and that is IndyCar racing. It’s very difficult to get everything to line up. But that’s what makes the series so exciting. But it can be a little infuriating because everything has to go perfect for you. I think we are doing the right thing. We will try and conjure up the right plan for tomorrow.
“I think we keep doing what we’ve been doing.”
Honda driver Jack Harvey qualified third at 1:46.7206 (135.404 mph) in the No. 60 Honda. Team Penske driver Will Power was fourth at 1:46.8237 (135.273 mph) in the No. 1 Chevrolet. Alex Palou was fifth at 1:46.8633 (135.223 mph) in the No. 10 NTT DATA Honda and Simon Pagenaud rounded out the Fast Six at 1:47.1274 (134.890 mph) in the No. 22 Menards Chevrolet.
Former Formula One driver Romain Grosjean starts seventh as the highest starting driver out of the Fast Six at 1:45.9015 (136.451 mph) in the No. 51 Honda. His Dale Coyne Racing with RWR teammate Cody Ware qualified last in the 25-driver field.
Up front, it’s Newgarden who hopes his success at Road America will help jumpstart a floundering Team Penske in 2021.
“I definitely love Road America,” Newgarden said. “This is one of the best tracks in the world, not just North America. As far as racing a car, you can’t beat this place. The crowd is always big here. I just think the support for IndyCar racing is massive in this part of the country. This is one of my favorite tracks. It doesn’t matter where you are in the world.
“This is one of the best places to drive and in IndyCar.”