Indy Car champ Newgarden hopes Mid-Ohio is once again the jump-start he needs

LEXINGTON - Josef Newsgarden's last race in Toronto didn't go exactly as planned.

The defending Verizon Indy Car Series champ hit the wall and finished ninth despite leading for the first 22 laps. A forgettable race will hopefully lead to an unforgettable one next weekend at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

"It was a tough race. Making contact with the wall didn't help," Newgarden said after his race in Toronto last weekend. "I don't know what it was, to be honest with you, it was either marbles or dust from the sweepers; they're trying to clean off the track and that yellow, when we already had tons of marbles 27 laps in. I don't know what to tell you, I went straight into the wall. And part of that is my fault, just making a mistake, but I didn't expect it; I'll tell you that. I just had no idea the car was going to do that. I knew it would be low grip, but not zero grip. I just lost the front end completely. I feel terrible, it's not fun to make a mistake."

But that race is behind him and he is on to the next one. He still sits in second place in the Verizon IndyCar Series points standings behind Scott Dixon, the winner in Toronto. Dixson grew his point lead over Newgarden and now owns a 464-402 advantage heading into the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio this weekend. 

Newgarden was in a similar position last year, entering the race at Mid-Ohio sitting in fourth place in the Verizon IndyCar Series points standings. But after taking the checkered flag, Newgarden found himself ahead of Dixon and the rest of the field in first place for a signature win that propelled him to a Verizon IndyCar Series championship.

He hopes Mid-Ohio can be the jump-start he needs again.

"It is great to win anywhere," Newgarden said. "But Mid-Ohio is especially great to win at. It is a tough course and any little mistake will penalize you."

Last year, Newgarden led 73 or 90 laps during the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio on his way to victory. He admitted that was a major learning moment that he will take with him this week when preparing for the race.

"We have an idea of what we want to do around there but this year has a completely new element in that we have an all new car," Newgarden said. "It will be a challenge to pinpoint how we should race this car. We should be able to figure it out quickly."

Newgarden races for Team Penske, which has already had success at Mid-Ohio this year when the team of Helio Castroneves and Ricky Taylor took home the victory in the Acura Sportscar Challenge at Mid-Ohio in early May. Though the team has had success, Newgarden admits there is no more pressure than normal for him to perform well.

"There is always pressure, no matter what team you are racing for," Newgarden said. "You are getting paid professionally to drive race cars. But it is a good kind of pressure at Penske. We have the best people in the world working on these cars and I always see that as a comfort thing more than a pressure thing."

Newgarden enters next week's race 62 points behind Dixon in the points standings and while coming off of a tough showing in Toronto, Newgarden believes he and his team have a great shot at a repeat championship.

"We have all the potential in the world to keep attacking and looking for that championship," Newgarden said. "I feel really good about it. We will show up to Mid-Ohio and try to copy that success we had last year.

"We have to move on now and try to pick it back up. With the championship battle, we've got a long way to go. This doesn't help but look, we have plenty of racing. We need to keep our head up here. We're going to be just fine, we've got fast cars and the best in the business. If we get our mistakes sorted out, we're going to be just fine."

The Honda Indy 200 kicks off on Friday with practice rounds and qualifying on Saturday with the championship race on Sunday at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington.

Verizon IndyCar Series point standings: Dixon 464, Newgarden 402, Rossi 394, Hunter-Reay 373, Power 371, Wickens 339, Pagenaud 320, Rahal 313, Hinchcliffe 312, Andretti 266.

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