Josef Newgarden took a dominant double victory at Iowa, slicing Alex Palou’s commanding championship lead down to 80 points. The 2023 Indy 500 winner is the absolute master at the venue. He’s now won an incredible six times at this event.
Despite his two wins this weekend, the Team Penske driver said: “We definitely have to elevate our game on where we’ve been the first half of the year” to match the championship leader.
“I think that Alex (Palou) and his crew, they’re in a really good spot. They’ve had what appears to be a pretty consistent programme. We’ve got to elevate to their level and just execute.”
The Team Penske driver is now Palou’s closest challenger and praised his title rival after his battling drive to third place in Race 2.
Newgarden added: “It’s hard not to give kudos to Alex. I think he just did a great job. Clearly we seem to have the upper hand this weekend, and he had a great day today.
“He maximised what he could, and that speaks to what he brings to his programme. He maximises his results. He minimised a loss today. It could have be more, and he just made sure it wasn’t.
“He is a tremendous competitor. Did a great job. I wish we gained more, but I’m not going to be dissatisfied with where we brought it to.”
The two-time IndyCar champion was hoping to reduce the Palou’s points advantage even further but is pleased with his weekend’s efforts at Iowa.
“I would have liked it to reach 50 or 60. That sounds better, but that’s not where we’re at, and I think we did a pretty good job given what was in our control this weekend.”
IndyCar’s 17-round campaign has five races remaining on a mix of racetracks. The championship will race on one street circuit, one oval and three road courses as the season ends at Laguna Seca.
Newgarden lamented Team Penske’s lack of consistency during the year and the need to reverse that to challenge Palou.
“We have been a little bit too up and down across the board. I don’t think we have the consistency that we want as a team.
“When you look at every track type, we’re probably bouncing up and down a little bit too much.”
Despite the inconsistency, the American also acknowledged his strong pace on ovals and the multiple types of circuits IndyCar have to visit during the remainder of the season, which may provide an unknown.
“There’s no doubt that the ovals, particularly the race package has been very strong for us. It’s hard to complain about our race cars on ovals these days. They’re very, very good.
“It’s a complex schedule on the way out. We’ve got to do street course, road course, oval, back to two road courses, it is a question mark.
“You just never know what’s going to happen. I think if we can be excellent on the back half of the schedule, then anything is possible.”
Newgarden spoke aggressively about the lapped traffic after his victory in Race 1 but conceded he may have criticised his competitors too harshly when asked about the lapped cars.
“But I think I probably made too much of a stink about it. I was worried about the reverse happening and it just getting worse. It didn’t get worse. It was the same situation as yesterday.
“I knew that was probably going to be the case. Like I said yesterday, I was trying to be prepared today on what I could do within my control to manage it.
“When you are out there and this stuff is happening, I can’t affect anybody else. The only thing I can do is just be more prepared; I have felt more prepared today.
“I was ready for it, and whatever was coming my way, I was just going to handle it as it was.”
