Carpenter, Newgarden To Take On 500 Miles At Pocono Raceway

(SPEEDWAY, Ind.) August 18, 2015 – Race Preview

The close of the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series season is rapidly approaching with the penultimate round scheduled for this weekend in Long Pond, Penn. CFH Racing drivers Ed Carpenter and Josef Newgarden will race at Pocono Raceway, the final oval on this year’s IndyCar schedule, on Sunday, August 23.

Nicknamed “The Tricky Triangle,” Ponoco Raceway is a 2.5-mile tri-oval with only three turns. Turn 1 is modeled after New Jersey’s Trenton Speedway (closed in 1980), Turn 2 mimics the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Turn 3 is comparable to the Milwaukee Mile. Carpenter is a two-time pole winner at IMS and Newgarden earned his first career pole position at the Milwaukee Mile in mid-July.

Pocono Raceway returned to the Verizon IndyCar Series calendar in 2013, giving both Carpenter and Newgarden two starts. Carpenter, driver of the No. 20 Fuzzy’s Vodka Chevrolet, earned the team’s highest qualifying position with a 13th in 2013, while Newgarden holds the highest result with a 5th place, also in 2013.

Newgarden made contact with the Turn 1 wall during qualifications for last year’s 200-lap race and had to start on the last row. He drove all the way up to the front, leading seven laps before settling on an 8th place finish.

Carpenter was running 8th in the 2014 event when he had to make a late-race pit stop after a tire sensor failure. The unscheduled stop for new Firestone Firehawks dropped him one lap behind the leader to 15th place, though he would gain two positions over the final 20 laps to finish 13th.

The ABC Supply 500 is the third of three 500-mile races on the 2015 schedule. The first, the 99th Running of the Indianapolis 500, saw Newgarden finish 9th while Carpenter’s race ended early after contact with another competitor. Both Newgarden and Carpenter were running strong in the second 500-mile race at Auto Club Speedway before their races ended in the same on-track incident.

Ten drivers remain mathematically eligible for the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series Championship, including Newgarden. The season’s final race, the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma, will be awarding double points. Any driver exiting Pocono Raceway within 104 points of the leader will remain in contention for the championship. Newgarden, driver of the No. 67 Hartman Oil Chevrolet, currently sits 8th in the standings with 370 points.

Pocono will be the last race of the 2015 season for team co-owner Carpenter, who only races on oval tracks. Road and street course driver Luca Filippi will take over the No. 20 for the season’s final race at Sonoma Raceway next weekend.

Newgarden, 24, is in the midst of the best season of his IndyCar career. He earned his first two wins in a span of seven races earlier in the season, captured his first career pole position and has one other podium finish.

Practice and qualifying for the ABC Supply 500 will take place on Saturday, August 22. The race will be broadcast at 2 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network on Sunday, August 23.

ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 FUZZY’S VODKA CHEVROLET: “It’s always important to finish the year strong. It makes the off-season a little less painful if you go out with a strong performance. With the No. 20 car, especially when I’ve been driving, we really haven’t gotten the results we’d hoped for this year. It’s our last chance to kind of right that wrong and go out with a little momentum for the offseason. As the year has gone on the team has been getting stronger and stronger on all circuits, especially ovals. I’m excited to get another shot at Pocono, a 500-miler. The last oval of the year is definitely a big race for us.”

JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 67 HARTMAN OIL CHEVROLET: “Pocono is a huge event for IndyCar, not just for heritage but also the way it showcases IndyCars can do. The great thing about IndyCar is we’re the most diverse championship on the planet with the types of racetracks that we race on. Pocono is probably one of the most diverse ovals you can get. We’ve been able to get a top five and a top 10 there, so we’ve been in the mix. Our goal this year is to go and try to move that needle up a little bit, it would be nice to get in the top three and maybe win the race this year.”