Second Podium, Fourth Top 10 In A Row For Josef Newgarden At The Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama
(LEEDS, Ala.) April 24, 2016 – Race Notes

– Josef Newgarden followed up last year’s win at Barber Motorsports Park with another impressive performance, finishing 3rd after a late-race pass around Will Power in the closing laps of the race.

– Newgarden started the 90-lap race in his No. 21 Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka Chevrolet from the 3rd position. Despite a fair amount of mayhem behind him, including cars going off-track and spinning, Newgarden’s race was off to a clean start. By Lap 3, he was able to get around Will Power and move into the second position.

– Newgarden made his first pit stop on Lap 19, electing to stay on the same alternate red Firestone Firehawks he began the race on. After the field had cycled through their first round of stops, Newgarden sat in 3rd.

– On Lap 39, Graham Rahal was able to take advantage of Newgarden’s tires being at the end of their cycle. Rahal passed Newgarden, bumping him down to 4th. Newgarden’s Ed Carpenter Racing crew decided to have him pit the next lap, making a switch to a sticker set of the primary black tires. He was able to maintain his position and continued on in the 4th position.

– After running an entire stint in 4th place, Newgarden made his final pit stop on Lap 65, finishing out the race on another set of sticker black tires. He rejoined the race 4th, within striking distance of 3rd place Power.

– It took him until the Lap 88 of 90, but Newgarden was able to get the pass made on Power once again. The pass landed him in 3rd position, giving him his second podium in a row and a fourth straight Top 10 finish at Barber Motorsports Park. It was the second Verizon IndyCar Series race in a row that was caution-free entire distance.

– Newgarden’s No. 21 will switch to a blue and white Preferred Freezer Services Chevrolet for the Verizon IndyCar Series’ next race, the Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Newgarden will be joined be J.R. Hildebrand in second PFS Chevrolet for  Ed Carpenter Racing. The 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway incorporates portions of Turns 1 and 2 and the frontstraight of the famed oval.

– Practice for the Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis begins on Thursday, May 12. Qualifications take place on Friday, May 13 and the race will be broadcast live on ABC at 3:30 pm ET on Saturday, May 14.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 21 FUZZY’S ULTRA PREMIUM VODKA CHEVROLET, FINISHED 3RD:“Pretty decent weekend for sure! It’s great to go out with a great result in the  Fuzzy’s Vodka car.  We’ve had the 100th Running bottle on board, I was really happy to get a good result for those guys. I’m really proud to be a part of Ed Carpenter Racing and of everything that we are doing.  We were good today. I think we were there, we just didn’t have enough for those first few guys. We weren’t far off!

This is a great lead in to May, it’s going to be a really fun month. We have J.R. (Hildebrand) coming back on board for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, then we are all back together with Ed (Carpenter) for the Indianapolis 500.  I can’t wait!”