Smiles spread across the entire Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing (SFHR) pit box as Josef Newgarden made one final pass in the Pocono INDYCAR 400. The 22-year-old drove his way to the fifth position in the closing laps of the race, tying his career best finish.

“What a great team effort by SFHR,” Josef said smiling. “They did a killer job. We have some great engineers, mechanics and leadership. It’s an incredible group and they showed exactly what they’ve been putting in for our program. I’m really pleased for the whole team. It’s good to get representative results and today we got a great one.”

Newgarden’s toughness showed after starting in the middle of the pack and working through some “bumps” in the road.

“We were buried twice today,” he said. “We started 15th and we were buried again about half way through, but we just kept our heads cool and continued to push.”

Due to fuel running low, SFHR was forced to pit under caution twice, once for fuel and once for tires. Even with an extra stop, the No. 67 SFHR Dallara/Honda/Firestone car continued to gain ground.

“We just kept digging,” Newgarden said. “I didn’t want to settle for anything today. We took everything we could and nothing less. That’s hats off to the team because they kept pushing me in the car and telling me to keep digging. They gave me an incredible car to drive, and I can’t thank the team enough for that.”

With a tremendous fan turnout at the “tricky triangle,” Newgarden hopes that Pocono Raceway will stay on the IZOD IndyCar Series schedule for many years to come.

“Pocono is incredible,” he said. “The crowd was awesome. There were probably some fans that weren’t IndyCar fans before that will leave here IndyCar fans, which is great. This in an IndyCar track and we need to be racing here all the time!”

Chip Ganassi Racing swept the podium for the first time ever with Scott Dixon leading the way, and teammates Charlie Kimball and Dario Franchitti in second and third respectively.

The IZOD IndyCar Series will head north to Canada for double-header action at the Honda Indy Toronto on July 13-14. For the latest news and team updates, follow @SFHRindy on Twitter and Instagram.