By INDYCAR
DETROIT – Josef Newgarden saved the best for last, winning the NTT P1 Award for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear on his final flying lap of qualifying Saturday at the Raceway at Belle Isle Park.
Newgarden’s top lap in the Firestone Fast Six was 1 minute, 15.2153 seconds in the No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet. It was his first pole of the season and his first NTT P1 Award since the season-ending Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach in September 2021. A different driver has won the pole at all seven NTT INDYCAR SERIES races this season.
SEE: Qualifying Results
“I was loose; I was about hitting the wall every corner,” two-time series champion Newgarden said of his pole lap on the 14-turn, 2.35-mile temporary street circuit. “I think we needed two laps to get temperature (in the Firestone tires). I was just struggling to build temp.
“It was so loose, and I was like, ‘You’ve just got to stay in it.’ I knew the track was grippier. That was a good pole. Sometimes the car is just so good that it’s hooked up. I was loose today, and we put it together. I’m really proud of the team.”
Live coverage of the 70-lap race starts at 3 p.m. (ET) Sunday on USA Network, Peacock Premium and the INDYCAR Radio Network.
Two-time Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato will join Newgarden in the front row of the race after his top lap of 1:15.3490 in the No. 51 Nurtec ODT Honda, one of two cars from Dale Coyne Racing that made the Firestone Fast Six.
2016 series champion Simon Pagenaud led a Meyer Shank Racing monopoly of the second row, qualifying third at 1:15.3951 in the No. 60 AutoNation/Sirius XM Honda. Four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves will start fourth after his best lap of 1:15.4538 in the No. 06 AutoNation/Sirius XM Honda.
2022 Indy 500 runner-up Pato O’Ward will start fifth at 1:16.3301 in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet, while rookie David Malukas rounded out the Firestone Fast Six…
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