By David Morgan, Associate Editor
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Josef Newgarden Show was in full effect Sunday in St. Petersburg.
Rolling off from pole position, once the driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet ascended to the lead, there was no stopping him, leading all but eight laps on the day to score his third win in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg by an astounding 7.912 seconds over Pato O’Ward and Arrow McLaren.
Newgarden’s victory continues the steamroll that Team Penske has been on as of late, winning the 2023 Indianapolis 500, the NASCAR Cup Series championship with Ryan Blaney, and the 2024 Rolex 24 at Daytona. Now Newgarden has given his team owner, “The Captain” Roger Penske, a great start to the 2024 IndyCar campaign.
“It’s so deserving for the work they’ve put in,” Newgarden said of the offseason work put in by his team to start 2024 off on the right foot. “I know intimately of the work they’ve put in. It’s Team Chevy, everything they’ve brought this weekend and then our team specifically. We’ve worked really hard to close the gap.
“We didn’t have the speed we needed on road and street courses last year, at least on a consistency basis and today we brought that speed. We had the execution. As always, you know what to expect from Team Penske…
“I feel very relaxed right now. I was really excited initially and then it kind of calmed down those last 10 laps. We can move on from here and at least enjoy this first victory.”
For O’Ward, it’s another runner-up finish in St. Pete, but decidedly a different mood compared to this time a year ago when he lost this race in heartbreaking fashion.
“Really strong day for us today,” said O’Ward. “I think it’s a very solid foundation to what is going to be a very tight, very competitive rest of the year. I think the Penskes were just too strong for us today. I think we were all kind of playing the fuel game a little bit, and got to give it to everybody at Chevrolet, my guys over at Arrow McLaren.
“We got down to work in the off-season and we’ve made some gains and really cool to see the top 4 was all Chevrolet. I’m pretty pleased to see that.”
Newgarden’s Team Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin finished in third to round out the podium, with the third Team Penske driver in Will Power coming home in fourth. If not for O’Ward coming home in second, it would have been a clean sweep for Team Penske up…
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