Josef Newgarden, who needs a perfect weekend in the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach to have any chance of winning his third NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship, kept his narrow chances afloat in the shadow of the Queen Mary ocean liner by winning the NTT P1 Award for the season-ending race on the Streets of Long Beach. Newgarden entered this race 48 points behind leader Alex Palou and needed to win the pole today and win the race and lead the most laps Sunday to have any chance to hoist the Astor Challenge Cup.
Team Penske driver Newgarden led the Firestone Fast Six with a top lap of 1 minute, 8.2241 in the No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet to earn his series-leading fourth NTT P1 Award of the season. His best lap came on his final trip around the 11-turn, 1.968-mile street circuit.
The pole came after Newgarden qualified 18th on Sept. 14 at Portland and 17th last Saturday at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca despite showing impressive speed in practice.
Palou must finish 12th or better – or 13th or better if he leads a lap – to clinch his first NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship in the No. 10 NTT DATA Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. He’ll start 10th on the grid after a dramatic end to the round of 12 in qualifying in which a handful of drivers, including Palou and closest title rival Pato O’Ward, on fast final laps were forced to slow due to a local yellow flag for an incident involving Will Power.
Newgarden’s only chance to win the title is to win and lead the most laps Sunday, with Palou finishing 25th or worse in the 28-car field.
The other title contender, O’Ward, will start eighth in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet.
O’Ward is second in the standings, 35 points behind Palou. Like Newgarden, O’Ward needs to win Sunday and have Palou finish 25th or lower. He also could claim his first title by finishing second and earning at least one bonus point for leading a lap, if Palou finishes 25th or lower.
Six-time and reigning series champion Scott Dixon will join Newgarden on the front row after qualifying second at 1:08.4422 in the No. 9 PNC Bank Grow Up Great Honda.
Four-time Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge winner Helio Castroneves qualified third at 1:08.4827 in the No. 06 Meyer Shank Racing Honda, easily the best start of his partial season. Castroneves’ previous best start was eighth for the Indy 500, which he won. His best start in four previous road or street course races this season was 15th at Nashville.
Qualifying Results
1/ (2) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 01:08.2241 (103.846)
2/ (9) Scott Dixon, Honda, 01:08.4422 (103.515)
3/ (06) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 01:08.4827 (103.454)
4/ (22) Simon Pagenaud, Chevrolet, 01:08.6514 (103.200)
5/ (7) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 01:08.7461 (103.057)
6/ (51) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 01:08.7577 (103.040)
7/ (29) James Hinchcliffe, Honda, 01:08.7143 (103.105)
8/ (5) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 01:08.8339 (102.926)
9/ (18) Ed Jones, Honda, 01:08.8797 (102.858)
10/ (10) Alex Palou, Honda, 01:08.9464 (102.758)
11/ (28) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Honda, 01:09.1330 (102.481)
12/ (12) Will Power, Chevrolet, 01:09.2279 (102.340)
13/ (3) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 01:08.8611 (102.885)
14/ (26) Colton Herta, Honda, 01:09.1094 (102.516)
15/ (27) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 01:08.9946 (102.686)
16/ (30) Takuma Sato, Honda, 01:09.3814 (102.114)
17/ (8) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 01:09.1368 (102.475)
18/ (77) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 01:09.4360 (102.034)
19/ (15) Graham Rahal, Honda, 01:09.3998 (102.087)
20/ (11) Charlie Kimball, Chevrolet, 01:09.6793 (101.677)
21/ (20) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 01:09.5816 (101.820)
22/ (14) Sebastien Bourdais, Chevrolet, 01:09.7022 (101.644)
23/ (59) Max Chilton, Chevrolet, 01:09.7525 (101.571)
24/ (21) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 01:09.7602 (101.559)
25/ (60) Jack Harvey, Honda, 01:10.4664 (100.542)
26/ (4) Dalton Kellett, Chevrolet, 01:09.9144 (101.335)
27/ (48) Jimmie Johnson, Honda, 01:10.5127 (100.476)
28/ (45) Oliver Askew, Honda, 01:10.0178 (101.186)
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