Josef Newgarden, CFH Racing
The cast: Race engineer – Jeremy Milless. Race strategist – Andy O’Gara. Chief mechanic – Anton Julian.
Twitter: @josefnewgarden, @CFHRIndy
The car: No. 67 Chevrolet
The driver: Turns 25 on Dec. 22. … From Hendersonville, Tenn., and resides in Indianapolis. … Completed fourth season, all with CFH Racing (co-owned by Ed Carpenter, Sarah Fisher and Wink Hartman).
Video: Josef Newgarden reviews his season
Season finish: Placed career-high eighth in Verizon IndyCar Series standings. Was among the championship contenders entering the season finale.
Season stats: Newgarden recorded his maiden Indy car victory (Barber Motorsports Park after starting fifth) and Verizon P1 Award for pole (Milwaukee). He had a string of five consecutive starts in the top seven to close the season. … Also won on streets of Toronto, leading a 1-2 CFH Racing finish with Luca Filippi. Posted nine top-10 finishes overall in the 16 races. … Led six races for field-high 345 laps (topped by 111 laps led in finishing second at Milwaukee). Led 21 total laps in previous three seasons (20 laps led in five races in 2014). … Was running at the finish in 13 races (contact at Belle Isle-2, 21st-place finish, mechanical in next race at Texas Motor Speedway, 21st place, and contact at Auto Club Speedway, 21st place).
Year over year: 2015 best qualifying of first at Milwaukee (8.4 average), best finish of first at Barber Motorsports Park and Toronto (10.8 average). 2014 best qualifying of second at Texas Motor Speedway, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and Sonoma Raceway (10.8 average), best finish of second at Iowa Speedway (13.7 average) in 18 races.
The gist: Newgarden has made 67 Indy car starts (same as his car number) and recently re-signed with the team to drive in 2016 season. … He was the 2011 Indy Lights champion for Sam Schmidt Motorsports (five wins; 10 podium finishes in 14 races). … He is involved locally with pet rescue and care organizations. … He names his cars for Disney princesses.
The chart (below): Looking at how Newgarden finished relative to his qualifying position:
