Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing
The cast: Driver – Josef Newgarden. Chief engineer – Jeremy Milless. Race strategist – Andy O’Gara.
Twitter: @josefnewgarden, @SFHRindy
The car: Honda-powered No. 67
Snapshot: This is the third full season that Newgarden, 23, will drive for the team co-owned by form IndyCar Series driver Sarah Fisher and Wink Hartman. … Milless, who joined the engineering staff during the winter of 2012, has moved into the race engineer role previously held by Nathan O’Rourke, who moved to Andretti Autosport. “If there's anything that Jeremy has been doing this year is putting everything he has as an engineer into the program. He's done everything in the book to do a great job and find every little thing and detail in this car,” Newgarden said. … Newgarden spent two days at Sebring International Raceway last week testing.
The stats: Race results were one aspect that showed Newgarden’s improvement in his second IndyCar Series season. The native of Hendersonville, Tenn., recorded four top-five finishes and seven in the top 10 in the 19 races – firsts in both categories. A runner-up finish on the streets of Baltimore in September – a race in which he qualified a career-best fifth – was a highlight. Another came four months earlier in Brazil when he drove from the 25th starting position to his first top five (fifth). Advancing 13 positions to finish ninth at Barber Motorsports Park was his first top 10. … He had an average finishing position of 13.7, gaining four spots from his average starting position. … In fact, he advanced a total of 75 positions in the races in which he finished in the top 10. … Was running at the finish in 16 of the races (only once out by contact). … Finished 14th in the championship standings (a gain of nine positions from his rookie season).
The gist: Fisher and her husband, Andy, are expecting their second child (a boy) in June. Read her latest blog HERE. …. Newgarden adopted a kitten he met during an event in September with the Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter. … The team is looking for its second IndyCar Series victory (Ed Carpenter won at Kentucky Speedway in 2011). … Qualifying is an issue the team and driver need to address for 2014 (his average starting spot was better than only three other full-season drivers).
He said it: “Two years into it, I think we made good progression from 2012 to '13. 2012 we had flashes of brilliance. We were actually faster in 2012 than 2013, but couldn't finish races. I struggled to finish races. Moving into 2013, we were able to finish races but weren't as quick as we were in 2012. That ended up biting us. Moving into year three, we have to have a fast car and be able to finish races well, call good races, have good pit stops. I've got to keep it out of the fence, keep it from getting tangled up. Everything has to kind of come together for year three.
“If we do that, I think it's realistic that we could be a top-10 championship car. I think that's a realistic goal for us to set. There's always possibilities we could do better than that. I think being inside the top 10 for a championship is a great aspiration for all of us. I believe we can do that.”