Rising Star Racing’s Newgarden Enjoys Career-Best IndyCar Season

Josef Newgarden

Rising Star Racing's Josef Newgarden saw his own star rise dramatically through the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series season.

With two IndyCar Series victories for his CFH Racing squad, regularly stout performances in qualifying including taking his career-first IndyCar pole for the ABC Supply Wisconsin 250 at the Milwaukee Mile, and a strong seventh in the final championship standings, Newgarden marked himself not as just a talent to keep an eye on, but as one to watch, now.

Sunday's season-finale race at Sonoma Raceway promised even more as the young American entered the race with a mathematical shot at the championship title. His fellow Rising Star Racing pilots Neil Alberico and Spencer Pigot were also on hand to support Newgarden as the duo look ahead to their own season finale at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in two weeks' time.

A front row start saw Newgarden's GoPro-liveried machine slot into second in the opening stages of the race.

After a range of pit strategies saw Newgarden once again cycle back into podium position, the championship hopes were unfortunately dashed during a pit stop on lap 61. The combination of a stalled pit exit and refueling mechanism malfunction led to a brief fire. Newgarden was able to return to action, but the lost time for the restart translated into a 21st place finish in the season-ending race.

"It was a good day in a lot of ways, we definitely had a podium car," said Newgarden, who opened the week by driving across the Golden Gate Bridge in his IndyCar. “You never know, we may have even had a winning car. We had to fight through a little bit of an issue with our first stop after clipping Pagenaud. I really sealed our fate when I stalled the car and we just weren't able to get it re-fired. It put us pretty far back and pretty much ended our day. It was hard to throw away a podium car, maybe even a winning car. I am proud of our effort all year, I feel really bad for putting us in a bad position at the end there."

With the IndyCar championship now settled, all eyes now move to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and the double-header finales for both the Pro Mazda and Indy Lights Series, with Alberico and Pigot both looking to make those accolades theirs.

Remarkably, all three Rising Star Racing drivers will have entered their season finales with the chance to win the championship in their respective classes.