It’s not impossible for Josef Newgarden to win his third championship this season, but the odds of capturing the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series title are certainly more favorable for Team Penske teammates Will Power and Scott McLaughlin.
Those long odds for Newgarden’s No. 2 Chevrolet program make his victory on Saturday at World Wide Technology Raceway — the first of five rapid-fire races to close a season that ends in less than 30 days — an interesting scenario for Team Penske president Tim Cindric to consider.
Entering Sunday’s race in Portland, Newgarden holds eighth in the Drivers’ standings, 126 points behind championship leader Alex Palou from Chip Ganassi Racing in the No. 10 Honda. McLaughlin, in fifth, is 73 points down to Palou in the No. 3 Chevy, and in fourth, Penske’s closest threat with a deficit of 66 points to Palou is Power in the No. 12 Chevy.
With a maximum of 54 points available to any driver at each race, and with more than double the points distance to Palou than Power, Newgarden is a longshot to leap past his teammates and the other title contenders. It leaves Cindric, Newgarden’s boss and race strategist, in a position to decide how the two-time series champion and two-time Indianapolis 500 winner executes the next four races.
More wins by Newgarden, which are possible at each of the remaining events, would tip his odds in a more favorable position, but the likelihood of the No. 2 becoming a genuine contender for the IndyCar crown is remote. If Newgarden has a Power or McLaughlin sitting behind him in sight of a checkered flag, could Cindric implement team orders and ask his driver to move aside and let Penske’s strongest championship hopes take the bigger helping of points?
“In IndyCar, I don’t think we ever really hold anyone back,” Cindric told RACER. “Maybe to our detriment some years, but we’ve let our guys race for wins. And we’ll continue to do that, as will the other guys. If there’s only one or two people in front of him, then you could maybe say he has an outside chance if he sweeps the rest of the races.
“But with that many people in in the hunt there, it’s not realistic to talk about a championship. I think he’s resolved to just trying to finish the season on a high note. There’s three or four guys behind the 10 car that if the 10 has trouble, there’s opp ortunity there to at least be within a race (worth of points) right now. With four to go, somebody would have to dominate the last three or four races, and then have the 10 car struggled at one or two to really have a shot at it.