Josef Newgarden was forced to settle for second in qualifying at the Pocono Raceway, and admitted it was his choice to change the set-up of the car that may have cost him the vital time.
The Ed Carpenter Racing driver was unable to displace Schmidt Peterson Motorsport‘s Mikhail Aleshin from the top spot during his qualifying run on Saturday, and admitted that in hindsight, he maybe should have kept the set-up of the car that the team started with rather than change it in order to chase the pole.
“We rolled out with one thing and I was pushing my guys to do something different,” said Newgarden. “It’s a team decision, whether it’s their decision or mine, but I feel like I was pushing a little hard for something that wasn’t the right thing.
“But we were close, we just needed that little bit. I think where we rolled out with would have been enough. It’s my fault that we changed it. I’m disappointed about that; you always want the pole. We have a great chemistry and group with our people, but sometimes I mess up.
“Congrats to Mikhail, great job by him. We didn’t have enough today but tomorrow is what counts.”
