Josef Newgarden felt Scott Dixon was the right winner of the first Verizon IndyCar Series race at the Watkins Glen International circuit since 2010 on Sunday, but the young American was happy to finish second to the New Zealander.
Dixon was the man to beat all weekend, and was untouchable throughout the race, but Newgarden came through from a difficult weekend of his own to claim second place for Ed Carpenter Racing, passing the ailing James Hinchcliffe on the final lap after being much better at saving fuel in the final stint of the race.
“We were kind of in a different race compared to (Scott) Dixon,” insisted Newgarden. “The right guy won it this weekend. There was really no stopping this guy. Congratulations to him and all of Chip Ganassi Racing.
“For us, I think we can’t be too displeased with second place. It’s been a tough weekend. It’s not been our smoothest. I think we came back really strong. We had a phenomenal race with great pit stops and we got on the podium.
“So, it’s a pretty good day. Hopefully we can go to Sonoma now and get even better results to finish off the year right.”
