For a third straight year, Josef Newgarden finished runner-up in the IndyCar championship but, in our estimation, by a small margin, he was top dog. He’s the driver that his peers most often expect to be a winning threat, wherever he starts on the grid.
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This is partly down to traditionally strong strategies from Tim Cindric, but the Team Penske president has more options open to him because he can usually expect Newgarden to be fast, aggressive, relentless and opportunistic. His off days stand out because they are so rare, and his tally of five wins this year reflects that.
