Race Weekend Central

Josef Newgarden Leads Team Penske Domination in Texas Qualifying

The last time Josef Newgarden won the pole, he went on to win the race at Barber Motorsports Park in April. Newgarden is seeking his third victory of 2018. Team Penske dominated the session with Newgarden qualifying on pole, Simon Pagenaud qualified second and defending DXC Technology 600 winner Will Power will start third.

“To come here and have speed in all the race cars is really nice,” Newgarden said. “I think it comes down to a lot of things; the team, the personnel we have. We have some of the best people in the paddock. You can see that. When you have cars go 1-2-3, it shows the competitiveness of all the cars. That’s the thing that impresses me most about the team, it’s how competitive they make each car they have. They’re really, really good at that. It’s a big credit to Team Penske.”

The pole is only Newgarden’s fourth career pole, and is his first career pole on a superspeedway. Newgarden earned his first career pole in 2015 at Milwaukee. His next two came at Sonoma and Barber.

Rookie Robert Wickens qualified fourth, while Sebastien Bourdais rounded out the top five.

Along with looking to defend his victory from 2017, Power will look to keep the championship points lead over Scott Dixon, who qualified seventh. Alexander Rossi qualified eighth, while last weekends Race No. 2 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay, who is now fourth in points, qualified 10th.

Starting Lineup for Saturday’s DXC Technology 600

The Verizon IndyCar Series has a final 60-minute practice session that is slated to begin at 7:15 p.m. ET. It’ll stream live on RaceControl.IndyCar.com, youtube.com/indycar, and the INDYCAR Mobile App.

Coverage of Saturday’s DXC Technology 600 begins at 8 p.m. ET on NBCSN and on the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network.

About the author

His favorite tracks on the circuit include Barber Motorsports Park, Iowa Speedway, Martinsville Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway, Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville, and Bristol Motor Speedway.

During the season, Christian also spends time as a photographer with multiple other outlets shooting Monster Energy AMA Supercross, Minor League & Major League Baseball, and NCAA Football.

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