Josef Newgarden took the pole position for the 10th race of the 2018 IndyCar season, the Kohler Grand Prix at Road America. Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden took the pole position for the 10th race of the 17-race 2018 IndyCar season, the Kohler Grand Prix. The pole position is his second in a row, his third of the season and the fifth of his IndyCar career. Newgarden took the pole position for the race in his #1 Chevrolet by recording a top lap time of 103.2026 seconds (140.020 miles per hour) around the 14-turn, 4.048-mile (6.515-kilometer) Road America road course in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Newgarden led a top two Chevrolet sweep, particularly a top two Team Penske sweep, in the qualifying session, as Will Power qualified in second place in his #12 Chevrolet. Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay was the highest qualifying Honda driver in the race in his #28 Honda. While Newgarden and Power swept the top two positions in the qualifying session for Chevrolet and Team Penske, there were no other Chevrolet drivers who qualified in the top nine, as seven Honda drivers finished in the seven positions from third through ninth place in the session. The highest qualifying non-Team Penske driver in the qualifying session was Ed Carpenter Racing’s Spencer Pigot, who qualified in 10th place in his #21 Chevrolet. All 12 of the Honda drivers in the field qualified for the race in the top 17, as all six of the drivers who qualified between 18th and 23rd (last) place for the race are Chevrolet drivers. Here are the full qualifying results for the 2018 Kohler Grand Prix at Road America. Rank Driver Car, Team, Engine 1 Josef Newgarden #1, Team Penske, Chevrolet 2 Will Power #12, Team Penske, Chevrolet 3 Ryan Hunter-Reay #28, Andretti Autosport, Honda 4 Alexander Rossi #27, Andretti Autosport, Honda 5 Robert Wickens #6, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Honda 6 Sebastien Bourdais #18, Dale Coyne Racing, Honda 7 Takuma Sato #30, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Honda 8 Scott Dixon #9, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda 9 Graham Rahal #15, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Honda 10 Spencer Pigot #21, Ed Carpenter Racing, Chevrolet 11 Zach Veach #26, Andretti Autosport, Honda 12 Ed Jones #10, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda 13 Jordan King #20, Ed Carpenter Racing, Chevrolet 14 Simon Pagenaud #22, Team Penske, Chevrolet 15 Marco Andretti #98, Andretti Herta Autosport, Honda 16 James Hinchcliffe #5, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Honda 17 Zachary Claman DeMelo #19, Dale Coyne Racing, Honda 18 Tony Kanaan #14, A.J. Foyt Enterprises, Chevrolet 19 Charlie Kimball #23, Carlin Motorsport, Chevrolet 20 Matheus Leist #4, A.J. Foyt Enterprises, Chevrolet 21 Alfonso Celis Jr. #32, Juncos Racing, Chevrolet 22 Max Chilton #59, Carlin Motorsport, Chevrolet 23 Gabby Chaves #88, Harding Racing, Chevrolet Want your voice heard? Join the Beyond The Flag team! Write for us! NBC Sports Network is set to broadcast the 2018 Kohler Grand Prix live this Sunday, June 24. The live broadcast of the race is set to begin at 12:30 p.m. ET.<doc-sep>ELKHART LAKE, Wisconsin – Qualifying well is one thing. Finishing is another thing altogether. Just ask Josef Newgarden. Since a win at Barber Motorsports Park in April, the defending Verizon IndyCar Series champion hasn’t performed to his expectations despite showing speed. Two weeks ago at Texas Motor Speedway, he won the pole position but finished 13th, four laps down. KOHLER GRAND PRIX: Tire designation for race start Today at Road America, he’ll start from the pole with the goal of finishing as strong as he started. “Qualifying first doesn't really guarantee anything in this series,” Newgarden said. “I think we've had speed, we've just got to make sure we execute on race day, and we've not done that for a little while. It's been four or five weeks I feel like since we've put together a really good race weekend. Probably longer than that; two months maybe.” The key to winning the KOHLER Grand Prix, which airs on NBCSN and the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network starting at 12:30 p.m. ET today, is finding the appropriate balance to handle all challenges presented by the 14-turn, 4.014-mile road course. That means minimizing tire wear while maximizing speed. “It'll be interesting to see downforce levels (that teams choose),” said Ryan Hunter-Reay, who will start third. “Tire degradation is going to be a factor, so you're going to have guys that maybe trim quite a bit (of downforce out) thinking that they're going to keep guys behind them on the straights, and then you have guys that run (more) downforce thinking it might be better on older tires, so I think that'll be the story line. “Unfortunately it's not stickered on the side of everybody's car what downforce they're running, so it's hard to figure out who's who and what's what. But that'll be the key to the day, whoever figures that compromise out and gets through a full stint without as bad a (tire) degradation as some others. That'll be critical.” Newgarden’s mini-slump – his best finish in the last five races was eighth at the Indianapolis 500 in May – has dropped him from first to fifth in the Verizon IndyCar Series drivers’ standings, 67 points behind leader Scott Dixon. Saturday’s pole that included one bonus point was encouraging, Newgarden said, but he was just 0.0482 of a second ahead of Team Penske teammate Will Power. Newgarden and Power will form an all-Chevrolet front row for the start of today’s 55-lap race. Getting there wasn’t easy, said Newgarden, driving the No. 1 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet. “Look, you've got to throw everything at it to get these poles now,” he said. “We did everything – not everything, but we threw different gears at it, different downforce levels. We were trying stuff. We were tuning the car through the qualifying session, and you've got to do that. If you're just a tenth (of a second) off here or there – we didn't do that gear change, maybe Will would have gotten pole.” The Penske teammates aren’t the only ones with standalone speed. Hunter-Reay, in the No. 28 DHL Honda, will join Andretti Autosport teammate Alexander Rossi on Row 2 of the starting grid, followed by two more Honda drivers, Robert Wickens and Sebastien Bourdais. Wickens was fast throughout the first three practice sessions Friday and Saturday, but was disappointed to finish fifth in Saturday’s qualifying. “When you start a weekend as strongly as we have, you kind of have that confidence going in,” said Wickens, driver of the No. 6 Lucas Oil SPM Honda. “I like to think I'm always pushing the guys more and more, even though we're quick and always trying to find ways to be better. But sometimes you've got that little bit of extra speed (and) sometimes you don't. To be honest, this weekend I thought I had it, but then qualifying rolled around and now we're fifth.” Without the usual prerace warmup session, teams starting up front aren’t expected to make radical changes before the race. “You can always throw the kitchen sink at the car,” said Bourdais, the winner at Road America 10 years ago and driving the No. 18 Team SealMaster Honda for Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan this weekend. “But at the end of the day, it's not really a smart thing to do, especially when there's no warmup (race-morning practice). So I think we'll probably go for minor changes, things that we can have a good idea what they're going to do to the car that either we've done before during the weekend or things that are kind of for-sures.” There are no “for-sures” in who will win the race, either. The first six road- and street-course races this season have seen six different drivers claim victory. Tire strategy will also play a key role. Each car must use at least one new set of Firestone alternate tires (red sidewall) and one set new or used of primary tires (black sidewall). Three of the 23 drivers in the field – Simon Pagenaud, James Hinchcliffe and Max Chilton – will start the 55-lap race on the primary tires. The life of the softer, faster alternates could determine how long a stint lasts before pitting for fresh tires is needed. KOHLER GRAND PRIX: Race 10 of 17 on the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series schedule Track: Road America, a 4.014-mile, 14-turn permanent road course in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. This will be the 28th Indy car race at the track, dating to the first event in 1982. Race distance: 55 laps/220.77 miles Fuel: 80 gallons of Sunoco E85 ethanol for each car Full fuel stint: 12-14 laps<doc-sep>
Josef Newgarden won the 10th race of the 2018 IndyCar season, the Kohler Grand Prix, at Road America for his third victory of the season. Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden earned his third victory of the 2018 IndyCar season in the 10th race of the 17-race season. He earned that victory thanks to a dominant performance in the Kohler Grand Prix at Road America. Newgarden won the Kohler Grand Prix in his #1 Chevrolet by 3.3759 seconds over Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay, who was the highest finishing Honda driver of the race in second place in his #28 Honda. While Newgarden won the 55-lap race around the 14-turn, 4.048-mile (6.515-kilometer) Road America road course in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, giving Team Penske and Chevrolet five victories so far this season, he was the only Chevrolet driver who finished it in the top six. Honda drivers took each of the five positions from second through sixth place. Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Takuma Sato, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports rookie Robert Wickens and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal finished in third, fourth, fifth and sixth place in their #9 Honda, #30 Honda, #6 Honda and #15 Honda, respectively. The race featured only two lead changes among two drivers, and those two lead changes only took place because Newgarden, who started the race from the pole position, made his first pit stop before Dixon did. When Dixon made his first pit stop after leading two laps, Newgarden retook the lead led the rest of the race. He led 53 of the race’s 55 laps. The race did not feature any caution flag periods, and 22 of the 23 drivers who started the race finished it. Of the 22 drivers who finished the race, 18 finished it on the lead lap. Team Penske’s Will Power was the only driver who started the race but did not finish it. He started the race in second place in his #12 Chevrolet, but a mechanical issue at the start caused him to be passed by several drivers even before the field got to the first turn. He completed just two laps. Here are the full race results of the 2018 Kohler Grand Prix at Road America. Rank Driver Car, Team, Engine 1 Josef Newgarden #1, Team Penske, Chevrolet 2 Ryan Hunter-Reay #28, Andretti Autosport, Honda 3 Scott Dixon #9, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda 4 Takuma Sato #30, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Honda 5 Robert Wickens #6, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Honda 6 Graham Rahal #15, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Honda 7 Simon Pagenaud #22, Team Penske, Chevrolet 8 Spencer Pigot #21, Ed Carpenter Racing, Chevrolet 9 Ed Jones #10, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda 10 James Hinchcliffe #5, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Honda 11 Marco Andretti #98, Andretti Herta Autosport, Honda 12 Jordan King #20, Ed Carpenter Racing, Chevrolet 13 Sebastien Bourdais #18, Dale Coyne Racing, Honda 14 Tony Kanaan #14, A.J. Foyt Enterprises, Chevrolet 15 Matheus Leist #4, A.J. Foyt Enterprises, Chevrolet 16 Alexander Rossi #27, Andretti Autosport, Honda 17 Max Chilton #59, Carlin Motorsport, Chevrolet 18 Charlie Kimball #23, Carlin Motorsport, Chevrolet 19 Gabby Chaves #88, Harding Racing, Chevrolet 20 Alfonso Celis Jr. #32, Juncos Racing, Chevrolet 21 Zachary Claman DeMelo #19, Dale Coyne Racing, Honda 22 Zach Veach #26, Andretti Autosport, Honda 23 Will Power #12, Team Penske, Chevrolet Want your voice heard? Join the Beyond The Flag team! Write for us! The next race of the 2018 IndyCar season is the Iowa Corn 300. That race is set to be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network from Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa on Sunday, July 8 starting at 2:00 p.m. ET.