INDYCAR: Newgarden confident of ECR upswing

The breakout star of last year's Verizon IndyCar Series championship is off to a slower start in 2016, but Josef Newgarden is confident his program is on the right path after earning a podium at Barber Motorsports Park.

After forming a strong tandem on road and street courses in 2015 with Luca Filippi, who piloted the sister Ed Carpenter Racing Chevy, Newgarden has become a solo act (outside of the ovals) this year. With plenty to learn about Chevy's revised road racing aero kit, the lack of a teammate could be part of the reason behind ECR's gradual rise.

Through the first four rounds in 2015, which included his first win at Barber, Newgarden's average finishing position was 7.25. Through the same four-race span in 2016, Newgarden is down to an average finish of 10.25, but he's confident that number will continue to improve once the month of May arrives.

"I would say we are pointed in the right direction after last weekend," the Tennessean told RACER. "We were really set back by St. Pete. It was no one's fault; we had an electrical and were not really in the race, which isn't how anyone wants to start their season. Once we got going, Phoenix was good for us, but we felt we had winning cars if we'd positioned ourselves correctly, and we languished a little bit at Long Beach, then we started hitting our marks at Barber.

"It feels like we got going at Barber and that's what we're hoping will continue for the rest of the year. There have been some changes to the aero kit on the Chevy, and it makes it so we can't rely on what we used last year for setups. I've been sensing it through the first four races, and it really came into effect at Barber. We've had to find new ways to make the car go fast, so that's why we had a third-place car at Barber instead of a winning car like we had at Barber last year, but we were close. This trend feels like something we can continue with for the rest of the year."

Newgarden isn't sure the lack of a teammate has slowed ECR's road and street course progress, but does believe the addition of JR Hildebrand for next month's Grand Prix of Indianapolis will bring many positives to the program.

"I think the team is just as strong as last year – we have the majority of the same people as last year, and we're going through the same processes that worked for us," he said. "Maybe having another car [can] accelerate the amount of work we can get through in a weekend, but there were times last year where it wasn't as big of a benefit as you'd think, and other times where it worked really well.

"Having said all that, I'm really looking forward to having JR beside me in the next race, and he'll be hugely helpful with what he does. If we could get someone like JR for the rest of the year when Ed [Carpenter] isn't driving, I think you'd be silly to say he wouldn't add something to a program like ours."

Sitting eighth in the standings after Barber, Newgarden wants to move into a championship-contending position by the end of May, and believes the ECR team is ready to make it happen.

"The bottom line is my crew, my engineers, they're super talented and we're making fast progress on figuring out what we need to win more races, and you need wins to fight for a championship," he said. "And I also know we all feel like we can get better, so there isn't really a sense of satisfaction at where we are right now, and that's a good thing. We know we can be higher up in the championship."