INDY 500: 'I would have been on the high side, doing something crazy' - Newgarden

He’s always unfailingly polite, humble, even-tempered and enthusiastic. But Josef Newgarden was struggling to display any of those emotions late Sunday afternoon.

“It just sucks that we didn’t have a shootout where we could have raced each other,” said most disappointed third-place finisher in recent Indianapolis 500 history.

“I really would have liked to race people. I would have been on the high side, doing something crazy to try and win this thing. I think that would have been a lot cooler but it didn’t work out.”

The 25-year-old from Hendersonville, Tenn. had to surrender the lead with seven laps left to put some fuel in his Preferred Freezer Chevy. Carlos Munoz followed suit on lap 197 and that left rookie Alex Rossi in the lead, where he feathered the throttle to the end of a 36-lap fuel stretch (left, leading Munoz and Newgarden).

“I think if I was in Alex’s position I’d be the happiest man in the world right now,” continued Newgarden, who started second for Ed Carpenter Racing and led four times for 14 laps. “They did a great job. I wouldn’t care how we won the damn race.

"It just sucks it didn’t play out the way we needed it to. Fuel became a factor and everyone was on different strategies. They played the fuel strategy but, for us, it would have been silly. When you have fast cars and know you have cars to win, you’ve got to go flat out and not play the fuel game.”

“To put it politely, I don’t think they were as quite as strong as us today, so they mixed it up and it paid off big time.”

Newgarden led the most laps last year, won twice and lost two other potential wins in the pits and it’s obvious he’s become one of the drivers to beat anywhere. His maturity in the face of gut-wrenching disappointment is always on display but it was tough to mask Sunday.

“It’s heartbreaking, to be honest,” he said. “Because I think we had the car to win. I’m not saying we should have won the race definitely because we had the best car. I just think we had a car that could have won.”

But the 2011 Indy Lights champion reverted to his normal personality when asked about heartbreaks.

“I don’t think I have a pity card to play. You could probably go through the list of guys that have nearly won this thing or should have won. This is really the first time I’ve ever felt like I could win this race and it didn’t happen.

“I’m thankful for that opportunity and can’t be sour about it but it’s tough.”