Fansided

Newgarden, Carpenter, and Coyne shine at IndyCar’s Phoenix open test

By Brittany Frederick

Team Penske's Josef Newgarden in pit lane at Phoenix Raceway. Photo Credit: Joe Skibinski/Courtesy of IndyCar
Team Penske's Josef Newgarden in pit lane at Phoenix Raceway. Photo Credit: Joe Skibinski/Courtesy of IndyCar /
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With the Verizon IndyCar Series finished with its first league test at Phoenix Raceway, what can fans take away for the start of the 2017 season?

The Verizon IndyCar Series spent the weekend at Phoenix Raceway, with all of the 2017 teams present for two days of open testing on the Arizona oval. The four test sessions had highs and lows, but there was certainly no shortage of things to get excited about.

Team Penske appears poised to continue its recent strong run atop the league, particularly in its signing of Josef Newgarden. The former Ed Carpenter Racing driver was third fastest at the Phoenix test. If he can continue posting those kinds of speeds in the No. 2 Chevrolet, it’ll validate the team’s decision to release Juan Pablo Montoya to free up the car.

Newgarden never hid his desire to drive for a major IndyCar team, and now he’s getting his wish. There’s no team bigger than Penske and no expectations higher than those he’s about to face, especially when Penske has gone so far as to have Tim Cindric calling his shots.

Yet Newgarden was the fastest on his team by 0.03 over Helio Castroneves and 0.16 better than defending champion Simon Pagenaud. If the test is any indication, he’ll be back in Victory Lane for the third straight season.

But Phoenix also taught us not to discount Newgarden’s former organization. Everyone has been wondering how Ed Carpenter Racing would persevere after losing its best driver. JR Hildebrand came to the rescue with the single fastest lap of the weekend (19.04 seconds). That was 0.08 faster than the second place finisher, which was none other than Ed Carpenter.

The ECR cars may not necessarily be title contenders yet, but they may not be as set back by Newgarden’s exit as first thought. Hildebrand also showed strong at the 2016 Indianapolis 500, where he finished sixth for ECR, so if you’re looking for a dark horse to mix things up with Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing this season, he could easily be that guy.

Someone else to keep an eye on is Sebastien Bourdais. The Frenchman surprised even his own team when he left KV Racing (now defunct) to join Dale Coyne Racing in the offseason. Coyne has been running near the back of the IndyCar grid in recent years, but landing Bourdais was a definite upgrade.

Bourdais’ results at Phoenix landed him in the top 10, and while that’s not burning up the charts it’s still an impressive result. And that is just what DCR — and all of IndyCar — needs from him this season.

One of the common complaints about IndyCar is that there are major teams that run up front each week while the same teams keep being stuck in the back. Coyne was certainly one of the latter until it took a step forward with Conor Daly last year, and now Bourdais and another highly touted rookie named Ed Jones have a chance to make a big leap forward.

Add in Daly and Carlos Munoz takingover the two struggling seats at A.J. Foyt Enterprises and the teams that were fighting for purchase in IndyCar are much more likely to be fighting for wins instead. They’re still at a disadvantage when you compare their resources and experience to those of Penske, Ganassi and Andretti, but these are the most promising lineups that DCR and Foyt have had in awhile.

The 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season is likely to start just as 2016 did, with Team Penske in the proverbial driver’s seat. But this year there are more teams and drivers that are in positions to be legitimate challengers and create more parity in competition.

That’s the most important takeaway from the Phoenix test. With several drivers having improved their positions, and a whole batch of up and comers like Newgarden, Jones and Alexander Rossi, 2017 is really anyone’s game — and that is worth getting excited about.

Now if we could just confirm a primary sponsor for Scott Dixon, we’d be all set. That’s the one question that didn’t get answered this weekend.

Next: Scott Dixon confirms he'll run in second 24 Hours of Le Mans

You can see the results and driver reaction from IndyCar’s Phoenix test here. The 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season begins Sunday, March 12 with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.