Who Stands To Gain From Sonoma?

Will Power leads the field to the green to start the 2015 GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma at Sonoma Raceway. [Photo by: Chris Jones]

by Allan Brewer

The march of time is inexorable and with several current IndyCar stars approaching the last laps of their career there is much at stake for those who look to replace them at the front of the field. There is only one race left on the 2016 racing schedule to make an impression or gain an advantage that could be the small opening necessary to significantly advance a professional race-car driver career.

Several rising stars look to do just that next weekend as the IndyCar season climaxes in Sonoma, California, and to finish in a strong position in the points standings going into the off-season and the assured contract negotiations ahead.

In his second (and quite likely last) season with Ed Carpenter Racing, Josef Newgarden can potentially move into third place in the Championship standings with a strong result in Sonoma. As it stands today the Nashville native is only five points in arrears of Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon and Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves. Newgarden’s accomplished as much despite the fact he has spotted the entire field two entire races (Elkhart Lake and Texas) in the points tally and driven with a painful shoulder and hand injury from mid-season. Although he’s only posted one win (Iowa) and has won no poles this year, Newgarden has been consistently at the front and been running at the end in all but three of his starting appearances. Recent results find him on the podium at Watkins Glen and fourth at Pocono.

Besides the obvious gain in the points and the 2016 IndyCar Championship standings, there’s an even bigger prize waiting if Newgarden continues to drive well: a looming contract negotiation that will either bring him back to ECR or put him into the seat of a competitor, quite possibly one of the “Big Three” teams of the series. Josef can put himself into an even stronger dickering position with a win at Sonoma Raceway next weekend. He cannot win the series championship, but he can leapfrog Dixon and Castroneves to finish third in spite of his absences at the end of a difficult and challenging 2016 campaign.

Charlie Kimball has probably shown the most advancement skill-wise and most improvement in results over the 2016 season of any driver in the IndyCar series. Kimball has been consistent with every race and is supported by a solid team and reliable sponsorship. At Indianapolis Motor Speedway ahead of the Indy 500 Kimball qualified in the middle of the second row after registering top-five practice results consistently throughout the month of May.

Kimball is driving more confidently, and aggressively, than in the past. When challenged for position he is likely to fight rather than yield, and with 99 IndyCar starts under his belt Kimball has the experience to carry out a defensive strategy to potent effect. At present Kimball lies ninth in the Championship standings, but he has performed admirably overall with Graham Rahal (403 points) and Carlos Munozx (402) only a scant thirteen and twelve points respectively better. A solid finale’ would be a fine return on investment for his sixth full season of IndyCar competition.

After a heart-breaking runner-up result at the Indianapolis 500, where he was the man to beat as the race wound down to the two hundredth lap, Carlos Munoz has recovered to finish strong and leads all of the Andretti Autosports teamdrivers in IndyCar’s year-long competition. The native Colombian lies only a point behind Rahal Letterman Lanigan driver Graham Rahal heading into the Sonoma Raceway event. An eighth-place result, which is where Munoz lies now, would equal his best-ever IndyCar series finish to date. With his contract with the team expiring at the end of the season it would play to Munoz advantage to score a victory, his first this year, at Sonoma. The team is reported to be seeking to keep Munoz in its fold, but as always money is an issue; and nothing impresses sponsors more than watching their car at the front of the pack entering the last turn of the race and the object of attention in the winner’s circle.

In a year of inevitable transition at IndyCar it’s a certain bet that one or more of these drivers will see their career hopes blossom as the 2016 season comes to an end.

RacingNation Crew

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