Australian IndyCar ace Will Power was second in the IndyCar season finale as teammate Josef Newgarden clinched the driver’s championship with an eighth-place finish behind race winner Colton Herta at Laguna Seca.
Newgarden won his second championship in three years with a smooth drive, as he played it safe and watched rookie Herta dominate on the road course, with Power his nearest challenger.
“Good job guys, had a great car. Just needed a little bit more. Congrats to @josefnewgarden – he had a great year,” Power said via his team radio.
Newgarden needed only to finish fourth or better to give team boss Roger Penske his 16th IndyCar title and the American’s drive clearly indicated he wouldn’t get aggressive and risk throwing it away.
He beat another teammate, Simon Pagenaud, by 25 points in the championship race with Alexander Rossi third, last season’s champion Scott Dixon fourth and Power fifth.
Newgarden jumped into the arms of his waiting crew and broke down in tears in a rare display of emotion.
“I am so happy, I was crying that entire last lap,” Newgarden said. “This has been my dream since I was a kid.”
The championship gave Team Penske a season sweep of the crown jewels of IndyCar after Pagenaud won the Indianapolis 500 in May for Penske’s record 18th victory.
And the finale at Laguna Sega showed that Team Penske is still the strongest in IndyCar.
The Newgarden title is the fourth for Penske in the past six seasons and came on the day Power was second, Pagenaud fourth and Newgarden the champion.
Dixon finished third to complete the podium, while Rossi was sixth.
Pagenaud was frantically chasing Scott Dixon and Penske teammate Power in the closing laps to get a shot at Herta but settled for fourth in what will still go down as a career-defining season.
Herta, the 19-year-old rookie, upstaged the championship race the entire weekend by leading the speed charts and then won pole on Saturday.
“We were really quick,” Herta said. “It was so cool to be here, everything just went so smooth.”
Herta added he will be chasing the IndyCar championship next season when he drives for Andretti Autosport.