INDIANAPOLIS—Josef Newgarden has been IndyCar’s most consistent winner over the last eight seasons.
His 22 trips to victory lane are a series high. He has won two or more races six straight years and is chasing his third league championship in six seasons.
But when the 31-year-old Tennessean arrives in Indianapolis each May, those impressive feats take a backseat to another agonizing litany of questions about the most famous three words missing from his resume—Indianapolis 500 champion.
“Of course I want to win here, everybody wants to win here, but Indianapolis is a tough place to tame. It’s a tough place to get it right on the day,” he said before qualifying 14th for Sunday’s race….