Newgarden plans to "keep pushing" despite points lead

With double points on the line in the season finale at Sonoma, Newgarden knows his cushion is by no means a safe one with three title rivals still within 50 points.

Risk vs. reward

So how does he balance offense and defense at Watkins Glen International this weekend?

"It's a good question. I don't know. I guess I shouldn't say I don't know. I have an idea of how I want to approach it. To me, I think the safest thing is to keep doing what we've been doing. The way I look at, it's not a very safe lead, it's really not. Even if you say, Well, okay, Scott's leading the race, we're second or third, we should just stay pat here and get some points. If we finish third, I think that closes it up enough to where Scott can be in striking distance at Sonoma, where if he wins the race, he wins the championship.

"I think it's that tight of a championship battle where you have to be trying to increase the lead with regards to the points or just trying to go forward still. That's all you can do is try to go forward, not overpush your equipment, trying to get the most that you can.

"The way I view Pocono and Gateway, Pocono there was a time to be less aggressive, and Gateway there was a time to be more aggressive. I'll continue to do that going forward. You just got to analyze each situation individually and get the most out of yourself for each weekend in the car. The points should shake out as they do. So I don't think I'm going to go into a safeguarding position at this point. I think you still have to keep pushing forward."

Pagenaud run-in

At Gateway, things got physical between Newgarden and teammate Simon Pagenaud as they battled for the race win, leaving the latter with some choice words after the checkered flag. As it stands now, all four Team Penske drivers are still alive in the title fight, making up four of the top five positions in the standings. With just two races to settle it, is the camaraderie within the Penske team being strained by this intense championship battle?

"I don't think there's any animosity, no. I see Simon quite often actually. We all live very close to the race shop, both Simon, Will and myself. I see them actually all the time, after race weekends, before race weekends. We've already seen each other, already spoken afterwards.

"I know it seems like a show sometimes, but we actually do work really well together in this team. That comes from the top down, from the leadership. So we're good, yeah, absolutely. I think we're excited to work together here this weekend. He's a real professional racecar driver. So he's easy to work with, easy to get along with. I don't think there's any problems with us as far as going forward. We're going to work together like we always have."

Teamwork during title fight

But as Josef points out, with all four drivers still in the hunt for the championship trophy, don't expect much help, if any, from your teammates. 

"I think only if it was a clear-cut situation where you should help your teammate, would that come into play. The best thing about Team Penske is they let us all race each other. It's kind of a dream situation. I think it's awesome that Team Penske's always done that. They've let their drivers race.

"Until there's a clear situation where there's nothing to gain for someone else, maybe all to gain for the team, then I think that might flip. But right now there's no situation for that. I think everyone is still going to push as hard as they can and try and get the most points. Still going to take care of each other, as always, but I don't think there's any teammate help at the moment, which there never really has been unless there's a case needed."