Josef Newgarden finished third at Portland International Raceway for Team Penske and has indicated his expectations for the final three rounds of the season.
The American finished a distant third behind his teammate Will Power and championship leader Alex Palou, seeing the chequered flag more than 20 seconds after the race winner in IndyCar.
Newgarden has suffered a difficult season that started controversially after being disqualified at St. Petersburg.
He has taken two wins this season but has been held back by more challenging races on the streets of Detroit and at Mid-Ohio, finishing outside the top 20.
Josef Newgarden emphasised the importance of finishing the year well
Newgarden was competitive all weekend at Portland but missed the Firestone Fast 6 in qualifying at the final road course of the year.
His time was good enough for seventh place, but he moved up to fifth place after Kyle Kirkwood and Graham Rahal were penalised for unapproved engine changes.
The Team Penske driver suffered a bad start and lost places to Romain Grosjean and Colton Herta before Turn 1 before moving up a position after Scott Dixon retired on the first lap.
Newgarden was pleased with a third place, his first podium at Portland, and said he enjoys ovals and road courses equally.
He told the IndyCar Youtube channel: “I was more excited about here. I really was. I wanted us to get a win here on the road course. We had a good showing.
“I think we had the potential, but I like everywhere. It’s not just the ovals that get me excited. It’s places like this. The biggest thing is we’re coming to the final stretch.
“Three races to go. I think for us, we need to have a good solid finish. We’re still in the championship fight with our team. We got two good things to cheer for here coming to the end of the season. Like season and like to wrap things up on a good note.”
Josef Newgarden’s speed on ovals could allow him to win more races this year
Newgarden has been formidable on ovals in recent years, winning the last two Indy 500 races, with dramatic passes on Marcus Ericsson and Pato O’Ward in the closing stages.
The driver of the No. 2 car also won at Gateway this season as Team Penske have been victorious at all three oval races this year.
Newgarden and his team’s raw speed on ovals could give them an advantage in the final three rounds of the year which are all run on ovals.
A couple of races at the Milwaukee Mile and one at the Nashville Superspeedway could provide the opportunity for 33-year-old to win more events this year.