Inside The Garage: INDYCAR Drivers Pushing Through The Pain

Here's what's happening this week Inside The Garage:

• Meet INDYCAR's walking wounded
• Denny Hamlin's tribute to Kyle Busch
• Christian Rasmussen receives new contract

World Wide Technology Raceway (Madison, Ill.) — One of INDYCAR's walking wounded won Sunday night.

With 20 percent of the INDYCAR Series drivers (that we know of) nursing injuries suffered in the first half of the season, a week off probably couldn’t come at a better time — although several drivers will be testing this week at Road America.

One of those won’t be Josef Newgarden, who won at Gateway despite being in a walking boot on his left foot. He didn’t use a crutch as he did a week earlier at Detroit and walked up and down pit road with just the boot. He did use a scooter (as several drivers normally do) at times.

"No crutch, but I gained a scooter," Newgarden quipped after qualifying on Saturday. "I hate I’ve got a boot on. That’s the only reason you guys know about it."

Newgarden, a two-time series champion and driver of the No. 2 car for Team Penske, obviously felt somewhat good after the race — winning can at least mentally help through the pain. He seemed much more upbeat than a week earlier in Detroit when he felt he held the team back.

"It's frustrating when you're in a race like that [last week] — you can tell the car has the potential to do more, the team executed in a way that should have produced more," Newgarden said in his postrace news conference Sunday. "It's tough when you're the missing link. I hate that. I don't want to be that.

"It was the reality of the situation. We got through it together. We knew it was going to be different when we came here [to Gateway]."

One driver still on crutches is Alexander Rossi. Both Rossi and Newgarden had hard crashes at Indianapolis — Rossi on the Monday before the Indianapolis 500 and Newgarden in the Indianapolis 500.

Nearly three weeks after surgery to repair a small broken bone in his right foot and the middle finger of his left hand, Rossi indicated he was feeling better.

"[I’m] good," the ECR driver said.

One driver at Gateway was coming off surgery earlier in the week. Romain Grosjean had a pin inserted in the pinky finger of his right hand. The Dale Coyne Racing driver had it wrapped for the race but didn’t have any bandage on it following qualifying, and he showed he was able to move his hand fine.

"It's a weird pain — it's not a very hard pain, but it's a pain that you know it's not good," Grosjean told me and other reporters after qualifying.

Grosjean’s injury came when he didn’t get his hands off the wheel quick enough following contact with Rossi at Detroit. Rossi admitted he made a mistake, and Grosjean — who indicated he didn’t feel any pain in the car at Gateway — said Rossi didn’t make the mistake because he was injured.

"He didn’t mean to — he made a mistake and onto Gateway [here]," Grosjean said. "I don’t think [his injury caused it] at all."

Caio Collet is still getting injections to help with the pain from his wreck near the end of the Indianapolis 500. The A.J. Foyt Racing rookie indicated he has a fractured rib. He had a great run going at Gateway until his engine expired.

"There’s a little bit of pain but nothing that we are not used to," Collet told me and other reporters Saturday. "Detroit, with the bumps and everything else, I had a lot of pain in the race. But here [at Gateway] it's a smoother track. 

"Obviously, all the corners are to the left, and it's the one that's fractured, but it is what it is."

Additionally, Mick Schumacher has been nursing a broken wrist all season from a crash in the opener at St. Petersburg.

Rest In Peace

NASCAR Hall of Fame driver and broadcaster Ned Jarrett died Thursday at age 93. Jarrett retired in 1966 with 50 victories and two Cup titles to — and this was the reality — spend more time with his family. 

"Despite his calm demeanor, ‘Gentleman’ Ned Jarrett was as fierce a competitor as NASCAR has ever seen," NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell said in a statement. "His on-track accomplishments speak for themselves with wins and championships across several NASCAR divisions.

"But it was his off-the-track persona that separated Ned from his peers.  He was as kind as his nickname indicated. And his endearing personality helped him excel in his second career as a broadcaster. Ned was an outstanding ambassador for the sport for more than six decades and he will be dearly missed."

INDYCAR Penalty Parameters

INDYCAR Officiating announced that typically within a week following an event, it will issue a report on previous race weekend, detailing in-race penalty decisions and technical infractions. It will tier tech infractions from Level 1 (least severe) to Level 3 and offer comparisons to past penalties.

Level 1: A single-dimensional non-compliance, such as a height or size measurement outside tolerance, typically arising from wear, damage or assembly failure with no finding of altered component location or improper conduct.

Level 2: A more significant compliance failure, such as an out-of-tolerance aerodynamic angle, driver or car weight, fuel-system or safety equipment matter, where the configuration is outside specification but does not involve modification of a spec part.

Level 3: Modification of a spec part, regardless of which assembly or subsystem it belongs to, or the installation of unapproved or altered components — a departure from the car’s approved specification.

In The News

--Kevin Magnussen is the new Trackhouse Racing Project 91 driver and will enter the San Diego race later this month. His car sponsor is Qualcomm Technologies, while former Ross Chastain crew chief Phil Surgen will crew chief. The former Formula 1 driver is looking forward to his Cup debut.  Magnussen (from the news release): "I’ve already spent time with the team in North Carolina — meeting everyone, doing the seat fit, going through pit stop procedures and all the details that come with preparing for a NASCAR weekend. They’re an awesome group of people, incredibly dedicated, and just as excited about this debut as I am."

--Christian Rasmussen has signed a contract extension to remain at ECR through at least 2028. Rasmussen told me and other reporters: "It's very nice to be knowing where I'm going to be for the next couple of years. I'm very happy at ECR, and I feel like we'll just keep improving. We'll ust keep getting better, and being part of that process is very valuable.'

-- Arrow McLaren has formalized Ryan Hunter-Reay's role with the team, naming him its Sporting Director. He will be a bridge between competition, engineering, the driver lineup and commercial efforts.

Social Spotlight

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They Said It

"I've got a dope highlight reel. I'm going to be honest with you guys. If I stop tomorrow, it's going to be like there's a cool list of things I've done. I rode a car off at Road America in the kink. You haven't lived until you've done that. I don't know how many people have done a rail grind at Gateway. I've effed up and hit a curb on turn four in Indianapolis, smoked my foot. Put that in the highlight reel." — INDYCAR driver Josef Newgarden following his victory Sunday night at Gateway.