For Josef Newgarden, returning to Texas Motor Speedway for last week’s Verizon IndyCar Series open test was no big deal. It was last June, during the annual race on the 1.5-mile oval, when Newgarden was involved in a frightening crash that left him with a fractured right clavicle and a slight fracture in his right hand. The force of the impact was so strong that the car’s roll hoop, which sits above the driver’s head, was damaged and part of the SAFER Barrier on the track’s outside wall near the start/finish line required repair. Remarkably, Newgarden didn’t miss a start racing then for Ed Carpenter Racing and did one better by dominating the Iowa Corn 300 at Iowa Speedway less than a month later, leading an Indy car-record 282 laps on his way to victory. Fast forward through an offseason that saw the talented 26-year-old join Team Penske. Three days after finishing on the podium April 12 in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach in the No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet, Newgarden was turning laps on the Texas oval for the first time since the crash. Read more http://www.indycar.com/News/2017/04/04-16-Newgarden-returns-to-Texas
