If Turn 1 at Gateway was a schoolyard fight, Josef Newgarden punched Simon Pagenaud in the nose and took his lunch money on Saturday night. It was a transformational act for the clean-cut and seemingly non-threatening Tennessean, and one that was also long overdue. Until it happened, I wasn't entirely sure the kid had that level of nasty in his arsenal. Sure, he's been fast and impeccably polite – the archetypal Penske driver – but we also learned the heart of a killer lives behind that big Southern smile. What a delight to know there's something darker and more complicated for Newgarden to summon when needed. His risky, wheel-banging pass on Pagenaud for the win reminded me of the way...
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