Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing (SFHR) brought determination, fight and focus to the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio, but luck was not on the team’s side.

Sophomore driver Josef Newgarden finished the 90-lap race in 23rd place, after a mechanical issue on the right rear of the car flagged their momentum and dropped them back from an 18th place start.

“Things just didn’t go our way today,” Newgarden said. “I think we worked really hard and we had good pit stops. We just had an unfortunate incident with the rear of the car. It’s just tough when you have days like these, but I think we have a great group of guys and we’ll sort it out and move on to the next race.”

Though the incident proved to be out of the team’s control, the pit crew worked as quickly and efficiently as possible to fix the problem.

“The boys did a super good job,” Newgarden said. “They were incredibly fast in the pits with figuring everything out and getting me back on the track. I love driving for this team. Yes, it was a tough day, but those days come and go.”

The IZOD IndyCar Series will spend the next two weekends off-track, before racing in Sonoma, Calif. at the end of the month. The 22-year-old driver is looking forward to the remaining five races of the 2013 season.

“You have to try and take all of the positives that you can, put them into the next weekend and keep moving forward,” Newgarden said.

The Go Pro Grand Prix of Sonoma will air live on NBC Sports Network on Sunday, Aug. 25 at 4 pm ET. Sports car standout, Lucas Luhr, will run in a second SFHR car in Sonoma. For the latest news and team updates, like Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing on Facebook and follow @SFHRindy on Twitter and Instagram.