Josef Newgarden made a single fact clear on why he is present at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway ahead of this weekend’s 109th running of the Indianapolis 500. He is here to race.
During the annual Indianapolis 500 Media Day session on Thursday, May 22, Newgarden, the reigning two-time consecutive Indy 500 champion, remained tight-lipped on offering his perspective on the weeklong scrutiny and penalties highlighting Team Penske’s violation of unapproved body fit on the rear attenuators found on both Newgarden’s and teammate Will Power’s entries.
The issues involving the attenuators were first made during the pre-qualifying technical inspection and prior to the Fast 12 session this past Sunday, May 18. The penalties caused both Newgarden and Power to forfeit their qualifying attempts, be demoted to the rear of the field for this weekend’s Indy 500 and have three lead personnel, including team president Tim Cindric, dismissed from Team Penske. In addition, the team was fined $100,000 apiece between Newgarden’s and Power’s entries.
Amid the scrutiny, Newgarden shifted his mentality towards remaining positive and focusing on competing in the NTT IndyCar Series’ most prestigious, annual event on the schedule.
“Well, I think we got a lot of people [media] sitting here today, it looks like,” Newgarden said at the DEX Imaging Media Center. “I don’t want to disappoint or offend anybody. I’m here to talk about the race. I’m here with my team. I’m ready to go racing. I love this race. My goodness, I’ve been enjoying being here this whole time. I look forward to it every year, as we all do. Ready to go to work with our group.”
The 2025 season marks Newgarden’s 14th consecutive year campaigning in both the INDYCAR Series division and in the Indianapolis 500. During his first 11 starts in the latter event (2012-22), the Hendersonville, Tennessee, native had racked up three top-five results and four top-10 results, with his best on-track result being a third-place finish in 2016.
Then, everything changed in 2023 when Newgarden executed a final-lap pass on Marcus Ericsson during a one-lap shootout to etch his face on the Indy 500’s Borg-Warner trophy for the first time in his career. A year later, Newgarden doubled down by executing another final-lap pass, this time on Pato O’Ward, to become the first competitor in 22 years to win back-to-back Indy 500s and deliver the historic 20th victory for team owner Roger Penske.
With his latest Indy 500 victory in 2024, Newgarden joined an exclusive club of competitors to win the events in back-to-back years, which include Wilbur Shaw (1939-40), Mauri Rose (1947-48), Bill Vukovich (1953-54), Al Unser (1970-71) and Helio Castroneves (2001-02). A third consecutive victory this year would elevate Newgarden’s status as the only competitor to achieve a feat.
“It would be amazing,” Newgarden said. “This is such a tough race to win. To win one race here is a very big achievement. To win two is something out of my dreams. Three is historic. I love that we have the opportunity to go for it, which is what we’re going to do. We’re gonna put everything into it to to try to win the race. If it’s meant to be, it’ll happen.”
During Newgarden’s first Indy 500 victory in 2023, he accomplished the feat by starting in 17th place. A year ago, he started in third place and shared the front row along with his Penske teammates, Will Power and Scott McLaughlin. When asked what his key strategy would be when trying to rally from staring in 32nd place of the 33-car field, there was a single term he drew upon the question: patience.
“Patience, I think, is what our strategy is going to be for race day.”
Josef Newgarden’s attempt to win a record-setting third consecutive Indianapolis 500 is scheduled to occur this Sunday, May 25. The event’s pre-race coverage is slated to air at 10 a.m. ET on FOX and the drop of the green flag is slated to occur at 12:45 p.m. ET.
