Written by Archie O’Reilly
Two-time reigning Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden says he has taken positives from the negatives of a turbulent 2024 IndyCar season.
Team Penske’s Newgarden, a two-time series champion in 2017 and 2019, became the first driver in 22 years to defend their Indy 500 crown but finished eighth in the championship standings after 17 races - his lowest finish since his third career season in 2014.
“I do think it was a dynamic year,” Newgarden told DIVEBOMB at IndyCar’s annual Content Day. “It was a year of great highs - there were multiple strong points to it - but then there were some tremendous lows.
“[It was] very volatile and rocky. But I would say transformative, if anything. For me, it was a really good year to go through. It makes me excited about 2025. It ended up being a really positive year for the way everything transpired, even the waviness of the year.”
Newgarden won one further race at World Wide Technology Raceway and picked up six podium results overall, but he finished outside the top 10 nine times - over 50 percent of the races. The struggles have left him motivated for 2025.
“It just puts us in a good spot to come out firing and I think we can do that,” Newgarden said. “I don’t have many more adjectives for it. It was just very up and down. So many good things to take from it. Certainly Indy was the biggest highlight but a lot of positives all around.
“Even within the negatives, they all turned into positives I thought.”
One low point of Newgarden’s year came at the very start. Having dominated the season-opening race on the streets of St. Petersburg to win from pole, he was disqualified - along with third-place finishing teammate Scott McLaughlin - having been found to have illegally used IndyCar’s push-to-pass system on a caution restart.
Combining this and inconsistent results, it was a season of overcoming adversity for Newgarden and his No.2 team.
“[We learned] lots,” he said. “We’re always growing. I think that’s the goal, you’ve got to get better every year. Certainly I think even as humans we’re trying to constantly evolve and be better prepared or be in a better spot year after year. And I think that’s true for us.
“Certainly after a season like 2024, resilience is a word that comes to my mind. I think we have tonnes of it, so everybody is rallied together and ready to go.”
Despite some of the errant results in 2024, which saw Newgarden finish 104 and 97 points behind teammates Scott McLaughlin and Will Power, he maintains he is well-positioned to challenge in 2025.
“2024 was unfortunate in a lot of ways when you look at the numbers and you study average position, all of these metrics,” Newgarden said. “We’re in just as good of a spot as we’ve always been.
“There were some outlier events as everybody is aware of in 2024. But when I look at the numbers I go: ‘This is really not different to what it was in years prior, when we were spreading wins across the board on ovals, road courses and street courses.’ I think that’s still very intact.
“I’m not dwelling on that too much. I think we’ve just got to right the ship in some ways from what we saw last year. We just had choppy water, and I think once we find a little clearer water, we’re going to be in a good spot.”
A key part of Newgarden’s 2025 season is bidding to become the first driver to win three successive Indy 500s. And now a part of the two-time Indy 500 winners’ club, Newgarden says he is recognised as such more so than a two-time series champion.
“I think it’s the nature of our championship,” he said. “The Indianapolis 500 really transcends anything else. There’s nothing like the Indianapolis 500. You certainly realise that after you win it.
“I felt the magnitude of it - not from the recognition afterwards or how much notoriety there was but more so like the personal impact. You really feel the weight of the 500 in the moment, when you’re there and winning it.
“It already feels like a huge deal when you’re in the race, but when you win it, it just hits differently and you really feel the impact.”
Newgarden acknowledges that winning the Indy 500, for which he says his team have “figured out” the formula for success, is a different challenge to a championship push.
“It’s so hard to compare the two,” he said. “One is a single event that’s a big build-up - it’s a lot of time commitment throughout the Month of May. There’s more pressure to win the Indianapolis 500 than anything else so that’s the key difference there.
“Then for the championship you have to be good for so long across so many different types of courses. They’re both gratifying. I think they both deserve extreme recognition.”
Newgarden, as one of the series’ most prolific figures, has also made headlines in recent days for starring in FOX Sports’ first IndyCar commercial. It comes as the first of a number of driver-centred advertisements from the series’ new broadcast partner.
“They’ve done a tremendous job,” Newgarden said. “It’s been a long time since we’ve had a partner like FOX that has fully bought in and understands the significance of IndyCar.
“They’re capital intensive when it comes to entertainment and as far as production quality and innovation. They’re not scared to try things. I think we have needed that for quite a while and they’re going to help push the sport where it deserves to be.
“We’re not hoping and dreaming for IndyCar to be this thing that it’s never been before. IndyCar used to be a household name and it deserves to be. It’s been this hidden gem for so long now. I think FOX will take it to new heights.”
The commercial, which has garnered a lot of praise from fellow drivers for its fun portrayal of Newgarden’s journey to IndyCar and Indy 500 success, was filmed in Los Angeles last month.
“I think we filmed for eight hours,” Newgarden said. “My message has been: ‘If you’re willing to give us everything, we’re going to give you everything.’ We’re really trying to work as a team.
“It felt like the real deal. When you were out there it was like: ‘Okay, someone is giving IndyCar the platform and recognition that it’s probably deserved for a long time. It just feels like the platform that we’ve been missing in a lot of ways.”
As Newgarden later found out, the commercial even featured NFL legend Tom Brady with a quip about Newgarden being “not that handsome”.
“He wasn’t in the script,” Newgarden said. “The way I understand it is no one promises Brady because you just don’t know if you're going to pull it off. And obviously they did. It’s really cool. I think it legitimises things so much.
“I think the sport is in a good direction, and to have him involved is only a good thing.”
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