Team Penske’s Newgarden, Power tuning-out Indy 500 distractions
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio
Relegated to a last-row/32nd starting spot due to a technical rule violation, INDYCAR star Josef Newgarden still believes he can win the 109th Indianapolis 500 on Sunday.
Josef Newgarden. Photo by Joe Skibinski
“Oh, absolutely. Absolutely,” Newgarden said matter-of-factly during his Media Day appearance Thursday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where Almighty Team Penske has been operating in full-bore damage-control since last Sunday. “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.
“Proud of everything that we have done up to this point. Ready to go racing. So that’s what I got to say.”
Appearing in separate interviews on the Fourth Floor of the DEX Imaging Media Center, Newgarden and Will Power delivered their first public remarks since sanctioning body INDYCAR slapped their respective teams with major grid penalties that prompted a stunning overhaul of Penske’s top management.
Newgarden has won the past two Indy 500s via last-lap passes. Newgarden is just the sixth driver to win an Indy 500 in consecutive years, joining Wilbur Shaw (1939-40), Mauri Rose (1947-48), Bill Vukovich (1953-54), Al Unser (1970-71) and Helio Castroneves (2001-02). No driver has won three consecutive editions of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” And Newgarden never has started lower than 22nd in the race’s traditional 33-car field since joining Team Penske in 2017.
“I like the challenge coming from 32nd,” Newgarden said. “I don’t know what the day looks like, it’s so hard to predict. We do have a great car. It just seems to be getting better every year. I’m trying to protect that right now. It’s one of these things where every day changes a little bit at the Speedway. You have to stay on top of it. Sunday is really going to be the day that counts. We have to make sure we’re in the right place for that day. If we can do that, we should be in a good spot.”
Teammate Power, winner of the 2018 Indy 500, will start 33rd/last. Newgarden and Power _ a pair of two-time NTT IndyCar Series champions _ will be working with revised pit box personnel after team founder/owner Roger S. Penske fired three top executives in the wake of a second rules infraction over the past two seasons.
Longtime Team President Tim Cindric, INDYCAR Managing Director Ron Ruzewski and INDYCAR General Manager Kyle Moyer were scheduled to be the respective Race Day strategists for Newgarden, Power and teammate Scott McLaughlin of New Zealand. Those execs have been replaced by Luke Mason, Jonathan Diuguid and Ben Bretzman, respectively.
“I just see a bigger mountain. That’s all I see,” said Newgarden, a 34-year-old native of Nashville, Tenn., and winner of 31 series races. “There is no one formula (to win). I know ‘a’ formula, and I don’t think it changes starting 32nd. We know what we need to do throughout the race to give ourselves an opportunity to go for the win. I think that’s really not the secret, but it’s just the formula. You have to give yourself a chance at the right time.
“That seems simple, but this race is an endurance in a lot of ways. It’s 500 miles. A lot you have to calculate your way through _ the way you manage yellows, where you put yourself in the strategies, when you make moves, when you don’t. There’s a cadence to it.
“We’ve done it before and we’ll try and do the exact same this (Sunday).”
The entire field returned to the track Friday morning for Miller Lite Carb Day, the final two-hour practice. Friday’s schedule also featured the Oscar Mayer $150,000 Pit Stop Challenge. Sunday’s expanded broadcast coverage will be carried on FOX Sports, FOX Deportes, FOX Sports app and the INDYCAR Radio Network starting at 10 a.m. (EDT), with the green flag set for approximately 12:45 p.m.
Newgarden and Power were swept-up in a weird circumstance just before the start of Sunday’s Top 12 Qualifying session. Newgarden’s No. 2 Shell V-Power NiTRO+ Team Penske Chevrolet and Power’s No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevy were pulled from making their respective single, four-lap/10-mile qualifying attempts after being cited with a violation of INDYCAR Rule 14.7.8.16 _ specifically, an unapproved body fit on the rear attenuator of each Dallara chassis.
INDYCAR officials subsequently dropped Newgarden from 11th to 32nd and Power from 12th on the grid to 33rd on Monday. On Wednesday morning, Penske meted-out in-house justice when he fired Cindric, Ruzewski and Moyer.
“Nothing is more important than the integrity of our sport and our race teams,” Penske, 88, said in a statement. “We have had organizational failures during the last two years, and we had to make necessary changes. I apologize to our fans, our partners and our organization for letting them down.”
Recall that Newgarden was stripped of his victory in the 2024 season-opener on the Streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., after a two-month investigation by INDYCAR confirmed he and teammate Scott McLaughlin had illegally engaged their car’s Push-to-Pass mechanism. Newgarden spent much of his 2024 Month of May denying that he had intentionally cheated at St. Pete. He then silenced his critics by completing the race-winning, Lap 200 pass around Arrow McLaren ace Pato O’Ward, a native of Mexico with family ties to San Antonio, Texas.
If the current scenario casts Newgarden and Power as Race Day villains before a sellout crowd of approximately 350,000…they’ll have to deal with it.
“Right now, I’m trying to remain _ what’s the way to put this? _ trying to remain happy,” Newgarden said. “This is the Indy 500. I just said it at the very beginning, too. I look forward to this time of year every season. I can’t wait. We’re going to have a sold-out crowd here for the Indianapolis 500, as it should be. To see all the people that show up and make this what it is, I look forward to that.
“That’s how I feel right now. I’m ready to go racing. I know I have a good car. I’m ready to work with my team and hopefully put on a good show. There’s no guarantees, but I’m ready to rock.”
Power, a 44-year-old native of Australia, acknowledged that Cindric, Ruzewski and Moyer were more than co-workers _ they are his friends. “Yeah, it’s kind of a shock and a pity. They’re all extremely good at their job,” Power said. “Yeah, it was just the pressure from outside. I guess Roger had to make a tough decision, but I can tell you these were very credible people. They really were. As you know, the infraction was very minor. It wasn’t a performance gain. Yeah.
“I called Ron. Obviously, he’s on my car. I didn’t get him. But yeah, I feel bad for everyone involved in that situation. I really do. It’s just tough. I don’t know what else to say. They’re all extremely good people, great at their job, won a lot of races, championships, created an incredible team.
“Yeah, a real pity.”
Power, who joined Team Penske fulltime in 2010, is the organization’s longest-tenured driver. Competing in the final year of his current contract, Power is fully-aware that a strong result Sunday would bolster his case for at least another one-year deal with the team based in Mooresville, N.C.
“Yeah, I mean, man, I’ve been around long enough to shut that stuff out and still focus on the thing that you’re here to do, and that’s to get the absolute most out of the car,” Power said. “You still have to do your homework. You can’t be distracted by all this. My main focus is Sunday, and that’s true. I’m not too swept up in it. I’ve got plenty of time after the race to think about that, but we’re coming up on the biggest race of the year for us.
“Yeah, I think everyone…I feel like everyone on the team is positive and very motivated. I think being the driver you need to show that this is not affecting you, and you’re very focused on the job at-hand, and I am. I am. I haven’t allowed too much emotional stress to take away energy that I need on Sunday. Tough situation, but we still got a job to do.”
In a sense, Power said he is mimicking “The Captain,” who owns and oversees the embattled three-car INDYCAR team, the NTT IndyCar Series, the iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Penske Entertainment Corp. “I think Roger moves forward very quickly,” Power said. “I know him over the years, he makes decisions. He moves forward. Doesn’t dwell on it. Starts looking at what is absolutely best for the team and everyone to move forward. That’s Roger. That’s why he’s so successful.
“He’s not going to sit and spend a month worrying about what happened. I think he’s, ‘How can we fix this and let’s move forward and make sure it doesn’t happen again.’^”
Newgarden noted it will be difficult for himself and Power to “work together” in a bid to move up the grid. “We can certainly not hinder each other,” Newgarden said. “That’s probably the best way to put it. We’re on the same team. We got the same goal. We want to get all our cars up-front. We want a car to win for our team, for our group.
“We don’t need to be hindering each other. I don’t know that we’re going to be able to work in parallel. It’s very tough to do here at the Speedway. In a lot of ways starting in the back, it’s every person for themselves. We’re just aware of each other.
“Yeah, I think everybody is going to be of the same mentality. Everyone wants to get to the front as quickly as possible. I’m not sure how it affects me with the cars. I kind of look at the field, you’re against everybody here. Yeah, I’m not really looking at who’s lined up in the back to start.”
Power said there really is no such thing as being “extra motivated” by the penalty scenario, even one that in his case could be career-altering.
“I think it just kind of makes you lock-in,” Power said. “You know, yeah, I think everyone is just locked-in on the job. People have to step-up now because we’re missing some key individuals, and that can be motivating for people. Like, ‘All right, I’ve got to take on more work and responsibility.’ You know, that’s all of us in the team right now.
“I think you get the best out of people in those situations. No one is ever ready for that. That’s why competition is so good. I think that’s what always gets the best out of me is tough situations. You see how good you really are.”
