Drivers/Teams

Biography

A consistent championship contender since he joined Team Penske, Josef Newgarden continues to amass wins and pole positions at an impressive rate as he competes in his 12th NTT INDYCAR SERIES (NICS) season in 2023. Newgarden has emerged as one of the true stars of INDYCAR, producing on the track and helping to attract new fans to the sport. The combination of Newgarden’s skills and hard work produced series titles in both 2017 and 2019, and he has finished first or second in the NICS standings in five of the six years since he joined Team Penske in 2017. His 25 career victories make him the winningest active American driver in INDYCAR competition. After producing five wins and a third consecutive championship runner-up finish behind the wheel of the No. 2 Hitachi/PPG/Shell Fuel Rewards Dallara/Chevrolet in 2022, Newgarden will strive to secure his third INDYCAR title in 2023.

In terms of visits to Victory Lane, the 2022 NICS season was the most successful to date for the Nashville, Tenn. resident. His five victories topped his previous best of four wins that came during his two championship seasons of 2017 and 2019, along with the 2020 campaign. His victories last season demonstrate how versatile the 31-year-old is as he enters the prime of his career. Wins at Texas Motor Speedway, Long Beach, Road America, Iowa Speedway and World Wide Technology Raceway paved the way for Newgarden to claim the inaugural PeopleReady Force for Good Challenge title, awarded to a driver that wins on an oval, road course and street circuit, and the $1 million check that came with it. Though Newgarden and the No. 2 team delivered dominant performances in 2022, consistency proved to be challenging over the course of the 17-race season as the team fell just short of earning their third series crown. An accident in the second race of the Iowa Speedway doubleheader – while Newgarden appeared to be on his way to sweeping the weekend – would also prove detrimental to his championship hopes.

For the 2021 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season, Newgarden and the No. 2 Chevrolet team did not score a victory until Round 10 at Mid-Ohio, and the team won again at World Wide Technology Raceway to ultimately finish second in the championship for the second consecutive year.

The pandemic-condensed 2020 season saw Newgarden capture four wins – including three over the final six races of the year – to go along with three NTT P1 Pole Awards as he once again narrowly missed claiming his third career series crown.

Newgarden’s success in 2020 followed what might have been the best all-around season of his career. In 2019, he posted four victories, including the season opener at St. Petersburg, the first race of the Detroit doubleheader weekend and oval track triumphs at Texas and Iowa. With seven podium finishes and two poles, Newgarden paved a path to his second series championship as he earned Team Penske’s 16th INDYCAR crown.

Early in the 2018 season, it appeared that Newgarden might be on his way to titles in his first two seasons with Team Penske. He got off to a strong start with wins at two of the first four races – at Phoenix and Barber Motorsports Park. Following a tough stretch in the middle of the season, Newgarden returned to Victory Lane at Road America in July. He closed the year with eight consecutive top-10 finishes and wound up fifth in the championship standings to complete a strong sophomore season with Team Penske.

Arriving at Team Penske shortly after the completion of the 2016 season, Newgarden didn’t take long to make his mark in the record books of the winningest team in the history of North American open-wheel racing. He raced to Victory Lane early in the 2017 INDYCAR SERIES season with a win at Barber Motorsports Park in just his third start for Team Penske. Newgarden drove the No. 2 Chevrolet to the winner’s circle three more times – at Toronto, Mid-Ohio and Gateway – over the course of the season to lead all series drivers with four wins. He posted 10 top-five and 13 top-10 finishes while leading at least one lap in a series-best 12 races on his way to winning his first career NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship and Team Penske’s 15th title in open-wheel racing.

By claiming the INDYCAR crown in his first season with Team Penske, Newgarden joined some elite company. Rick Mears, Al Unser Sr., Al Unser Jr., and Gil de Ferran are the only other drivers to accomplish that feat in the team’s storied history. Winning the title at age 26, Newgarden also became the youngest series champion since Scott Dixon won it at 23 in 2003, and he was the first American-born driver to claim the championship since Ryan Hunter-Reay in 2012.

Newgarden began his racing career when he was 13 years old as he won numerous karting titles between 2006-2008 at New Castle (Ind.) Motorsports Park. After racing in Europe for a few years, he returned to the United States in 2011 and captured the Indy Lights championship for Sam Schmidt Motorsports, as he posted five wins and 10 podium finishes in 14 starts. The performance earned Newgarden an opportunity at Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing for the 2012 INDYCAR SERIES season.

After he scored his first two career INDYCAR SERIES wins in 2015, Newgarden produced one of the most dominant victories in series history while driving for Ed Carpenter Racing during the 2016 season. He led a series-record 282 of 300 laps after starting second on his way to victory at Iowa Speedway. Adding to the impressive performance was the fact that the race came just four weeks after Newgarden suffered a fractured clavicle and right hand in a dramatic accident at Texas Motor Speedway. Overall in 2016, Newgarden recorded six top-five and 11 top-10 results as he finished fourth in the championship standings, just behind the three Team Penske drivers that would become his teammates later that year – Simon Pagenaud, Will Power and Helio Castroneves.  

As he begins his 12th series season in 2023, Newgarden hopes to guide the No. 2 Chevy team to another NTT INDYCAR SERIES title and claim his first Indianapolis 500 victory. A former high school baseball player who loves to play ping pong when he’s away from the track, Newgarden and his wife Ashley reside in Nashville, Tenn. with their young son, Kota.

Newgarden Key Accomplishments

• Crowned NTT INDYCAR SERIES Champion in both 2017 and 2019
• Earned 25 INDYCAR SERIES wins entering 2023
• The winningest active American driver in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES
• Won 16 career pole positions entering the 2023 season
• Ranked 16th on the NTT INDYCAR SERIES all-time wins list entering the 2023 season, tied with Gordon Johncock
• Won the inaugural $1 million PeopleReady Force for Good Challenge in 2022
• Established a new series record for laps led in a single race by leading 282 laps en route to victory at Iowa in 2016
• Nominated for the 2018 ESPY Best Driver Award after winning the 2017 INDYCAR SERIES championship
• Recipient of the 2012 Rising Star Award
• Captured the 2011 Indy Lights Series championship