“I’d want to know”: When Josef Newgarden addressed the subject of ‘secret illegal part’ on his racecar

Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden is an out-and-out legend of the IndyCar series. Having competed in over 200 Grand Prix races, he was asked in 2019 to give his take on having an illegal part on his racecar.

In line with this, Newgarden made it quite clear that if there ever were an illegal part on his racecar, he would have to know about it. In conversation with Jeff Gluck, back in the day, the motorsport insider asked him:

"If your team put a super secret illegal part on your car that made it way faster, would you want to know about it?"

As a response, Newgarden added:

"Yeah, I think I would, because I’m a control freak, and I crave information — but in a positive way. Like I feel the best when I have the most knowledge of something, whether it’s the session we just ran or the way I’m driving the car. I want to have as much knowledge as possible and understand everything. So I think I would want to know about it."

Josef Newgarden is a two-time IndyCar champion and is also gunning for a third victory in the Indy 500. His first two triumphs came in consecutive years in 2023 and 2024.

But going into this month's Indy 500, he is not looking at his absolute best. After the first four rounds of the 2025 IndyCar season, Newgarden finds himself in 11th place in the drivers' standings with only 78 points.

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Josef Newgarden unveiled the 2025 Indy 500 ticket

Josef Newgarden gets out of his car during the INDYCAR Open Testing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway - Source: Getty

In March 2025, Josef Newgarden was presented with the opportunity by Indianapolis Motor Speedway to unveil the Indy 500 ticket. The 34-year-old did the same at the Indianapolis International Airport.

"It’s very cool to be here in the Indianapolis International Airport. Indiana and Tennessee are my two homes, so the fact we have the Indianapolis 500 in Indiana and the (NTT IndyCar Series) championship finale in Tennessee is a great parallel. To top it all off is seeing this beautiful ticket from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Indy 500. It’s an incredible-looking ticket," Newgarden said via Autoweek.

In his IndyCar career, Josef Newgarden has competed in over 200 races (as mentioned above) and has so far amassed 31 wins, 58 podiums, and 18 pole positions. His two championship triumphs came in 2017 and 2019.

While the 34-year-old has not been able to get his hands on the championship since, he has been able to lift the Indy 500 twice. Moreover, in the 2024 edition of the race, he was able to secure the victory by getting the better of Arrow McLaren driver, Pato O'Ward, during the dying stages of the race.

He has had a pretty up-and-down start, and considering this, it will be interesting to see how he performs in the much-awaited 2025 Indy 500.