Josef Newgarden admits ‘nothing to brag about’ in candid Barber reveal

Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden recently opened up about his race at the Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix, which was held on May 4. He spoke about his feelings after getting 10th place in the race.

The 34-year-old drives the #2 Team Penske car powered by Chevrolet. He recently opened up about his outing at the Barber Motorsports Park and how the result is 'nothing to brag about' despite making it into the top ten.

While talking to Speed Digest, the Team Penske driver discussed the execution of the race by the team and his hopes to claim a victory soon.

“Just a decent day. At least got a decent result. P10-nothing to brag about. At least we got some points and a clean day which is probably the most important at the moment. Lacked a little bit of speed in the race. The team executed really well. We just wanted to get as much as we could. Just disappointed we couldn’t drive forward a little bit more," he said.

"Sometimes its all you have on a weekend. Everyone did a great job. We rallied pretty aggressively on Saturday just to try to compensate for the hybrid issue.The team did a good job sticking with it and getting what we could out of it. Again, just brought home a solid result. Something we can build on to get a podium or a victory here hopefully soon,” he added.

Josef Newgarden has previously won at the road course for two consecutive years, in 2017 and 2018. He had also claimed his maiden victory at the track in 2015 with CFH Racing. During his previous outing in 2024 at the road course, Josef Newgarden qualified in 8th place and wrapped up the race in 16th place.

The Amercian driver's 2025 IndyCar season is off to a decent start as he qualified in 10th place for the season opener at the Firestone Grand Prix of St.Petersburg held on March 2 and ended the race in third place. However, during the recently held 50th anniversary ACURA Grand Prix of Long Beach held on April 13, the two-time Indy 500 champion qualified in 15th place and finished the race in 27th place.

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When Josef Newgarden spoke about his dreams of becoming a Formula One driver as a youngster

The Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden had a dream to compete in Formula One as a youngster. However, the American driver settled in for IndyCar.

The #2 Team Penske car driver participated in various junior categories and moved up the ranks. He was also interested in various other motorsports that included stock racing, but the glamorous appeal of Formula One drew him in.

While in conversation with All Things Automotive in 2020, Newgarden spoke about his dreams of becoming a Formula One driver and why he never pursued them.

"I wanted to go to F1 when I was younger. That’s not to say that I didn’t want to go to IndyCar, but F1 seemed like a great place to start. Looking back on it, it’s really hard to take that path. There’s not a lot of accessibility for drivers, especially American drivers, to find the funds and compete and really get a fair shot at F1. So I always wanted to pursue Formula 1 and IndyCar. And it wouldn’t stop there. I was interested in stock car racing, prototype racing, and Le Mans. There’s still a lot on my list that I want to do," he had said.

However, despite not being able to fulfil his dream of joining F1, Josef Newgarden has had an incredible career in racing. The two-time IndyCar and Indy 500 champion is now gearing up for his next race of the season, ie the Sonsio Grand Prix on May 10.