Josef Newgarden breaks silence on Roger Penske's latest Team Penske change in aftermath of Indy 500 scandal

Two-time IndyCar champion Josef Newgarden has shared his thoughts on Roger Penske's senior leadership changes within Team Penske following the 2025 Indy 500 scandal. Ahead of qualifying at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Newgarden and Will Power's cars were found in violation of IndyCar Rule 14.7.8.16 in regard to having a modified rear (safety device) attenuator.

As a result, Roger Penske fired Team President Tim Cindric, IndyCar Managing Director Ron Ruzewski and IndyCar General Manager Kyle Moyer on May 21, 2025.

In place of them, Team Penske, via its official website on July 4, announced the signing of Jonathan Diuguid as President of Penske Racing and Travis Law as the Competition Director.

Josef Newgarden was recently asked to give his take on this via the Pit Pass Indy Podcast, and he said the following while specifically talking about Diuguid:

"I've got a lot of confidence in Jonathan, and certainly our entire team, you know, we have great depth all the way across the board amongst everybody. I think Jonathan is a great leader and, you know, has been through so many different positions within a team and really understands the whole scope of the job." [15:53 onwards]

Jonathan Diuguid has been a long-term member (over 20 years) of Team Penske. In his new role, he will oversee Penske teams competing in IndyCar as well as the Porsche Penske Motorsport, which competes in IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship (IMSA) and the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). All this will be done alongside Competition Director Travis Law.

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Josef Newgarden's take on his bad luck in 2025

Josef Newgarden and the whole Team Penske outfit have not performed at expected levels in the 2025 IndyCar season. Newgarden, alongside teammates Will Power and Scott McLaughlin, has had his share of bad luck and said the following via the same podcast:

"I don't know if I'm looking forward to the season ending, but I'm always looking forward to the next race, and we're here in Laguna or WeatherTech race, whatever you wanna call it, and you know, motivated and excited to be here with the team." [15:08 onwards]

The ongoing IndyCar campaign is 14 rounds down, and Josef Newgarden is currently way down in P15 in the Drivers' standings with only 232 points. In the process of doing so, he has secured a solitary pole position, two top-fives and five top-ten finishes. Moreover, he is also the third-best driver at Team Penske, with Scott McLaughlin in P12 and Will Power in P9.

In the remaining three races, the goal for Newgarden would be to finish as high as possible and bring the 2025 campaign to an end on a high note.