Josef Newgarden opens up about his racetrack intensity 'not moving the needle' as he sits 12th in the standings

Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden recently spoke about his aggression on the racetrack and how he has been unable to use it to yield positive results this season so far. Newgarden currently sits in the 12th position in the driver's championship.

On Wednesday, May 14, the two-time Indy 500 champion was questioned by Bob Pockrass about his aggressive on-track performance, which hasn't produced any results. Newgarden is currently 152 points behind the championship leader, Alex Palou. He responded to the question by saying,

"My intensity, my intensity is definitely not moving the needle this year.I mean I don't know we've had a tough start for sure. You know, 5 races and we have a lot to show for it. Think there are some really positive signs in there so im not like over stressing it. Just because we don't have lot to show for it so far." (via Bob Pockrass on X)

During last year's season, Josef Newgarden was in 8th place in the driver's championship. This season so far, he has succeeded in getting only one podium place. His teammate, Scott McLaughlin, has managed to finish the last 4 out of 5 races in the top 10.

As for Josef Newgarden's 2025 season, it is off to a decent start, as he qualified in 10th place at the season opener at the Firestone Grand Prix of St.Petersburg held on March 2 and finished the race in third place. However, during the 50th anniversary ACURA Grand Prix of Long Beach held on April 13, he qualified in 15th place and plummeted down the order to finish the race in last, 27th place.

During the recently held Sonsio Grand Prix, the Nashville native qualified in 6th place and took the checkered flag in 12th place. Josef Newgarden is currently gearing up for the upcoming 109th running of the Indianapolis 500 and is looking forward to making it a three-peat.

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Josef Newgarden opens up about his ' Nothing to brag about' performance at Barber Motorsports Park

The Team Penske driver, Josef Newgarden, recently spoke about his performance at the Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix held at Barber Motorsports Park on May 4. He finished the race in 10th place.

The 34-year-old driver reflected on his performance at the Grand Prix and called the result decent, saying that it was 'nothing to brag about.' While in conversation with Speed Digest, Josef Newgarden spoke about the team's performance and how he hopes to stand on the top step of the podium soon. He said,

"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 gained success at the track for two consecutive years in 2017 and 2018.