Josef Newgarden recalls his 12-year-old self's dream come true with "crazy" IndyCar career

Nashville native Josef Newgarden came out ahead of the last two IndyCar races of the 2025 season and recalled his 12-year-old dream. The Team Penske driver spoke about the IndyCar race at Nashville Superspeedway and shared the story of how attending the race at the oval pushed him to become an IndyCar driver.

Josef Newgarden was born and brought up in Nashville, Tennessee. The Nashville Superspeedway was open for racing in 2001, and Indy Racing League (now IndyCar) made its debut at the circuit the very same year. Newgarden shared the story of how he attended the first race at the 1.330-mile tri-oval when he was just 12 years old.

Newgarden started karting at the age of 13 and soon won multiple championships and moved to single-seater open-wheel racing. He raced in the Skip Barber Racing School Series at regional and professional levels for the next few years before moving to Europe to race in the British Formula Ford Championship and GP3.

Josef Newgarden retired to the US in 2011 to race in the Indy Lights (now Indy NXT) before finally making his IndyCar debut in 2012. The Nashville resident made his IndyCar debut a little over a decade after first dreaming about becoming an American open-wheel racing driver.

NTT INDYCAR Series BITNILE.com Grand Prix of Portland - Source: Getty

Josef Newgarden featured on the News Channel 5, ahead of the 2025 IndyCar season finale at the Nashville Superspeedway, and spoke about the 2024 IndyCar race at the 1.330-mile tri-oval, where he finished on the podium. Detailing his younger self’s dream, he added,

“I used to go to the SuperSpeedway when I was a kid and watch IndyCar races. I thought it was the coolest thing, like a twelve year old sitting in the grand stands watching these things. They looked like rocket ships to me. That’s why I was drawn to them as a kid. I was like, ‘wow, how do humans drive these vehicles’ and was always so impressed by it”

“So the fact that I've made a career out of it, win so many races and drive for a Team like Team Penske and represent great partners like Astemo, Shell, PPG paints. It has been a crazy career, one that I never would’ve suspected. But I still love it, I still love going quick and see the youth get into it,” added Josef Newgarden.

Josef Newgarden reacted to Team Penske's decision to promote Jonathan Diuguid as Team President

Josef Newgarden and Will Power's Indy 500 entries were sent to the back of the grid following the attenuator scandal at the 109th running of the iconic race. As a result, three senior members of the team, including Team President Tim Cindric, Managing Director Ron Ruzewski, and General Manager Kyle Moyer, were fired by Roger Penske.

Jonathan Diuguid was announced as Tim Cindric’s replacement as the Team President. Josef Newgarden reacted to it as he said,

“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] (via Pit Pass Indy)

Will Power became the first Team Penske driver to win a race this season after his triumph at the 2025 Grand Prix of Portland.