Penske ace Josef Newgarden explains IndyCar tire stagger on the ovals

Two-time Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden has featured in Firestone Racing’s Instagram reel, uploaded on June 12, 2025. The Team Penske driver came out ahead in the IndyCar race at the World Wide Technology Raceway and explained what tire stagger was on the oval circuits.

Unlike the road course IndyCar races, where the teams run similar-sized tires on both sides of the car, the teams run different-sized tires on the left and right sides of the car around the ovals. The difference in the circumference of the left and right tires is known as the tire stagger.

The oval IndyCar races are run in an anticlockwise direction, meaning the drivers have to turn left throughout the race. As a result, the IndyCars run a larger circumference (courtesy of a larger diameter tire) on the right-hand side, which helps the drivers turn left.

Josef Newgarden explained the same in the recent Firestone reel in collaboration with World Wide Technology Raceway and IndyCar. The Team Penske star stood next to a set of Firestone IndyCar slick tires as Josef Newgarden said:

“Okay so, with racing tires, on an oval, we run them asymmetrically, which means the left side is typically a smaller diameter compared to the right side. The right side is always a little larger in diameter. We call that a stagger, as you stagger the two sides of the car.

“It helps with the natural rotation of the car mechanically through an oval situation, where you are turning predominantly left. So there are a couple of different reasons why they do that, but it's very much like what we do with the setup, where we don't run it symmetrical and have the same thing on both sides. We are trying to help the car to work better in a natural state around left hand corners,” added Josef Newgarden.

The IndyCar teams have to make adjustments to the suspension of the cars to run the tire stagger as ride height also changes from left to right, which may lead to an aerodynamic imbalance.

The larger circumference of the right tires helps the wheels of the IndyCar rotate at similar speeds around the right corners, as the right tires have to cover a larger distance in comparison to the left tires.

Josef Newgarden hopes for a ‘result that matches performance’ for Team Penske ahead of the next IndyCar race

Josef Newgarden detailed in an interview how Team Penske has been strong around the ovals for the last five years. The Team Penske driver suggested that Penske has had a strong car since the start of the season, but hasn't gotten the results to show for it.

Speaking about hoping for a great result at WWTR, Josef Newgarden said:

“We’ve had some really good runs this year, just no results to show for it. It just hasn’t been what we’re capable of doing. We plan to just bring the same performance we’ve been bringing all year long,” Newgarden said.

"Just try and get to the finish line with the result that matches the performances.”

Josef Newgarden has won four of the last six races held at the World Wide Technology Raceway. In the last four years, he has won three races around WWTR while his teammates Will Power and Scott McLaughlin managed to grab pole position on two occasions each.