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LEBANON, Tenn. — Josef Newgarden didn’t have high hopes following his qualifying laps Saturday. He said he was waiting for someone to come by and hit him with a bat.
He avoided the bat throughout the 2025 season finale Sunday at Nashville Superspeedway. He led the final 21 laps to somewhat salvage his season, as he avoided a winless year and finished 12th in the standings.
The two-time INDYCAR champion wouldn’t call the win validation and said the victory wouldn’t change how he looked at his worst season since 2014.
Josef Newgarden (center) celebrates on the podium with Scott McLaughlin and Alex Palou after winning Nashville
“I’ve seen the win potential in this team all year, so many different times. … There’s been a lot of strength across the calendar.
“And so, this win isn’t even really like it’s validation. I saw the potential of it all year for the group. So I don’t really feel differently about it being realized. I’m just happy for everybody. Happy that they’re able to enjoy it.”
Newgarden passed teammate Scott McLaughlin for the lead when McLaughlin skidded in the upper groove and brushed the wall. It brought out the caution, and Newgarden held off series champion Alex Palou for the win with McLaughlin third.
The win delighted at least some of the crowd, as Newgarden lives in Nashville. The racetrack is located about 40 minutes south-southwest of the city.
“I used to come here when was 12, 13 years old and I would watch stock-car races, INDYCAR races. I’d watch anything that came here,” Newgarden said. “I sat in those stands, wherever I was able to go at the end of the race. I had no idea that I would have a racing career at that point in my life.
Josef Newgarden prior to the NTT INDYCAR Series Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix.
“It’s cool to come full circle and to be so close to home.”
As much as everyone might have wanted this to be an emotional this-made-the-season type of celebration and vibe, that isn’t Newgarden’s style.
He has noticeably fumed throughout this year.
The day before the race, he mentioned that he felt he could finish on the podium (top three) but wouldn’t say that he needed it.
“I don’t need it,” Newgarden said. “I’m almost just ready for somebody to step around the corner with a bat and smack me in the face every two seconds. I don’t know that I need anything, but I’m a little bit jerky these days.”
Newgarden said he was tired because it was a home race for him, and that means extra events for him — as well as plenty of ticket requests.
“I’m a little tired,” Newgarden said. “It’s always tough to be at home on these weekends. You’re at work but you’re not.”
Josef Newgarden during the INDYCAR race at Nashville.
He probably would have had a little more energy if his season did not have so many disappointments.
He had a belt issue at Long Beach and a mechanical issue at the Indianapolis 500. There was the crash at Toronto, where he landed on top of another car. There was the caution coming out during a green-flag pit cycle when he was dominating at Iowa and then races where he just didn’t seem strong. The season was a miserable one for Newgarden.
“It doesn’t feel that different,” Newgarden explained. “Nothing went diabolically wrong. … A meteor didn’t come out of the sky today, which was nice.
“Other than that, it felt like a normal day in a lot of respects. It was not an easy race. I did not have the car where I wanted it at the start right away. I’m like, ‘OK we’re nowhere where we need to be, let’s be patient.’”
Newgarden finished third in the season-opener at St. Petersburg but he had just five top 10s in the next 16 races.
Newgarden said he doesn’t really care about stats anymore.
Considering he has finished in the top 10 in 60 percent of his races coming into 2025, it is clear this season wasn’t up to his standards.
He also lost his strategist and team president Tim Cindric, after the team’s trouble in tech at Indianapolis resulted in an overhaul of the Penske management team of its INDYCAR program.
“This has been a tough year on the team,” Newgarden said. “The schedule was tough this year, and everybody just kept working, kept their head down and kept doing their jobs.
“If anything, that’s what’s gratifying for us as a unit. It definitely sends us into the offseason and we can go to work. At the end of the day, we need to go to work this offseason. We need to have a better ’26 and we’re ready to do that.”
Since his first win in 2015, Newgarden has not had a winless season. He extended his streak of a year with a win to 11.
If anyone thought he would celebrate that? Well, they’d be mistaken.
“I’ve got to be honest, I didn’t care about that anymore,” Newgarden said. “I really didn’t. I know that we have that, but it’s like, what does it matter?
“I used to be a big stats guy. I don’t care about stats anymore.”
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