Newgarden not overreacting to tough IndyCar season after Iowa pole

Credit: Chris Owens

It has been a difficult IndyCar season for Josef Newgarden. But after taking pole position for the first race of this weekend’s Iowa Speedway doubleheader, he has rallied behind his Team Penske team in a show of defiance.

Sitting 19th in the standings, two-time champion Newgarden has not finished lower in the championship since rounding out his rookie season 23rd in 2012. He has been on a downwards trend results wise since a run of three successive runner-up finishes in points between 2020 and 2022 - coming off the back of two titles in three years.

He was fifth in 2023 and eighth last year, which was his worst result in the standings for Penske and since 2015, and that trajectory has continued into a third season.

Now 10 races into the 2025 season, Newgarden’s only race finish better than ninth was his podium in the season-opening race in St. Petersburg. He has five results 22nd or worse, including a recent run of 25th, 25th and 27th, amid a bout of misfortune and incidents.

But no matter the struggles of the season so far, Newgarden maintains full faith in the Penske team with whom he is in a ninth season and signed a long-term extension last year.

“I have zero doubt in our process and what we do,” Newgarden said. “Man, I’ve been here a long time. I’ve worked with, it feels like, the best of the best - it really does - across the board. We have really good people, still do, and the worst thing to do would be to change what our process is. 

“To overreact would be the wrong decision. That’s definitely not what we should be doing. It’s been a unique stretch for us but we’ve got the team, without a doubt. I believe in every individual here and we’ve got a fast car. Team Chevy has done a good job for us. 

“We don’t have any results to show for it, unfortunately, so we’re trying to change that.”

Credit: Joe Skibinski

Newgarden’s Iowa pole is only a second on a track regarded as his home away from home as the ‘King of Corn Country’. He will start fourth for the second race of the doubleheader on Sunday too, marking his two best qualifying results of this trying season.

Teammate Scott McLaughlin will start last for both races after a qualifying crash, while Will Power will line up seventh and sixth for the two races.

“We’ve had a lot of speed all year at different times and at different places,” Newgarden said. “Not every time but there’s a lot of times where we have had speed and it’s just not materialised. I don’t think [the pole] is necessarily a surprise for us but it’s always good to get a little win on the board. That’s really all it is.”

Qualifying takes on a unique format for the two-race oval weekends, particularly in the era of the hybrid unit. Drivers essentially have to prioritise one of their two laps - thus their starting position for one of the two races - to deploy the additional boost.

And owing to a package change - an altered downforce configuration and reduced power - in a bid to improve racing at Iowa, Newgarden feels the field has been drawn tighter together.

“I don’t want to say easy but [the cars] are kind of easy to drive in this state,” Newgarden said. “That’s why you saw the lap times so very, very, very close. And you sort of prioritise Lap 1, Lap 2… definitely with the hybrid usage, depending how you use it throughout the run, it’s going to favour Lap 1 or Lap 2.

“Our Lap 1 was really solid. I don’t know that we could have done much better except being more risky and putting something more aggressive on the car. Then Lap 2 was good as well. So we’re in the mix. It’s certainly a tough qualifying session because you’ve got to get it just right.”

Credit: Joe Skibinski

Newgarden is the only driver in the field with multiple victories at Iowa. And not only does he sport multiple wins, he has reigned supreme six times on the 0.894-mile short oval.

But a NASCAR-induced repave ahead of the 2024 IndyCar doubleheader was detrimental to the quality of racing, forcing a processional, single-lane affair across both races last year. It is an entirely different track to that on which Newgarden dominated for so many years.

“It’s a totally different race,” Newgarden said. “Last year, no one could really do anything. It was like the one time you needed to qualify well was here last year and we had a disastrous qualifying. 

“I don’t really know how to analyse what the race will be. It’s hard to perfectly predict it. I don’t know that it’s going to be very different to last year but let’s wait and see. We’ll see if we get a second lane working. Right now it seems tough.”

Newgarden feels the package that IndyCar has brought to try and solve the issues with the racing product last year may be a little conservative but is open-minded heading into the two races.

“It’s not an exact science,” he said. “They’re in a tough spot right now with this formula. I think the only way to get people to go up top [on the high line] is to take downforce off. You almost have to run the race to see that the package and formula work. I don’t think it’s probably exactly where it needs to be but let’s give it some time.”