Josef Newgarden relishing challenge of joining IndyCar’s Team Penske

Josef Newgarden is undertaking the biggest challenge of his IndyCar career joining Team Penske and spoke to FanSided about his outlook on the 2017 season.

No move in the Verizon IndyCar Series offseason was bigger than Josef Newgarden joining Team Penske. The series’ most promising young driver was becoming a part of its most dominant race team, both of them hoping to rise to still greater heights.

The merger has paid off so far, with Newgarden posting a respectable top 10 finish in last month’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Ahead of this weekend’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, he spoke with FanSided about the raised expectations that have come with his team change, and what he’s hoping to accomplish in the 2017 IndyCar season.

“The opportunity is to see how I match up against drivers of [Simon] Pagenaud’s caliber and Will [Power]’s caliber and Helio [Castroneves]’s caliber,” Newgarden told FanSided. “That’s probably what people are going to look for. I had some reference marks before but not like I’ve had this year. There’s a very high reference mark, so I guess people are interested to see that.

“But I’m having a great time,” he enthused. “It’s fun joining a new group. It really makes you rethink about things, makes you work really hard and not get so set in your ways … You get comfortable. You’ve been doing things for a while, you work with an engineer for so many years, and you just end up getting a little comfortable. I think changing teams makes you rethink things. It keeps you on your toes, you have to work hard, so I’m excited about that.”

Not that he’s taking anything away from the five seasons he drove for what is now Ed Carpenter Racing. On the contrary, Josef still has a tremendous amount of respect for that organization; he’s just ready to take on a new and different challenge.

“I don’t want to discredit anything I’ve done in the past,” he explained. “I’ve driven for some really good teams, have a lot of good success with the groups I’ve been with. ECR, we had a great run together, so I’ve been really happy over the last couple of years.

“But it’s fun to be a part of Team Penske. It’s a great opportunity to kind of relearn and work hard again to figure out strengths and weaknesses. That’s important to go through as a young athlete. I think you need to go through things like that, that make you think about it again.”

He’s having a great time with his new organization both on and off the track. “I just enjoy going to the shop, to be honest,” he said. “I don’t have a ton of hobbies. Probably my one hobby is going to the race shop. Working out, hanging out with the crew, seeing my engineer, that’s kind of my hobby. Pagenaud’s in there all the time. I see Will all the time. It’s fun seeing teammates in there and hanging out with them. They’re all great guys.”

Yet of course when it’s time to get behind the wheel, it’s business as usual for Newgarden, who will be seeking his first win with Team Penske when he comes to Long Beach. He finished eighth at St. Petersburg and wants to follow that up with an even stronger result in California.

“I think the biggest thing is we got a race under our belts,” he said of the season opener. “That’s what we had to go going there. You need to get into the calendar and get that first race off the checklist.

“It was a clean race for us. We didn’t have any big dramas [but] we didn’t finish up as high as we could have. I think we were a podium race car. We didn’t get the yellow to fall our way, which goes both ways in IndyCar, and it wasn’t the right way for us that weekend.

“But I think for us it was just a good building block. We can go down to Long Beach and be a little more aggressive now that we have a race under our belts, and try to get a stronger result and feel more comfortable doing that.”

What is Newgarden focusing on in the 2017 IndyCar season?

“I really just want to focus on getting on the same page with my engineer,” he told us. “That’s kind of the biggest thing I have to go through. When you move to a new team and you have a new engineer, they’ve got to learn you. They’ve got to learn how you operate as a driver, what you want as a driver, and you’ve got to learn how the engineer works, how you talk to each other.

“That’s the biggest thing that I’m focusing on, is just that gelling process of becoming unified with my group on the Verizon No. 2 car. I don’t have any set goals. We just have to maximize what our capabilities are.

“We didn’t quite do that at St. Pete; I think we had a higher capability than [where] we finished, so I wasn’t happy with that. But as long as we’re getting the most out of ourselves for each weekend, then I’m good enough with that.”

While there’s no shortage of eyes on Josef Newgarden as the IndyCar season truly starts building momentum in Long Beach, he’s got his own storylines that he’s following as well.

“I’m interested to see how Ganassi does for the entire season since they seem like they’re going to be very strong. They’re going to be very tough to beat,” he said when we asked who he’s watching this year. “I’m interested to see how [Sebastian] Bourdais does.

“Obviously he won the first race, he started out of the gate really strong, but I’m interested to see him throughout the whole year. Foyt’s interesting because they have two brand new drivers; it’s a whole shakeup of the team. Everyone’s interesting to watch.”

But perhaps there’s no IndyCar driver more interesting to watch than Josef Newgarden. He’s in position to deliver everything that the Verizon IndyCar Series and its fans have been looking for. He’s a young driver who can battle with veteran contenders, an American talent in a league that wants more of them, and an engaging personality in a sport that deserves more attention. He is the complete package — and now with Team Penske he’s ready to conquer.

Next: IndyCar champ Simon Pagenaud 'very confident' in new season

Keep your eye on Josef Newgarden when the 2017 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach takes place this Sunday, April 9 on the streets of Long Beach. Tickets are still available at the event’s website. For the latest news throughout IndyCar, follow the Motor Sports category at FanSided here.