{"id":521850,"date":"2026-03-08T04:49:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T04:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/521850\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T04:49:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T04:49:09","slug":"josef-newgarden-wins-at-phoenix-shows-off-indycar-to-nascar-fans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/521850\/","title":{"rendered":"Josef Newgarden Wins at Phoenix, Shows Off IndyCar to NASCAR Fans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Josef Newgarden led the last six laps of the NTT IndyCar Series Good Ranchers 250.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s all he needed Saturday at Phoenix Raceway to put an open-wheel feather in Team Penske\u2019s cap, rejuvenate his own 2026 performance repeat his 2018 triumph, and issue a challenge to his NASCAR counterparts on a special weekend for boss Roger Penske\u2014oh, and to hint that Alex Palou likely will have a rockier road in his quest for a fifth championship this season.<\/p>\n

Related Story<\/p>\n

The No. 2 XPEL Chevrolet driver conquered the mile oval at Avondale, Arizona, and replaced early exiting Alex Palou as the points leader. It\u2019s hardly a cause for commotion with just two of 18 events completed, but it\u2019s a fact nonetheless that he also matched the reigning champion and St. Petersburg winner with victories so far. <\/p>\n

\u201cDo we really have the lead?\u201d Newgarden asked afterward. \u201cI mean, it\u2019s two races in, so I wouldn\u2019t bring too much into it, but momentum\u2019s a big deal. It\u2019s very difficult to understand how things work. Sometimes things go against us, some things that go for us. This was just great execution by the team. That\u2019s all. Simple as that. It was a good car, great execution.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ntt<\/p>\n

Meg Oliphant\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just very surprised. It\u2019s only been a race since we haven\u2019t won,\u201d the 2025 season finale winner in his Nashville hometown. \u201cSo it\u2019s not like it\u2019s been a while. But in middle of the race, I don\u2019t know that I was fully believing that we had the capability to win. And we kept working through it.\u201d He said he decided that \u201cif we get another opportunity, we\u2019re going to be on the aggressive. We\u2019re going to be on the offense. We took tires and the thing was like a rocket ship when it needed to be. It was right at the end of the race.\u201d<\/p>\n

He secured his 33rd victory by leading no more than eight laps all day, including the final six.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, it was very hard. I didn\u2019t think we were going to win today, to be honest with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

And he good-naturedly, but competitively, showed a bit of swagger that IndyCar brought a first victory of the weekend to Team Penske\u2014which is celebrating its 60th anniversary here with this special show featuring Roger Penske\u2019s two racing operations at once. Newgarden, grinning, said, \u201cI think it\u2019s incredibly important. It will be so disappointing if the Cup guys do not deliver tomorrow.\u201d Team Penske President Jonathan Diuguid joined in the teasing: \u201cHorribly disappointing.\u201d
<\/p>\n

Newgarden said, \u201cIt\u2019s always fun. We got to go first. It worked out. Now you got to put the pressure on them.\u201d Turning more serious, he said, \u201cLook, it was very hard. I didn\u2019t think we were going to win today, to be honest with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Story<\/p>\n

Racing in Phoenix again pumped up Newgarden. \u201cI love to be here in Phoenix,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m so happy we are here. This is an IndyCar track. I think people that know the history of the sport know this is an IndyCar track. So to be here with NASCAR is fantastic, but we got to be here, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Runner-up Kyle Kirkwood said, \u201cI think if we would’ve got around Christian [late-race leader Rasmussen] earlier and stretched out a gap, I think it would\u2019ve been hard for Josef to catch up to us and pass us. We didn\u2019t qualify that well, but we got finished second and had a really good shot at winning. So I’m extremely happy with our performance today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"nttSean Gardner\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Josef Newgarden and David Malukas.<\/p>\n

First-time pole-winner David Malukas scored a podium finish and said he was \u201cdefinitely really satisfied\u201d with third place. The way that race went, it could have gone either way, and things really did play out for us in the end. Congrats to Josef. They decided to do the new tires on the strategy at the end, which paid off for him, but it still wasn\u2019t easy. He had to pass a lot of cars.. That last set [of tires], man, I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever pushed the tire so hard and was drifting. I mean, Turns 1 and 2, I think I was 90% sideways. Let\u2019s just say I’m going to sleep really good tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Palou, who gained six positions at the start of the race for Chip Ganassi Racing, astonishingly crashed with Rinus Veekay just 21 laps into this second of three consecutive events. Veekay, of Juncos Hollinger Racing, was attempting to pass Palou, but Palou slid higher, trapping Veekay against the wall and turning his own No. 10 car sideways into the wall, as well. Veekay eventually continued to race. But Palou was out with a 24th-place finish, giving up the grip he had had on the standings since June 2024 and recording his worst performance since a 25th-place end last June at Detroit.<\/p>\n

\"auto:Icon Sportswire\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Alex Palou hit the wall on lap 21.<\/p>\n

Palou said, \u201cI don\u2019t know if I was trying o squeeze somebody or if somebody was trying to get in there. I didn\u2019t think anybody was there.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for this return to Phoenix Raceway, Newgarden, the 2018 winner in IndyCar\u2019s previous appearance, said he \u201cdidn\u2019t know what we were going to get. That second lane really started to open up. People were exploring. There were some really good cars out there. Guys were doing some amazing things in the middle of the race, even the beginning. It just turned it into certainly a show.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he thinks the \u201cDesert Double\u201d that concludes Sunday with NASCAR\u2019s Straight Talk Wireless 500 made a positive impression on those in the crowd unfamiliar with the NTT IndyCar Series. He called it an \u201copportunity to have the type of race we had today. I really was hoping we\u2019d have a good show. I think we produced what we expect from the IndyCar Series. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re a motorsport fan, you\u2019re just getting way more value for your weekend to have the top two motorsport championships together on the same weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope there was a lot of people that have maybe not seen an IndyCar race in a while that are going to leave here and go, \u2018Hey, I should give that another look.\u2019 Today turned into a good IndyCar product. This is what we expect now when we put an IndyCar race on a short oval. This is the type of racing we want to produce.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth [NASCAR and IndyCar] should complement each other. If you\u2019re a motorsport fan, you\u2019re just getting way more value for your weekend to have the top two motorsport championships together on the same weekend. I don\u2019t see why we can\u2019t do a little more of this. I think it\u2019s good for everybody,\u201d Newgarden said.<\/p>\n

Race No. 3 next weekend, the street-course Java House Grand Prix of Arlington in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, will showcase AT&T Stadium, the home of the Dallas Cowboys, and Globe Life Field, home of the Texas Rangers.<\/p>\n

Related StoryRookie Dennis Hauger pulls off amazing backward move<\/p>\n

Dennis Hauger provided a surprisingly entertaining move in the early going. The rookie from Dale Coyne Racing spun, stepped off the brake, and powered his car perfectly backwards down the straightaway. After a sizeable distance, amazingly, he spun it around the correct way, like he was backing it out of a parking space, and continued on.<\/p>\n

The other side of the Coyne<\/p>\n

A mechanical problem plagued Dale Coyne Racing\u2019s Romain Grosjean before the green flag, leaving him without a lap to his credit.
<\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/p>\n

Susan Wade has lived in the Seattle area for 40 years, but motorsports is in the Indianapolis native\u2019s DNA. She has emerged as one of the leading drag-racing writers with nearly 30 seasons at the racetrack, focusing on the human-interest angle. \u00a0She was the first non-NASCAR recipient of the prestigious Russ Catlin Award and has covered the sport for the Chicago Tribune, Newark Star-Ledger, and Seattle Times. She has contributed to Autoweek as a freelance writer since 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Josef Newgarden led the last six laps of the NTT IndyCar Series Good Ranchers 250. That\u2019s all he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521851,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,782,205711,784,1642,634,205709,205710,82,205712],"class_list":["post-521850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-ee6b0723-9b9b-44a2-88da-ed105fd3fa64","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-locale-us","tag-nascar","tag-shorttitle-newgarden-wins","tag-shows-off-indycar-to-nascar-fans","tag-sports","tag-subsection-indycar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521850\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}