Newgarden, a native of Hendersonville, Tennessee, was a guest at the NASCAR Cup race at Nashville Superspeedway on Sunday and the multiple Indianapolis 500 champion reiterated his desire to one day drive in NASCAR.
“I’m from Nashville. I was born and raised here. I’ve been coming to events here since I was a kid,” said the two-time IndyCar Series champion. “So yes, I’m excited that we’ll be having our season finale here in IndyCar in a few months in September.”
“So, I’m learning a little bit today. I’ve been trying to come here to watch this race for the last few years and now I’m finally here.”
Hopes to drive a NASCAR Cup car “someday”
When asked if he still hopes to one day compete in a NASCAR race himself, Newgarden stuck to his answer.
“Oh yeah. Oh yeah. I’d love to drive a Cup car someday. You know, I went to the races at Bristol as a kid too. Bristol was always at the top of my list,” he said. “That track and Bristol were probably the two I went to the most to watch Cup racing.”
“Doing the ‘double’ (Coke 600 and Indy 500 on the same day) would be a great opportunity. I don’t know if that will ever happen. It’s really difficult to get it all done these days.
“There are a lot of people who need to get involved and come together. We would love to see more people do that.”
Newgarden, 33, stressed that his focus remains on his IndyCar drive for Team Penske and that it is “very difficult to get a ‘yes’ to extracurricular activities.”
“I was able to find a little more opportunity this year by racing in the Daytona 24, which was a real treat for me,” he said. “I’m slowly trying to find opportunities to do other things, but it’s tough.”
“I mean, it’s a real struggle. You know, I have a job at IndyCar and I have to make sure we continue to be there for our partners and our team. That’s the most important thing to me, but if we continue to deliver results, we can add a few more things, which would be great.”
Josef Newgarden, Team Penske Chevrolet, Borg-Warner Trophy
Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images
Unlike many other open-wheel racers, Newgarden has experience with stock cars and oval tracks.
In recent years, he has competed twice in the now-defunct Superstar Racing Experience, a series that pitted drivers from various racing disciplines against each other in a six-race format on short asphalt and sand ovals.
He is also a very successful oval track driver in the IndyCar series, which is dominated by road and street courses.
Newgarden said winning more Indy 500 races might give him a chance to attempt the “double,” as NASCAR star Kyle Larson attempted this season.
“I have a strategy: If we win enough Indy 500s, maybe they’ll just have to say yes. I think that’s the strategy,” Newgarden said. “We have two now, how many do you need for an automatic yes?”
“Two more? I don’t know how many there are, but we’ll keep going.”
