Overall it was a positive St. Pete round for Penske’s Josef Newgarden. The two-time defending Indy 500 winner managed to fight his way up after missing the Fast 6. He was even in contention to win again as he was less than half a second of distance from eventual race winner Alex Palou at one point.
Newgarden in P2 had been able to close up on the Ganassi driver. The Spaniard was stuck behind Sting Ray Robb. The JHR driver was in 21st.
A strong start
All in all, the Penske driver was pleased with the outcome of the first round of the 2025 IndyCar season.
“Yeah, it was a good day. A podium is always solid. I think I said that on Friday when I was in here that ultimately we need a good day just to get points on the board. That’s kind of going to be most important for this weekend, so we accomplished that.”
While reckoning that there are some aspects that need to be worked on in the upcoming race weeks, Newgarden was still extremely thankful to his team for the hard work that has gone into getting his car no.2 ready to take up the challenge.
“Can’t be too dissatisfied. I think we had some miscues in the race today for sure. Just a couple fueling-wise. But the team still did a stellar job. It starts with the foundation of a fast car, and we certainly had that all weekend, and it definitely felt like it was intact in the race.”
A couple of pit issues
The 2023 and 2024 Indy 500 winner had to pit earlier than the CGR drivers of Palou and Dixon on the second and third pit cycles for those who pitted under the caution at the start. He was left short on fuel at the end following his final stop, too.
“Very solid overall, just wish we could have capitalized on the positioning. We were in a good position today to challenge for the win and misstepped a little bit, but really proud of the team and the way they started.”
Regardless of the fact that he missed out on a potential win only a year after having been disqualified from the St. Pete event when he had crossed the line in P1, Newgarden was pleased to start the season with a podium.
“Built awesome cars. We can go on with that and feel confident at least to challenge for wins in the future. Putting good points on the board is always the key, so we can leave here with a solid result.
Asked on the differences between St. Pete in the past season and in 2025 as first season with the new hybrid engine, Newgarden admitted that he hadn’t noticed much difference.
“Very similar to last year, I would say. I don’t know how everyone else feels, but to me it felt similar track conditions, good temperature, great track build. Kind of typical St. Pete. It just grips up like crazy here in the race.
“Certainly throughout the weekend and in the race it kind of takes another level throughout each stint. Pretty straightforward. Felt like typical St. Pete. You’ve just got to get the cycling correct and get yourself in position.”
From a potential win to losing P2 on the final tour
Unlike many previous occasions, it was a rather calm race, with only one major crash which saw three cars out at Turn 3 of Lap 1. Apart from that, not a single yellow flag came out, leaving the drivers to ponder the best strategies without the chaos element.
“Obviously didn’t have as much chaos with a lot of restarts. Sometimes that can jumble things up. Really just had a pretty straightforward day. Just needed to get the cycles right.”
Newgarden also explained what caused him to fall off away from race leader Palou in spite of almost challenging for the lead in St. Pete only a few laps earlier. In fact, the current 500 champion mentioned the fact that he had had refuelling issues, which had left him in emergency mode at the end.
He had aggressively but cleanly passed Dixon into turn 1 at the start of the last stint, but the Kiwi came back at the end thanks to the fuel problem.
“I mean, we just had fuel miscues today two times. The second one we were just — we had a shift that was unexpected with a lap to go, and we just had to hit the emergency button, which was unfortunate. We kind of started that last lap like half emergency mode, and then they said, ‘you just have to pull the chute here. Like just finish’. Yeah, it happens. It’s unfortunate.
“To have miscues like that and to still finish third I think is a great day in a lot of ways. Really pleased to come out of here with points. Obviously there’s a lot more that could have been,” he summed up, glad overall for his and the team’s performance.
