Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden has taken the time to pay homage to the widely popular Indy 500. The 2025 edition of the 200-lap race took place last month (May 25th) at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Newgarden is a two-time winner of the event; he triumphed in 2023 and 2024.

In line with this and the overall event that has been taking place since 1911, Newgarden, via his Instagram account, has come up with a post to show respect. Moreover, he even took the time to applaud a photographer/friend.

“Had the honor for a friend @kylejohnphoto to shadow us over the 500 weekend for his first experience. He set out to capture the passion, the emotion, the highs and the lows. From the start of the month you feel hopeful and optimistic. And speaking from experience, you either leave on top of the world or defeated. Something truly unbelievable about this race is how palpable every emotion truly is,” Newgarden wrote.

Josef Newgarden and his Penske outfit were shrouded in controversy during this year’s Indy 500. Because of the discovery of a modified attenuator (part of the car’s crash structure) on his and teammate Will Power’s car, they both were sent to the back of the grid ahead of the final round of qualifying.

Josef Newgarden disappointed with ‘tough’ Detroit GP outing

Josef Newgarden has had a tough time in the ongoing 2025 IndyCar season. It is already seven rounds down, and he currently finds himself in P12 in the Drivers’ standings.

He has so far managed to amass only 126 points with a single top-five and three top-ten finishes. The 34-year-old’s most recent outing in the Detroit GP also did not turn out to be very rewarding.

Despite his best efforts, he was only able to manage a P9 finish. Following the end of the 100-lap race, he sounded a bit dejected.

“Tough race today but I thought the Astemo Chevy team fought all day long. Being on a different tire strategy and having to put our set of the softer tire on late in the race, it was a battle at the end. A top 10 is a solid effort,” Newgarden said via Team Penske.

Josef Newgarden last won the IndyCar championship back in 2019. It has been quite a few years since he was able to lift the coveted trophy.

Keeping in mind that the ongoing campaign only has 10 races remaining, it is very unlikely that Newgarden would be able to lift the trophy this year.

Championship leader Alex Palou is ahead of the chasing pack by a huge margin and is currently sitting on 311 points.