IndyCar’s Josef Newgarden Experiences ‘Tennessee Pride’ At Bristol

NASCAR At Bristol Inspired Newgarden’s ‘Tennessee Pride’ In Racing

The magic of Bristol helped inspire the Nashville native to develop an interest in motorsports. He took a different path and became an IndyCar star. But the chance to represent his series as the Pace Car driver to start one of the biggest NASCAR Cup Series races of the season in his home state was an honor Newgarden gladly accepted.

It was another example of “Tennessee Pride” as Newgarden played a crucial role in kicking off the largest sporting event in the state in terms of spectators.

“Yeah, it’s very special,” Newgarden told me. “We have talked about this for a few years, and it is very kind of Bristol to let me do it. It’s definitely a big honor.

“This is a unique facility in that you don’t get an experience like Bristol Motor Speedway anywhere else. They call it the ‘Last Great Colosseum’ and for good reason. When you come here, it feels like a colosseum. It feels like gladiators are in here fighting. And I’ve always been in awe of what this place is.

“When you think Bristol, you think NASCAR Cup racing so it’s fitting. It’s fitting to see NASCAR Cup cars here running the race. That’s why I’ve always wanted to run a Cup car at this place is at the top of my list.

“To get the taste of it by driving the Pace Car and pacing the field is a very cool honor.”

Details On Josef Newgarden’s Bristol Pace Car

To stand on pit lane at Bristol Motor Speedway and look up at the 28-degree banking in the turns is like looking at the side of a building. The turns rise up like walls.

When NASCAR Cup Series cars are at full speed racing around the track, the banking helps the cars go faster. The Pace Car for the race was the 2027 Chevrolet Corvette C8 Stingray. It featured the mid-engine layout with a 6.2-liter naturally aspirated LT2 V8 capable of 495 horsepower at 6,450 revolutions per minute, can accelerate from 0-60 miles per hour in 2.9 seconds with a top track speed of 194 miles per hour.

Because Bristol is a short track, the NASCAR Cup cars don’t approach those speeds. But with 470 pounds of torque per foot, Newgarden did not feel the sense of losing grip when the Pace Car was in the high banking at lower speed leading the field on the parade and pace laps.

“We’ve got the great Chevrolet Corvette grip,” Newgarden told me. “That thing is hunkered down to the track. Believe me, you want security, you’re going to get it with a nice Chevrolet Corvette, especially the C8. But it is crazy to experience if you’ve never seen that type of banking in your life. I’m a little more used to it. I’ve been around it, especially at Daytona as well, so I’m more familiar with what I’m getting into. But when someone gets on the banking here that’s never seen it, it feels like the car is going to roll over. I mean, it is. It’s an odd sensation.

“But when you’re in a race car, there’s just nothing like it. I mean, you get this magical, kind of this magical hand, you know, holding you. And you’re just trying to maximize the amount of grip that it’s giving you from the G-Force.”

When Jeff Gordon Drove The Pace Car At The 99th Indianapolis 500 In 2015

Newgarden devotes his racing focus in the NTT IndyCar Series at Team Penske. Hendrick Motorsports Vice Chairman Jeff Gordon drove the Pace Car to start the 99^th Indianapolis 500 on May 24, 2015, in his final full season as a NASCAR Cup Series racer in the Corvette Z06.

Although it was Gordon’s dream to race in the Indianapolis 500, his career took him to NASCAR and a Hall of Fame Career that included four NASCAR Cup Series Championships, 93 NASCAR Cup Series victories including a record five wins in the Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

It was a rarity that an IndyCar Series driver drove the Pace Car to start a NASCAR Cup Series race. But with Bristol Motor Speedway located in East Tennessee, Newgarden’s IndyCar career is another source of “Tennessee Pride.”

“I think it’s great to see this sort of collaboration, amongst the sports or the sport,” Newgarden said. “We have different disciplines, but we’re all really one sport. It’s motorsports, and when you’re a motorsport fan, you watch everything.

“That’s how I am.

“I like everything. I love the NASCAR side. I watch Formula One, sports car racing, and obviously IndyCar is very close to my heart. It’s all cool. I think you’re getting a lot more collaboration amongst everybody nowadays, which is just a win for the industry in a whole.

“I saw Jeff Gordon in Washington, D.C., and we had a quick chat. He’s just such a legend and icon of the sport and a lovely guy. That camaraderie, which is what I feel now, I feel there’s a lot more camaraderie amongst the disciplines.

“I think it’s just a win-win for everybody.”

Josef Newgarden’s Incredible IndyCar Accomplishments

Newgarden has NTT IndyCar Series Championships in 2017 and 2019, is one of just six drivers that have won the Indianapolis 500 in back-to-back years when he won in 2023 and 2024. He has 34 career NTT IndyCar Series wins, that ties him with Al Unser, Jr. for ninth place.

Newgarden is one of the three drivers at the Team Penske IndyCar Series team that also includes Scott McLaughlin of Christchurch, New Zealand, and David Malukas of Chicago. They are part of the greater Team Penske racing operation that also includes three NASCAR Cup Series drivers that include three-time champion Joey Logano, 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Champion Ryan Blaney, and 2022 Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric.

Newgarden started the race leading the field to green in the pace car and Logano ended the race as the winner, becoming the driver with the most career NASCAR Cup Series victories in Team Penske history.

“It is fun being in Team Penske because you have people to pull for in this division,” Newgarden said. “It is the same on the sports car side. We have the collaboration with Porsche. You’re invested in a lot more within the sport and you’re able to really take an interest in what’s happening. And it’s especially nice to what you just brought up. We love our teammates. We all get along. I pull for Joey, Ryan, and Austin. I got a little special pull for Ryan particularly just because I appreciate the way he drives, and I see some parallels.

“But I love all those guys. We all get along really well outside of the track. And then it’s fun to see that they have such a similar process to us at the track. We do our thing on the IndyCar side and there’s sort of a flow to it. The way we have our meetings, the way we’re prepping, what we’re talking about, what we’re thinking about. I have a feeling for that in the IndyCar side. I get that same feeling when I see them on the Cup side.”

Ryan Blaney’s Post Bristol Brawl

Ryan Blaney became a major storyline after the race because of his fight on pit lane with Carson Hocevar of Spire Motorsports after Blaney believed he was wrecked by the driver fighting it out for the win.

“I think we’re actually very similar in a lot of ways,” Newgarden said. “We show it differently, though. Ryan gets a little heated and emotional when he drives, and I sort of appreciate that. It’s because he’s competitive.

“That’s where we’re also very similar. He is crazy competitive. Whenever we’re doing something, and this doesn’t have to be driving race cars, when he’s, playing a game with you, he’s doing everything he can to kick your ass. I just love that because that’s just how I am at the core. And you see that when he drives, too.

“He gets fired up because he’s so locked in on trying to achieve the goal and winning the race. I also see with him that whenever he’s got an opportunity to win a race, if he’s got something kind of underneath him, he’s always going for it. He’s not really settling. That has always been my driving style so, we have some parallels there.

“He’s probably a little better about hiding his emotion outside of the car than me and I’m better about hiding it inside the car than him. But I think our styles are super similar.”

Josef Newgarden Determined To Drive One Race In NASCAR

Josef Newgarden remains one of IndyCar’s big stars, especially on the short ovals on the schedule. He has enjoyed quite a career in IndyCar racing, but admits one day, someday, he wants to drive a NASCAR Cup Series car.

He realizes that likely won’t happen until his IndyCar career is over.

“I don’t know that it would be for Team Penske necessarily,” Newgarden responded. “Maybe it’s one of these situations where if I get to the end of my time, maybe there is something I can go try at some point. I don’t know. I don’t have a crystal ball. I’m pretty focused in on my job. I’ve got an amazing position with the team, and they’ve given me – they give me all their energy on the IndyCar side, and that makes me want to give all my energy to that program. And that’s what I’m doing. That is my job.

“I don’t know what the future holds, but at some point, in the future, I got to think we can put something in place where I can try it. And I definitely want to one day up the road.

“I don’t know what it looks like, but it will happen.”

Should that day happen, and Newgarden drives a NASCAR Cup Series race car, instead of the Pace Car, it will provide another moment of “Tennessee Pride” for the famed IndyCar racer from Nashville.