Josef Newgarden, six days after successful the Indianapolis 500 for the second straight yr, has agreed to a multiyear extension with Crew Penske, the staff introduced Saturday.
“I do not assume I’ve any phrases for what this has been like,” Newgarden stated. “Crew Penske has been my household for eight years, and I am unable to think about being anyplace else.”
He was coming into the ultimate yr of his present deal, and the agreed-to extension was an anticipated transfer to maintain Newgarden in his No. 2 automobile.
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Newgarden has skilled excessive lows and highs already this season. He was disqualified after successful the season-opening race in Florida when IndyCar later found Penske’s three automobiles had an unlawful model of the push-to-pass software program put in that allowed their drivers to make use of the horsepower increase when nobody else within the area had entry to the benefit.
Crew proprietor Roger Penske suspended a number of staff members after the disqualifications, leaving Newgarden with a mix-and-match crew final weekend on the 500.
However whereas that scandal nonetheless reverberates within the IndyCar Sequence, Newgarden shook off the state of affairs and moved previous Pato O’Ward within the third flip of the ultimate lap to win his second consecutive Indianapolis 500, giving Crew Penske its report twentieth victory within the race.
“Josef Newgarden is a real winner, and we’re excited that he’ll proceed as part of Crew Penske for years to come back,” Penske stated in an announcement. “What he did Sunday within the Indianapolis 500 reveals how Josef persistently delivers for our staff and our companions on the observe, and he’s simply as spectacular off the observe as properly. We’re proud to have Josef proceed with our group as his talent and fervour embody what it means to be a Crew Penske driver.”
After Newgarden’s newest Indy 500 win, he stated he was grateful for every thing throughout this turbulent season.
“It is an expertise that it is received to both break you or robust you up, and for me, that is all I am going to say about it,” he stated. “We have been shifting ahead. We have by no means labored collectively extra as a gaggle, and I assumed that was tough to do.
“That is essentially the most tight-knit staff I’ve ever seen.”
Newgarden, the collection champion in 2017 and 2019, made his 2 hundredth begin this season and has completed within the high 5 within the season standings in every of the previous eight years. He certified third for Sunday’s Detroit Grand Prix.
Indianapolis was Newgarden’s thirtieth profession win, and, at age 33, he thinks he might transfer the quantity considerably larger.
“I am not writing something off,” he stated when requested if he might get to 60. “I am staying with an excellent staff, so I’ve received an opportunity to do much more.”
The Related Press contributed to this report.