'I would like to be the greatest that my sport has seen': Josef Newgarden on balancing achievement and fulfillment in RS Night School episode

Team Penske IndyCar racer Josef Newgarden recently made an appearance at the Race Service Night School series wherein he talked about balancing achievement and fulfillment. The racer also shared a snippet of his interview on Instagram wherein he had to speak on topics that appeared on the screen and one of the cues read 'Achievement vs Happiness vs Fulfilment'.

Talking about how the three fit in together aligning with his racing career, the 34-year-old racer said that achievement was always the priority when he began his racing career:

"If you look at me 12 years ago and certainly for the first 10 or 11 years of my IndyCar career professionally, achievement was the only thing that I had in my mind and it was the only thing that mattered to me." (45:27 onwards)

Josef Newgarden continued:

"You know I have to be the greatest of the sport or like what was I doing you know it's all for it's everything or it's nothing and that was my mindset and in some ways. I still have that drive I definitely do I mean I would like to be the greatest that my sport has seen. I want to do that's why I wake up every day." (45:41 onwards)

While the IndyCar ace shared that he would like to be the greatest in his sport, he added that he isn't fixated on that goal because he wasn't happy when he was laser-focused on chasing it.

Co-relating his example to the cue, Newgarden said that fulfillment is not easy to achieve. Therefore, he found a better balance wherein he still aspires to be the best in his sport and doesn't put himself under the compulsion of achievement.

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"You show up at Penske and you are expected to perform": Josef Newgarden discusses how the team shaped his IndyCar career

During his Race Service Night School interview, Josef Newgarden talked about his return to the United States in 2011 after racing in Europe for a few years. After securing five wins and 10 podium finishes in 14 starts at the Indy Lights championship for Sam Schmidt Motorsports, the IndyCar ace raced for Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing for the 2012 IndyCar series season.

Calling Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing "the smallest team on the grid", Newgarden recalled that he had a terrible rookie season and had no teammate, no data, and he had to navigate a brand new race car. The next topic for the 34-year-old speedster to discuss with the audience was his current team, Penske.

Talking about Team Penske, Josef Newgarden mentioned that his initial years at IndyCar were difficult but it set him up for when he eventually joined his current team. The two-time Indy 500-winning racer said:

"You show up at Penske, you are expected to perform in all facets whether they put you on a stage with a thousand people and they want you to recite the Articles of Incorporation of Pensky or they want you to talk about you know the way we're engineering the car for the Indianapolis 500 or they want you to actually go out on track and win the race. I was ready to do that," added Newgarden on Race Service's YouTube channel (27:27 onwards)

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Having won the Indy 500 in 2023 and 2024, Josef Newgarden spoke to Bruce Martin of the Pit Pass Indy podcast about having a chance at securing a win at the Indy 500 for the third time adding that the team has good cars and it would be a big deal.