“Dude just blows BS out of his mouth”: Fans criticize Josef Newgarden’s hot take about ‘parity’ in IndyCar compared to NASCAR

IndyCar driver Josef Newgarden recently came out and shared his take on the parity in different top-tier racing series around the world. The Team Penske driver sat down for an interview at the start of the 2025 IndyCar season and detailed the relevant points supporting his argument.

Unlike F1, IndyCar is a spec series where all the cars, including the chassis, engine, and aerodynamics, are the same. There's only a small area where teams can innovate and make changes to the car. F1, on the other hand, is an open-spec series where every team builds a car from the ground up.

Newgarden pointed out the same fact as he detailed how the parity in IndyCar is much, much better than that in F1, which is essentially a manufacturer's series, where the fastest car usually wins. The Team Penske driver also added points about NASCAR, suggesting that the Cup Series is dominated by the bigger names.

“You’re not going to find a series that has better parity at this high of a level. Being the lowest budget team and still fighting for the win at the Indianapolis 500 or the win at Barber here. That is not the case in Formula One. It’s more of a manufacturer’s championship. And certainly in NASCAR, I think you’re a little more top heavy from a parity standpoint across the field,” said Josef Newgarden.

Some fans were antagonized by the comments made by Josef Newgarden, as they took to the comments section to express their criticism. Motorsports reporter Adam Stern shared Newgarden's comment on the social media platform X, and fans reacted to it.

“Dude just blows BS out of his mouth to blow it, it’s wild,” said a user on X.

Another user mentioned, “F1 had the same number of different teams and drivers win as Indycar in 2024 (7 winners on 4 teams)

“I disagree with him outside of the F1 take,” wrote another.

The F1 regulations haven't changed much since the introduction of the new regulations in 2022, leading to all the cars converging towards similar, most effective design elements, leading to close racing and multiple race winners. Another user said:

“Says a guy in a series where Penske and Ganassi win all the championships and Indy 500s lol”

Another user mentioned, “Ganassi or Penske win the championship every year lololol”

“Top heavy? Hasn’t Nascar had like 14-15 different winners the last few years?”, wrote a user

Alex Palou has won three of the last four championships. Team Penske and Chip Ganassi have dominated the championship in the last decade. 2012 was the last year when a non-Penske or non-CGR driver won the championship.

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Josef Newgarden detailed the similarities between the Daytona 500 and the Indy 500

Josef Newgarden was featured in a video on Instagram alongside Team Penske's NASCAR driver Joey Logano, and the two discussed the most iconic venue and race for their respective sports.

Newgarden compared the Indy 500 to the Daytona 500 and revealed the similarities between the racing mentality going into the race.

“At Indy now with how close the racing is, you have to have a high level of confidence to make aggressive moves at the right point. It's kind of like Daytona in that the only thing that matters is winning and you're willing to throw it all out the window. To win the race you have to put it all on the line,” Josef Newgarden said.

Newgarden won the 2024 Indy 500 to become the first back-to-back winner in over two decades and will be aiming for the three-peat in the upcoming 109th running of Indy 500.