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Josef Newgarden came out during the Thermal Club IndyCar race weekend and expressed his feelings about NASCAR driver and childhood friend Josh Berry's first win in the Cup Series. The Team Penske driver detailed his relationship with the Wood Brothers Racing driver and revealed how “excited” he was to see Berry win.
Berry made his full-time NASCAR debut with Stewart-Haas Racing in 2024 and moved to Wood Brothers Racing for the 2025 season after his former team was dissolved. Berry had been racing in the Cup Series as a part-timer since 2021 and hadn't won a race until last weekend at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Newgarden was featured on Frontstretch’s video as the Team Penske driver spoke with the media ahead of the race weekend. When asked about Berry's win at the Pennzoil 400 and his relationship with the NASCAR driver, the 34-year-old replied:
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“Yeah, we're like pseudo teammates. We just did a big deal together in Hendersonville, I don't know, about a month ago where we were together. Yeah, we did a bunch of media work. You might not have seen it, but we were just together not long ago. It's great to have him on the team, you know, certainly a very deserving driver.”
“Excited to see him win a race too. He's someone that was going to win a race at some point and I think he's got the right situation around him to sort of capitalize on his opportunity and he's worked very hard for it. You know, he's got a great story and cool to see him get that first win,” added Josef Newgarden.
Wood Brothers Racing has a technical alliance with Team Penske in NASCAR, just like AJ Foyt Racing does with Team Penske's IndyCar team. Hence, Newgarden made comments about Berry being a pseudo-teammate.
Newgarden and Berry also went to the same middle school along with pop star Taylor Swift. However, the racing duo was a grade behind the singer.
Berry waited for over 50 races to secure his first NASCAR win, which happened to be Wood Brothers Racing’s 101st win in the Cup Series.
Josh Berry and Josef Newgarden to share the same sponsor for 2025
Team Penske announced the PPG IndyCar sponsorship for Josef Newgarden's 2025 season in the first week of February. It was also revealed that Josh Berry's Wood Brothers Racing entry into the Brickyard 400 will be sponsored by PPG. The IndyCar driver came out and expressed his surreal journey with Berry as the announcement was made.
“The PPG car is a fan favorite in INDYCAR. Soon NASCAR fans will get to enjoy it as well. Josh and I have known each other for a long time and actually went to middle school together. To now, both be sponsored by PPG is pretty surreal. It’s exciting how things have turned out for two kids from Hendersonville, TN,” said Josef Newgarden (via PPG)
The other Team Penske entries will also be sponsored by PPG, but as an associate sponsor, and not a primary one, unlike that of Berry and Newgarden.
