"Going to be a tough pill to swallow": When Josef Newgarden made his feelings known after difficult IndyCar season

In 2024, Josef Newgarden recorded his worst IndyCar season in 10 years, except for his historic second consecutive Indy 500 victory. After the season's last race, the Team Penske driver had some gloomy words to summarize the disappointing year.

Josef Newgarden qualified an impressive P2 in the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix, the final round of the 2024 IndyCar season. However, he couldn't defend his position, let alone better it. Andretti Global's Colton Herta, starting P11, and Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward, from P8, routed through the grid to finish P1 and P2 respectively, demoting Newgarden to P3.

After the race, the No. 2 Chevy driver found it unsurprising how the final race mirrored the rest of his dismal season. Speaking to NBC Sports in September, Newgarden said:

"I don’t know what we made up there in the last 25 laps, maybe 12 seconds or something. We’ll digest that next week. Going to be a tough pill to swallow, but one we’re going to have to swallow. It seems fitting for this year, I would say, the way this one shaped up for us. I’m going to be happy to leave all this in 2024. We’re going to reset."

Newgarden finished 8th in the championship standings with 401 points and two wins. His Indy 500 victory in May was the highlight of his year, landing him a bonus of $440,000, totaling a $4.228 million payout for the win. His second win came at the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 in Illinois.

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"We've still not reached our ceiling": Josef Newgarden promises more for 2025 after "disastrous" 2024 season

Josef Newgarden at the 2023 Grand Prix Of Long Beach - Source: Getty

Josef Newgarden's 2024 IndyCar season began on a high but was ominously downgraded. He converted pole position in the season opener at St. Petersburg into a victory but was stripped of it two months later after Team Penske was found guilty of push-to-pass violations. His teammate Scott McLaughlin was disqualified too.

This set the tone for the rest of the season, in which not only Newgarden's rivals but also his teammates thoroughly outclassed him. McLaughlin finished third in the standings with 505 points while Will Power secured fourth with 498 points. In November this year, over a month after the final race, Newgarden again addressed his failure. He said (via IndyCar):

"Personally, for the (No.) 2 car from a championship perspective, it’s been a really disastrous year. I don’t know how to put it other than disastrous. I guess what I would say is sometimes it’s not your year or sometimes it’s not your day. Those both have been true multiple times this season, and that’s the way it goes."

However, he revealed that his No. 2 Chevy has more potential to unlock, adding:

"We've still not reached our ceiling," the 33-year-old added. "That keeps me excited. We’ll reset for next year and try to be better. That’s all you can do."

Josef Newgarden will stay with Team Penske for 2025 and beyond after signing a multi-year contract in June this year. He aims to win his third consecutive Indy 500 on May 25 next year, an unprecedented feat.