“I'm ridiculous, don't know why I'm doing that”: Josef Newgarden on his FOX ad turning into reality at St. Pete

IndyCar driver Josef Newgarden’s IndyCar promo was released by FOX in January, and the driver recently came out and shared his opinion about a hilarious section in the promo as it turned into a reality at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

FOX signed a deal with IndyCar in 2024 to become the exclusive broadcaster of the American open-wheel series and released three promotional videos starring Newgarden, Alex Palou, and Pato O'Ward. The Team Penske driver was portrayed as a hero in the said promotion, with a fast-paced sequence that put him at the top in various situations.

A sequence of the promo detailed how Newgarden loved the smell of unleaded gasoline, with the Team Penske driver spraying an Ethanol fragrance on himself in a cinematic style. Well, FOX and IndyCar made it a reality and set up a booth with actual bottles of the fragrance named “Ethanol” with the concentration of it reading “Eau de Newgarden”.

Josef Newgarden was questioned about the Ethanol cologne by FOX reporter Jamie Little, who asked if it was a real thing. A video of the same was uploaded by IndyCar on FOX on the social media platform X. The Team Penske driver replied:

“Apparently, yeah. I saw it this weekend. I'm like, you can go see the ethanol cologne. We had so much fun filming that. Yeah, look, there's a whole booth. Pato has his own stand, the one-man boy band.”

“I'm ridiculous. I don't know why I'm doing that. People are going to make fun of me. But it's really cool. We had a lot of fun making that commercial. And honestly, the funny bit, I've said this in a couple podcasts or something, but we, when we were filming that commercial, me and Jack, the director, could not stop laughing when we were filming that specific part."

“We can make a whole ad out of what we filmed that day just on that set. So I hope we do that. I think Fox can put that together.”

Pato O'Ward’s FOX promo featured a section suggesting him as a one-man boy band since the Mexican didn't need anyone else. A booth of the same has also been set up by FOX at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

Josef Newgarden's promo featured cameos from 2024 IndyCar champion Alex Palou and NFL quarterback Tom Brady.

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Josef Newgarden signs with LeBron James' agency ahead of the 2025 IndyCar season

Josef Newgarden announced his signing with Klutch Sports Group on February 28, 2024. Klutch Sports Group was founded by LeBron James' agent, Rich Paul, in 2012. The agency handles a multitude of athletes from the NBA and the NFL. Some of these players include LeBron James and Odell Beckham Jr.

Newgarden is the first motorsports signing made by the agency, and a post about the same, welcoming the Team Penske driver, was shared on Instagram by Klutch Sports Group. The caption of the post read:

“Welcome to our first professional racing client, 2x IndyCar racing champion Josef Newgarden!🏎️”

Newgarden signed a contract extension with Team Penske last year, which will see him drive with the team until the end of the 2026 season. However, any further negotiations or deals will be looked after by LeBron James' agency.