Josef Newgarden breaks silence after Team Penske gets championship-losing deja vu at Long Beach

Josef Newgarden had an abysmal Long Beach Grand Prix after he finished the 90-lap event two laps behind the race leaders. However, it was hardly his fault, as his seatbelts suddenly came off, a deja vu for the Team Penske outfit as Will Power suffered the same problem at the 2024 championship finale. The 34-year-old shared his thoughts on X about the underwhelming weekend.

Newgarden finished on the podium at the race in St. Petersburg but has not had a great result since then. He finished 13th at the Thermal Club IndyCar Grand Prix after getting knocked out in Round 1 qualifications and hoped for a better weekend in Long Beach, where he has previously won.

The Nashville-born driver was again knocked out in Round 1 during the Long Beach Grand Prix qualifications but made a charge for a top-10 finish up the grid. However, his efforts went down the drain as his seatbelts suddenly came undone mid-way through the race, which brought him in for an unscheduled pitstop.

This was not the first time a Team Penske driver was troubled with seatbelt woes, as Will Power suffered the same during his championship battle last year, resulting in him losing crucial championship positions.

While Josef Newgarden was not proud of what happened in Long Beach, he opened up about his thoughts on X and wrote:

"Well today didn’t go as planned. The 2 crew did everything right from the beginning of the weekend to the end. Made up a bunch spots with our strategy but lost them all when my safety harness came lose. Safety is first, but what a bummer. Would have loved for everyone to see our potential. The 2 crew isn’t stopping! See you all in Barber for some redemption."

Meanwhile, Newgarden's last race win came at Worldwide Technology Raceway last season, and he claimed one less victory than his teammates.

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Josef Newgarden goes candid about his 2024 IndyCar campaign

Josef Newgarden at the NTT IndyCar Series Bommarito Automotive Group 500 - Source: Getty

Josef Newgarden's results in 2024 were dejecting as his teammates finished the championship in third and fourth, while he came home in eighth. This was not a strong showing for him, and the 34-year-old admitted it.

Ahead of the 2025 season, the Team Penske driver, speaking to the media, shared how his 2024 campaign was an unfortunate one and said:

"2024 was kind of unfortunate in a lot of ways when you look at the numbers and you study average position all of these sort of metrics you know we're in just as good of a spot as we've always been there... But, when I look at the numbers I go this is really not different to what it was in years prior... I think we've just got to ride the ship in some ways from what we saw last year."

Newgarden sits tenth in the championship standings with a massive deficit to the table topper, Alex Palou.