Josef Newgarden reflects on “accomplished” goal for St. Petersburg race amid fuel miscues

The two-time IndyCar world champion, Josef Newgarden, kicked off his 2025 campaign on a strong note. He managed a well-deserved P3 finish in St. Petersburg and, following the 100-lap event, took up a satisfactory stance.

Chip Ganassi Racing's Alex Plaou came away with the ultimate bragging rights from the event with the race victory. With a podium finish, Josef Newgarden asserted that he was pleased with his exploits around St. Petersburg's street track in his Team Penske No. 2 car.

"Yeah, it was a good day. A podium is always solid. I think I said that on Friday when I was in here that ultimately we need a good day just to get points on the board. That’s kind of going to be most important for this weekend, so we accomplished that," Newgarden said via Pitdebrief.

The 34-year-old also stressed the fuel issues he faced in the 2025 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Concerning this, he said:

"Can’t be too dissatisfied. I think we had some miscues in the race today for sure. Just a couple, fueling-wise. But the team still did a stellar job. It starts with the foundation of a fast car, and we certainly had that all weekend, and it definitely felt like it was intact in the race.”

Newgarden did not have the best of qualifying sessions in the event and, thus, had to start his 100-lap outing from P10. He had Andretti Global's Kyle Kirkwood alongside him on row five.

We were in a good position to challenge for the win: Josef Newgarden

While Josef Newgarden was pleased with amassing an impressive 36 points from the St. Petersburg event, he also shed light on how he could have challenged the lights of Scott Dixon (six-time world champion) and Alex Palou for the race win.

Newgarden felt that Team Penske could have done a better job with the pit strategy in the St. Pete race.

"Very solid overall, just wish we could have capitalized on the positioning. We were in a good position today to challenge for the win and misstepped a little bit, but really proud of the team and the way they started. Built awesome cars. We can go on with that and feel confident at least to challenge for wins in the future. Putting good points on the board is always the key, so we can leave here with a solid result." Newgarden said via the aforementioned source.

The veteran of the 'fastest racing on earth' has been competing in the sport since the start of the 2012 season. He has so far managed to secure 31 wins, 58 podiums, and 18 pole positions. Moreover, he is also a two-time world champion. Team Penske showed some real pace in the 2025 season opener, and keeping this in view, Josef Newgarden could prove to be one of the dark horses in the fight for the coveted drivers' world championship.