"Man, what is this?" - Alex Palou shares his reaction to Josef Newgarden's viral IndyCar video featuring Tom Brady 

Three-time IndyCar champion Alex Palou recently reacted to IndyCar's viral 2025 promo featuring Team Penske's Josef Newgarden and Tom Brady. The 45-second promo received overwhelmingly positive responses and was an instant hit among racing fans.

Palou, Newgarden, and Pato O'Ward were three drivers who shot some promos in December 2024 in Los Angeles. The first promo released on January 12 was centered around two-time Indy 500 winner Newgarden and had cameos from Palou and NFL legend Brady.

During IndyCar's content days, Palou spoke about the commercial, revealing how awed he was with the production.

"I was really impressed, and I said to INDYCAR and to FOX, but also to Josef, I was like, 'Man, what is this?' Like it's crazy. It was something that we've never experienced, and we experience a lot of cool stuff. But that was another level," he said (via IndyCar on YouTube).

The Chip Ganassi Racing driver elaborated on the ample production value and FOX Sport's five-star service during the shoot, including how they had nearly 20 kinds of smoothies for him. He also credited the series for putting a driver in the limelight rather than a race.

"Seeing that first commercial from Josef was actually... it's really fun. I think they nailed it. It's fast. It's funny. It shows Josef instead of showing the 500, which, that's normally the target that we've been hitting, and I think the 500 is great, but it's huge already. We don't even need to sell more tickets. We need to make the series big in general," he added.

The Newgarden promo was a humorous take on his career and personal life. Alex Palou's cameo served the same purpose of inducing laughter. When the voiceover spoke about the children's book Newgarden wrote, which America loved, the defending champ appeared and said:

"My kid hated it."

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Alex Palou wants IndyCar to widen its passionate fan base by attracting the NFL audience

NTT IndyCar Series GMR Grand Prix - Source: Getty

Since replacing NBC as IndyCar's official broadcasting partner, FOX Sports has breathed new life into the sport. They began cross-promoting IndyCar during NFL games, utilizing other sports properties they have the media rights to.

Alex Palou commended their efforts to bring a large influx of new fans into the top tier of American open-wheel racing. He said (via IndyCar):

"I think the fan base we have, it's amazing. They will follow us everywhere. We go to Mars, they will follow us. We know we have a great product. So it's about showing people that doesn't know about racing, doesn't know what IndyCar is, doesn't care about IndyCar... it's about showing them, 'Hey, there's this sport, some crazy people that go around the U.S. doing laps in circles, and it's pretty fun.'"

"I think the target that they are hitting is amazing, and hopefully we get these new people that is centered on NFL or other sports that are like, oh, during the NFL off-season I'll watch IndyCar now," Palou continued.

IndyCar's association with the NFL deepened when they announced the Grand Prix of Arlington for 2026 in conjunction with the Dallas Cowboys and MLB's Texas Rangers.

For Alex Palou, 2025 is a year of creating history. If he wins the championship, he'll become the only driver alongside four-time IndyCar champ Dario Franchitti to win three consecutive championships.