"Somewhere between demoralized and relieved" - Josef Newgarden shares sneak peek into grueling fitness challenge

Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden shared a reel on his Instagram account on February 4, 2025, as he shared the highlights from the HYROX challenge. The athletic event took place in Las Vegas and Newgarden regarded it as his first race of the season.

The reel started with clips from the Las Vegas strip followed by Newgarden preparing in the hotel room for the challenge. As he did, his wife Ashley Newgarden sipped on a glass of wine. The next set of clips were sneak peeks of the Team Penske driver warming up for the HYROX challenge.

Josef Newgarden suggested that he learned about the challenge just a couple of months back and that he was nervous about it. Nonetheless, after a quick change of outfit, the IndyCar driver was out in the arena to complete the challenge.

Clips from the challenge followed that showcased Newgarden running and performing various strength training sessions. The 34-year-old summed up the HYROX challenge in his reel’s caption which read:

“I must say, this race result took the wind out of my sails a bit. I was somewhere between demoralized and relieved at the finish line, but I woke up the next day and was ready for more! So cool to get a time on the board in Vegas last weekend. I'm loving this HYROX challenge. I've got a long way to go, but I'll have another attempt at this in March! Also, mad respect to all the HYROX athletes.”

The HYROX challenge is a global fitness challenge where a participant first runs for a kilometer and then works out at a fitness station, and then repeats this process eight times. The challenge combines running and a functional workout and the one who finishes it the fastest wins the challenge.

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Josef Newgarden explains what racing on an oval feels like

It took Josef Newgarden over a decade to win his first Indy 500 after he won the race in 2023 and became the first back-to-back winner in over two decades the very next year in 2024. Team Penske detailed what it is like to drive an IndyCar around an oval in a reel uploaded by Race Service on Instagram. Newgarden said:

“I wish oval racing could be conveyed better to people on the outside. It is, like, such a craft. This thing is skating half the time, especially in qualifying. I'm telling you, the car feels like it's floating, you know, it's not like. Oh, it's loaded up, and you can feel it really, like, digging in. It doesn't feel like that. I think I'm floating where I'm gonna miss the wall, you know, and you're like, guiding this missile. It's so cool.”

Josef Newgarden will go into the 2025 IndyCar season as the defending Indy 500 champion and will have the opportunity to accomplish the feat of the first-ever three-peat at the greatest spectacle in racing.