Josef Newgarden Tops Final Indy 500 Practice From 23rd
josef newgarden was fastest in final Indy 500 practice on Friday, even though he will start the Indianapolis 500 from 23rd on Sunday. The speed gives him a clean note heading into race day, but the starting spot leaves him working from deep in the field.
Newgarden at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Newgarden said he “put up a fast lap” after practice, and that one-lap pace stood out at the right time. He will try to turn it into a race result from 23rd, a position that puts extra pressure on the opening laps and the first strategy calls.
“That's really all it is. It's always there is positivity to that in that when the car can do that lap, that is a good thing, but that's not the whole story when it comes to our race car,” he said Friday. The message was clear: the speed is useful, but the 500 still demands more than one quick run.
Team Penske and Newgarden
The run matters because Newgarden arrives with a mixed 2026 line. Through six races, he sat fifth in the standings with one win, two top-fives and four top-10s, and that victory came on the only oval race so far at Phoenix. He also won the season-ending race in 2025 at Nashville Superspeedway after finishing 12th in the 2025 standings.
He has a stronger history at this event than most of the field. Newgarden won the Indianapolis 500 in 2023 and again in 2024, and he won INDYCAR titles in 2017 and 2019. That track record is the backdrop for a weekend where he is trying to turn a fast practice day into another result that fits his résumé.
Diuguid and the reset
Jonathan Diuguid took over the INDYCAR operation last June after the Penske leadership overhaul, and he said Newgarden showed up at the opener at St Petersburg ready to race. Diuguid also pointed to “some very difficult, very frank conversations through October, November, after the season ended last year,” a sign that the program did not arrive here by accident.
Newgarden described that progress in plain terms last week, saying, “I sense a good rebalancing in a lot of ways,” and, “I see the light at the end of the tunnel.” He added, “I feel the progress,” and on Friday he said, “I think we've been relatively solid all month.... We've just got to make sure it's right as Sunday comes around.”
For Newgarden, the test is now simple: carry Friday’s pace into Sunday from 23rd and make the most of a month that has already shown speed, improvement and a route back toward the front.
