BRISTOL, Tenn. — Two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion Josef Newgarden remains focused on his open wheel career and contending for championships, but he is still hopeful for a start in the NASCAR Cup Series.
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He even knows exactly where he would want this start to take place.
"It's definitely never changed," Newgarden, the honorary pace car driver for the Bristol Night Race, said about his desire to make a start in NASCAR. "I mean, if I had an opportunity to drive a Cup car, it would be here at Bristol, 100%."
He has already completed some laps at the short track, albeit in two different vehicles. He drove a Chevrolet Corvette for a few laps on Saturday morning while preparing for his pace car duties. He also drove a Buck Baker Racing School car when he was 16.
Yet, this is not the same as donning a firesuit, strapping into a Cup Series car, and then heading into Thunder Valley with 36-39 other competitors.
"I would love to, at some point, drive a professional race car at this racetrack, but to drive the pace car and lead the field will be just enough of a tease, I guess," he said.
This desire to make his NASCAR debut is one that has long burned inside Newgarden, a Tennessee native. He stated at Nashville Superspeedway back in 2024 that he grew up going to races at Bristol Motor Speedway and that he wanted to compete at either Tennessee track.
2x IndyCar champ Josef Newgarden is here at Bristol to drive the pace car.
Back in 2024, he told us that he wants to make a Cup Series start at Nashville or Bristol.
That hasn't changed. Bristol is still top of the list, but he also would like to race at Richmond. pic.twitter.com/fErbDStnhd— John Newby (@JohnNewby_) September 19, 2026
At this point, he has expanded his list a bit. He would prefer something in the half-mile to 1-mile range. Nashville Superspeedway is a little larger at 1.33 miles, but he would make an exception for his home track.
The veteran IndyCar driver just prefers short track racing, which is why he has expanded his list of desired race track destinations.
"I think Richmond would be amazing to drive," Newgarden added. "I think we should go to Richmond with an Indy car as well. So, but for a Cup car, it's always going to be Bristol would be top of the list. I've also heard it would be the worst place for me to go at first, where I would probably be way out of my depth just to start.
"I think this takes a unique set of skills that you need to develop. So it's a hard track, I think, to conquer, which you can tell why. It's just so frantic. There's not a lot of breathing time here, even for the guys that are really good. They've got to be on it 24/7. So I think it would be a tough track to figure out, but also it wouldn't change from the top of my list."
Will this Cup Series start ever happen? That is the question. Newgarden is not the first Team Penske driver who has wanted to branch out and take on a different racing series.
Will Power, Helio Castroneves, and Sam Hornish all sought to make starts in another series. They remained unsuccessful as team owner Roger Penske put his foot down.
Newgarden is well aware of this fact, which he acknowledged on Saturday afternoon at Bristol Motor Speedway. He knows it's a tall task to pull off one of these crossover events, even if it could help grow the respective series' fanbases.
"It's just everybody is so good in their discipline," he said. "And so to bounce around and to detract from your program, I mean, there's a lot of validity when people say, 'Hey, we don't want to do that. It's hard to do that. It's hard to take guys off of a program that this is their role and their job.'
"And you know, I get paid a good amount of money to make sure I execute on race day in an Indy car for my team and to lead the team in the right direction and to keep everything in line.
"And so that's hard enough. And to take away from that program, I understand the difficulty in trying to say yes when someone says, 'Hey, I want to go have fun and try something different.'"
