Simply Put, Josef Newgarden Is Enjoying Racing Again
Credit: Penske Entertainment, James Black
Josef Newgarden is a perfectionist. He readily admits it.
But as a human being, that drive for perfection can ultimately lead to disappointment and frustration. Especially in an imperfect endeavor such as motorsport.
Consider Newgarden’s season in ’23. Although the Team Penske driver finally won his first Indianapolis 500, he came up short in his quest for a third NTT INDYCAR Series title.
During the offseason, Newgarden decided changes needed to be made. He turned off social media and concluded his win or bust approach was hampering his enjoyment of the sport.
“I've had to let go of that mentality,” he said, Sunday, after a dominant performance at the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, leading 92 of 100 laps on his way to winning his 30th career NTT INDYCAR Series race.
“I think it's too -- there's no sustainability in my perfection. I'm definitely a perfectionist. I'm an introvert, but I get hyper fixated on just trying to maximize everything.”
“I think my mentality was in a lot of ways win or nothing all the way throughout my career. That's just -- even today it was creeping in. I'm like, we're winning this race today or we're not winning it. I was going to go for it or nothing. It is my mentality.
“But from a bigger picture standpoint,” Newgarden added, “I just don't think that's sustainable. I'm not going away from my passion and my desire, but I'm trying to recenter my enjoyment in what I do.
“I enjoy working with a race team so much. It's more than just driving the car really well on any given day. I mean, it is an entire process, stepping into a group with many different people coming together and trying to figure out a problem. That problem is different every single weekend, and it's just so much fun to go through that with a team.
“We did that this weekend. It was a little different than what it was last year, and we found new solutions and we executed in the moment and made it happen on race day. I'm getting back to the basics of loving that.
“I really felt that today. I enjoyed driving. I really had a good time, and it all worked out, too, so that makes it a little bit more enjoyable.
“I think the centerment is where it needs to be.”
Credit: Penske Entertainment, Joe Skibinski
Whether it was all the post-race commitments that come with winning the 500, coming up short in the season championship, making time to continually produce comedic social media content, or something more personal, racing had become a job and the enjoyment factor for Newgarden slipped alway.
“I mean, I don't want to dive into it too aggressively, but yeah, it did start becoming a job. This is how I make my living, and it's how I provide for my family, and I'm showing up -- it's not a grueling job. Anyone would be lucky to be in the position that I'm in.
“But if you're fortunate enough to be here and do this, you should enjoy it. It's a very difficult job at the end of the day, too, because it's purely results based. It's hard to be in this type of job or position and know that you're either here or not here based on your results. You're either winning or you don't have your seat. That's literally how it works. It's kind of hard to find that enjoyment factor.
“I'd always had it,” Newgarden continued. “I'd learned how to thrive in the pressure and still enjoy the job, and I think it just slipped away at one point. I was buried with a lot of other things, and I just tried to simplify my life and get back to happiness, and I think I've done that in a lot of ways. I feel really happy. I feel motivated.
“I'm enjoying showing up and seeing everybody with smiling faces, and let's do our best. I hope we can win today, I think we can, and if we don't, that's all right, we'll figure it out the next time. I'm kind of getting back to that point.”
Credit: Penske Entertainment, Chris Jones
For Newgarden, simplifying his life and getting back to basics has put him back in a positive frame of mind.
“Well, it's always a combination of a lot of things, but I think just simply put, it's just nice to -- it's just nice to feel positive.
“I'm just really encouraged about everything going on in life, and I'm not overloaded. I think I overloaded myself in the past, and that comes from my desire to just excel. I want to exceed at everything that I do and excel at it.
“Sometimes I've just got to pare it back and say, look, you just can't do everything. I'm not saying that I was doing a great job at everything, but I think I was trying to, and I've had to tell myself, it's all right, it's not going to be perfect. You've got to remove that expectation.
“Simply put, I just wanted to be happier again being at the track and enjoying the job and the process, and I do. I've let go of some of the perfectionism. It's in there. It's never going to fully go away. I just want to be the best you can be every single year.
“I look at 17 races and I go, how do we win 17 races? You lose one race and you're already mourning the one race you lost. You just can't live on that hill for that long. It gets you a little bit lonely.
“So I'm enjoying it more, simply put. There's not much more behind it than that.”