The new era of motorsports is here and that means crossover. Joey Logano thinks Josef Newgarden wants to race in NASCAR. After Kyle Larson’s impressive performance and his Rookie of the Year performance at the Indy 500, could Newgarden venture into building stock cars next?
Team Penske has more than enough resources to put Josef Newgarden in a car. Joey Logano says the IndyCar driver even brought up the topic. With drivers like Shane van Gisbergen, Cam Waters and Will Brown from Supercars, Kyle Larson from NASCAR, Jenson Button and Kimi Raikkonen from F1, everyone wants to do a crossover, try a new flavor of racing.
NASCAR has been the hub for others to try another series. F1, IndyCar, WEC (heck, Travis Pastrana was at the 2023 Daytona 500) it’s become something of a trend to hop into these next-gen cars and take them for a spin. Joey Logano knows firsthand what it can be like. SVG’s win in Chicago somewhat embarrassed him and other Cup drivers.
Logano was on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio for his weekly appearance on Behind the Wheel. He talked about Newgarden’s interest in NASCAR and how he could potentially perform.
“He’s mentioned it before he wants to. We’ve seen it before, right? The transition from a stock car to an IndyCar is not so easy. They seem so different. Now, this time may be a little closer than ever, especially if you’re on a road course. Where Josef has driven other sports cars that are now similar to the Next Gen Cup car. In my opinion, he would probably jump on a road course and be pretty competitive from the start. An oval, it would probably take you a little longer to understand.
“It’s no different than what we see with Shane now,” Joey Logano continued. “The same thing is that on the road courses he is an animal, and on the ovals he is discovering it. He’s getting better every week, I can see it. But he’s going to take a little more time. And he’s funny because most fans look at him and say, “The men’s tracks must be harder than the ovals, you have to do a lot more corners.” It’s just a completely different discipline, it’s not easier or harder, but the amount of time it takes to improve on an oval takes a while. You’ve never done it in your entire life, right? Take a minute because it is a very different discipline.”
— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) May 30, 2024
I know Joey Logano knows more about racing than I could ever hope to know, but I think he’s missing a crucial piece here. Josef Newgarden dominates the ovals in IndyCar. I understand they race differently than a stock car on ovals, but he knows how to get around them.
IndyCar only races 17 times a year. Why not introduce another car for Josef Newgarden, Will Power or Scott McLaughlin to race occasionally in the Cup Series?
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