Josef Newgarden got a taste of NASCAR at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday night as he serves as the honorary pace car driver for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race. The two-time Indianapolis 500 winner and two-time INDYCAR champion had previously named Bristol as his first choice for a Cup Series debut, and his latest visit only added to his desire to race at the track someday.
Early on Saturday morning, the Tennessee native drove around Bristol’s high-banked half-mile oval in a blue 2026 Chevrolet Corvette as he prepared for his pace car duties later in the night. Newgarden then joked about his new role before explaining his hopes of driving a Cup car at Bristol one day.
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“I want to announce that I’m going to be a professional pace car driver from now on. Seems much simpler than what I’ve been doing. No, I couldn’t do that; Just for tonight. But it should be super fun. I’m very appreciative for Bristol for having me here. I would love to at some point drive a professional race car at this race track. But to drive the pace car and clean the field will be just enough of a tease, I guess,” Josef Newgarden said in the pre-race press conference.
Josef Newgarden also said he wants to see more IndyCar and NASCAR weekends, like the Phoenix or the St. Petersburg crossover earlier this year. He has been open about his interest in competing in a NASCAR Cup Series race for some time. While he has mentioned Nashville and Richmond, Bristol has remained at the top of his list.
Newgarden’s pace car laps were not his first experience behind the wheel at Bristol. When asked about having driven the track before, the Team Penske driver recalled visiting the venue as a teenager through the Buck Baker Racing School, which offered stock car driving experiences at Bristol.
“It wasn’t. Actually, when I was here, I think I was in a, I don’t want to get it wrong. I think I was in like a Buck Baker school car when I was 16 around this place. And I did like 30 minutes. So I don’t have a lot of experience at Bristol, but I do have a little snippet in time that I was here.”
Josef Newgarden said returning to Bristol gave him another chance to appreciate what makes the track different from other venues.
“It was very cool to just see the place in the pace car. What an amazing facility. I’ve always been in awe of Bristol. There’s nothing like it. It’s very unique to itself. And you can understand why people love it and why it’s such a fan favorite. It really is an unbelievable atmosphere. So it’s very cool to be here today.”
The Bass Pro Shops Bristol night race will begin at 7:40 PM ET on USA Network.
Austin Cindric says pace car duties could give Josef Newgarden the Bristol bug
Josef Newgarden‘s Bristol visit also brought together two Team Penske drivers from different sides of the organization’s racing program. Newgarden drives the No. 2 Chevrolet for Roger Penske in IndyCar, while Austin Cindric drives the No. 2 Team Penske Ford in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Cindric was asked whether he had any advice for his stablemate ahead of his pace car duties at Bristol. He said:
“I have no advice on driving the pace car. I think he’s well suited. I wonder if he’s ever driven any laps around Bristol. I know that when he and I have talked, I know he said it in the media, like if there’s a NASCAR race he’d ever want to do, it’s this one. So something tells me, even in the pace car, it’ll give him the bug when he’s got it.”
Newgarden finished eighth in the 2026 IndyCar standings, 208 points behind champion Alex Palou, while Austin Cindric entered the third race of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs 108 points behind the leader in the Chase.
Edited by Anurup Chakraborty