Newgarden, in the meantime, represents one other a part of the equation—a “fairly distinctive character,” a multi-time winner, “who’s been an keen participant within the stuff that we’ve been doing at Fox to attempt to make any automobile develop and develop into extra accessible to extra followers,” Gottlieb famous.
Nonetheless, in turning into one of many faces of the circuit and in search of his third crown at Indianapolis, he now walks a line between hero and heel.
“He’s like the proper main man for a race automobile circuit: He’s younger; he’s good-looking; he’s bold; and he’s an absolute killer on the monitor. Joseph was a little bit of a present for us,” Gottlieb stated. “If it is a man you may’t be serious about, you then’ve acquired no pulse in any respect, and he’s type of polarizing in the easiest way: A whole lot of followers completely love and adore him and his dominance on the 500 is one thing that they experience, after which there are a variety of followers who assume he’s too good and might’t wait to see him get his comeuppance.”
Welcome to the quickest racing on earth. March 2 on @FOXTV.@IndyCar | @josefnewgarden | #INDYCARonFOX pic.twitter.com/yWFIOlDVa3
— INDYCAR on FOX (@IndyCarOnFOX) January 12, 2025
The subsequent lap
At Fox’s upfront, Newgarden shared the stage with an IndyCar luminary who extra typically prefers a spot within the shadows: Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing proprietor David Letterman. The late-night retiree examined his comedic muscle mass on the expense of the five hundred’s multifaceted Borg-Warner Trophy, praised Newgarden whereas wishing Rahal would edge him on this weekend’s occasion, and went into Indy’s 109th working by testing everybody’s reminiscence of Ray Harroun.
