Josef Newgarden will race for Team Penske in 2017 after leaving Ed Carpenter Racing, and will replace Juan Pablo Montoya within the team.
The young American was linked to both Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing during since the end of the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series season, but opted to join Simon Pagenaud, Will Power and Helio Castroneves in Roger Penske’s outfit.
Newgarden finished fourth in the championship in 2016, and was the best of those not racing for Penske last season, and took a dominant victory at Iowa Speedway mere weeks after suffering an injury in a horror crash at Texas.
“For any open-wheel racer – or any racecar driver in general – Team Penske is a dream job,” said Newgarden. “Roger Penske is a legend in the motorsports community and his team has done just about everything they’ve ever set out to do.
“I look forward to working with all of Team Penske’s great partners. To get an opportunity to work with Simon, Will and Helio, along with the rest of the team, will just help make me a better driver.”
The addition of Newgarden to the Penske stable should make the outfit a more formidable team in 2017, and Roger Penske said that the twenty-five-year-old is being brought into the team with one eye on the future.
“When you look at the top talent in the series, both from a driving and commercial perspective, Josef is near the top of the list,” said Penske. “We are always looking to build toward the future and when we had the opportunity to talk with Josef, we knew that he would be a great fit with our program.
“He is a fantastic driver on the track and will be great with our partners off the track. He is hungry to win more races and win championships and we hope to give him that opportunity as part of our team.”
