Note: This continues a series of 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES team previews on INDYCAR.com. The season starts Sunday, March 2 with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding (noon ET, FOX, FOX Deportes, INDYCAR Radio Network).
Starting Lineup: Josef Newgarden (No. 2 Astemo/PPG Team Penske Chevrolet), Scott McLaughlin (No. 3 XPEL/DEX Imaging Team Penske Chevrolet), Will Power (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet).
2024 in Review: The season highlight was Newgarden’s second consecutive victory in the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge, a win achieved with a last-lap pass for the second year in a row, this time at the expense of Pato O’Ward in Turn 3. Newgarden became the event’s first repeat winner since Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves in 2001-2002, and Newgarden became one of only six drivers to achieve back-to-back “500” wins. Newgarden started last year’s race on the front row along with McLaughlin, who won the pole for the first time in his career, and Power, giving Team Penske its second front-row sweep (the first was in 1988). The win gave Roger Penske’s organization its 20th trip to Victory Lane. McLaughlin led a race-high 66 laps and finished a career-best sixth. Power’s race ended with an accident. For the season, McLaughlin led the team’s charge, finishing third for the second consecutive year. McLaughlin and Power each won three races, tying for the series lead. McLaughlin earned the oval victory of his career in the Hy-Vee Homefront 250 presented by Instacart, the opening race of the Iowa Speedway doubleheader, and then scored a second oval win in the Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile 250 (Race 2). He also won the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park. Power’s wins came in the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America, the Hy-Vee One Step 250 presented by Gatorade at Iowa (Race 2) and the BITNILE.com Grand Prix of Portland. Newgarden also won the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline at World Wide Technology Raceway. Power went to the last race of the season with a chance to dethrone Alex Palou for the series championship, but his seat belts came loose on Lap 12, forcing a pit stop that dropped him four laps off the pace. The disappointment in the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix at Nashville Superspeedway dropped Power to fourth in the standings behind Palou, Colton Herta and McLaughlin. Newgarden finished the season in eighth place.
New for ’25: Continuity continues at Team Penske, where the big change has team president Tim Cindric relinquishing other duties to focus on the NTT INDYCAR SERIES program. Also, Power is in a contract year.
Keep an Eye on This: McLaughlin started last season in a hole, scoring only five points in the first two races combined. But he was the series’ most productive driver over the final 15 races, winning three races, including two on oval tracks, and scoring 500 points, 23 more than series champion Palou.
Little-Known Fact: It’s time to acknowledge that Newgarden’s career is on a historic trajectory. He is already tied with Paul Tracy, Dario Franchitti and Helio Castroneves for the 10th-most career race wins – 31 – and reaching the totals posted by Al Unser Jr. (34) and Bobby Unser (35) are within reach this season. Newgarden has averaged 3.5 wins per season since joining Team Penske in 2017, a standard which could vault him to seventh on the all-time list by the end of next season. Keep in mind that Newgarden, 34, is 10 years younger than Power, who has 44 career wins (No. 4 all-time).