Josef Newgarden ended the 2025 IndyCar season with a memorable win as he took home the title at his hometown race, the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix, on Sunday at Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tenn.
Newgarden, 34, was on the verge of his first winless IndyCar season since 2014 before he beat Spanish star Alex Palou to the checkered flag by .5021 of a second.
Palou had the IndyCar Series championship locked up weeks ago. Driving the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, his second-place finish Sunday only bolstered his third straight series title and fourth in five years.
“It’s been an amazing season for us, for the 10 car, everybody at (Chip Ganassi and Honda),” Palou said in the trophy presentation. “I just had the pleasure to drive it, honestly. I just had the pleasure to be the driver of that No. 10 DHL Honda car, to get so many wins and so many podiums this year.”
Newgarden, who drives the No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet, led 60 of the 225 laps.
“It’s rewarding. It’s rewarding for our team,” Newgarden said. “They’ve done a great job. Obviously Will (Power) won in Portland, which was a huge lift for everybody and he really deserved it. … Tough year, tough, tough year, but good to get a win here at the end.”
Newgarden celebrated with his hometown supporters following the victory.
“It’s pretty great. I think we should be racing in Nashville at the end of the championship all the time,” he said. “I don’t care where it is, whether it’s at this track or somewhere else, but just in the vicinity would be a good thing. So it’s great to be home, and pumped, just pumped.”
Palou, 28, finished his most impressive season yet. He had 13 podium finishes in 17 races: eight wins (the Indianapolis 500 chief among them), four runners-up and one third-place finish.
“He’s just a hard worker, on and off the track,” Ganassi said. “He’s always after it. He tied the championship up a few weeks ago but he never gave up the will to win and there’s a lot to be said for that.”
Scott McLaughlin of New Zealand finished third. Kyffin Simpson of the Cayman Islands and Conor Daly rounded out the top five.
Mexico’s Pato O’Ward started from the pole and led a race-high 116 laps, but he made hard contact with the wall on Lap 126 and could not finish. He fell to 24th place of 27 drivers in the field.
–Field Level Media
