Josef Newgarden to drive IndyCar at Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval

By Asher Fair | Sep 25, 2019

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - MAY 24: Josef Newgarden of the United States, driver of the #2 Shell Team Penske Chevrolet (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) /

Two-time IndyCar champion Josef Newgarden is set to drive an IndyCar at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval ahead of the NASCAR race weekend at the track.

Following NASCAR Cup Series qualifying on Friday evening for Sunday afternoon’s third and final race of the round of 16 of the playoffs at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, a different type of car is set to take to the twists and turns of the newest track on the NASCAR schedule.

Josef Newgarden, who recently became a two-time IndyCar champion, is set to take his #2 Team Penske Chevrolet for an exhibition run around the track ahead of Saturday’s Xfinity Series race, the Drive for the Cure 250, and Sunday’s Cup Series race, the Bank of America Roval 400.

Newgarden is set to complete this exhibition run around the 17-turn, 2.28-mile (3.669-kilometer) Charlotte Motor Speedway roval in Concord, North Carolina for Shell-Pennzoil, his primary sponsor for this year’s Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and a longtime sponsor of Team Penske, which compete in both IndyCar and NASCAR.

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“It’s been a very, very cool opportunity that Shell has provided us,” Newgarden told the media on Tuesday. “They really wanted to do something to showcase their involvement with Team Penske and everything that we’ve done together. We had a very, very successful month of May together, as everyone knows.”

Newgarden finished the Indy 500 in fourth place driving the #2 Shell-Pennzoil Team Penske Chevrolet. Teammate Simon Pagenaud won the race for the first time, giving Team Penske their record 18th victory and second in a row.

“As a team we won the Indianapolis 500, and Shell was a big part of that on my car specifically; we finished in the top 5. And that fourth place I think at Indianapolis was a great springboard and a big helper to our championship run,” Newgarden continued.

“We’re going to go to the Roval on Friday, and I’ll get to do some quick laps, demoing in their car, which is going to be very, very cool, and it’s just going to be a good showcase for our partnership together with Joey Logano, and I’m quite excited for that. I have not been to that track, so to be able to go there and showcase our partnership is going to be very, very fun.”

This track was added to the Xfinity Series and Cup Series schedule ahead of the 2018 season, and it produced one of the craziest Cup Series races that the sport has seen last September.

Furthering IndyCar’s involvement in this weekend’s NASCAR festivities at the track, Mario Andretti was announced last month as the pace car driver for Sunday’s Cup Series race.

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Qualifying for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval is scheduled to begin at 4:40 p.m. ET on Friday, September 27, and Josef Newgarden is set to run his exhibition run after that.