{"id":21292,"date":"2017-10-30T15:06:43","date_gmt":"2017-10-30T19:06:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=21292"},"modified":"2017-10-30T15:06:43","modified_gmt":"2017-10-30T19:06:43","slug":"payne-newgarden-the-new-face-of-penske","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2017\/10\/payne-newgarden-the-new-face-of-penske","title":{"rendered":"Payne: Newgarden the new face of Penske"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div align=\"left\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/868d723fa10a6573bd64c45e0baa825276652d1a\/c=46-0-2953-2180&amp;r=x404&amp;c=534x401\/local\/-\/media\/2017\/10\/27\/DetroitNews\/B99591805Z.1_20171027193003_000_GS51NB69O.1-0.jpg\" alt=\"Josef Newgarden,Roger Penske\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div><p class=\"speakable-p-1 p-text\"><em>Bloomfield Hills<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 Josef Newgarden is not just the 2017 IndyCar champion. At 26 years-old, the charming Tennessee native is the new public face of\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.penske.com\/\">Penske Corp<\/a>., a sprawling, Fortune 500 company based in an anonymous, white office building at the corner of Telegraph and Square Lake Roads here.<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable-p-2 p-text\">Penske\u2019s racing division is anything but anonymous.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">While the corporation flies under the radar in Metro Detroit, Team Penske flies the company flag before millions of fans on sports cars, NASCARs, and open-wheel IndyCars. One of IndyCar\u2019s rising stars, Newgarden was snatched up by Team Penske \u2014 and its legendary boss, Roger \u201cThe Captain\u201d Penske \u2014 for the 2017 season and he didn\u2019t disappoint, taking the championship crown his first year on the job.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">\u201cI wasn\u2019t sure I deserved to be here,\u201d Newgarden told me from the top of Penske HQ. \u201cBut when you have a year like we had you feel validated, and really proud to be a part of this organization. When you look at Penske overall there are 50,000 employees across the world. Just to be a small part of it is really a big deal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Newgarden is a big deal even as he humbly says he\u2019s \u201cjust a driver at the end of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">In the expensive, competitive American sports marketplace, Newgarden is a poised, All-American poster boy for his sport \u2014 and for a multinational company sponsored by household names like Chevrolet, Coca-Cola, and Verizon Wireless.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ad-position-442\" class=\"partner-placement partner-spike\" data-monetization-id=\"native-article_link\" data-monetization-sizes=\"fluid,3,3\">\n<div id=\"ad-slot-7103-mi-detroit-C1561-native-article_link-money-444\" class=\"ad-slot\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_7103\/mi-detroit-C1561\/native-article_link\/money_0__container__\"><iframe id=\"google_ads_iframe_7103\/mi-detroit-C1561\/native-article_link\/money_0\" title=\"3rd party ad content\" name=\"google_ads_iframe_7103\/mi-detroit-C1561\/native-article_link\/money_0\" width=\"100%\" height=\"0\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Together with his boss, who has captained an unparalleled 16 Indy 500 wins, Newgarden\u2019s success burnishes a Penske brand that brought in $30 billion in revenue in 2016 from global entities that include truck rentals, manufactured truck parts, auto dealerships, and race teams.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">It\u2019s also a brand that is at the heart of Detroit\u2019s renaissance, including marketing the 2006 Super Bowl and remaking Belle Isle with the annual Detroit Grand Prix. And Newgarden is fluent in all things Penske, including the Motor City.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">\u201cI love it out there.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/detroitgp.com\/\">The Detroit Grand Prix<\/a>\u00a0has brought a lot of change to (Belle Isle),\u201d he said. \u201cThe park wasn\u2019t really getting a lot of attention before the race came there. Its brought a positive impact \u2014 new lighting, clearing trash, a lot of refurbishment. I think it should stay there.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"partner-outstream\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"p-text\">I first met him\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.detroitnews.com\/story\/opinion\/columnists\/henry-payne\/2016\/12\/21\/payne-camaro-zl-four-seat-vette\/95721930\/\">riding shotgun in a 650-horsepower Chevrolet Camaro ZL1<\/a>. At 150 mph. At Willow Springs Raceway north of Los Angeles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">\u201cThat Camaro ZL1 is my favorite thing,\u201d he smiles with the boyish grin of a 20-something with a bedroom wall full of car posters. \u201cI\u2019m still trying to convince Chevy to give me one of those. It\u2019s awesome!\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Chevrolet provides Team Penske\u2019s IndyCar engines, so Newgarden is Chevy\u2019s hot-shoe representative for media roll-outs of production vehicles like the Camaro. It\u2019s a chance to show off his people skills as well as his extraordinary driving talent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">That talent vaulted him quickly through the IndyCar ranks from his rookie debut for the small Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing team in 2012 to his first series win in 2015 to his spot at Penske. His aggressive style caught the Captain\u2019s eye, and Newgarden asserted himself on a team that already boasted IndyCar champions Simon Paugenaud of France and Australia\u2019s Will Power \u2014 not to mention three-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">In a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/motorsports.nbcsports.com\/2017\/08\/27\/pagenaud-livid-after-newgardens-pass-for-gateway-win-video\/\">statement move this year, Newgarden fought toe-to-toe<\/a>\u00a0with defending-champ Pagenaud for the lead at 200 mph, pulling off a bold, wheel-banging pass for the victory. The move momentarily rankled Pagenaud, but impressed the Captain.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">\u201cRoger likes that kind of racing. He likes drivers that take calculated risks,\u201d says veteran motorsports writer Mike Brudenell. \u201cThat\u2019s what he saw in Newgarden.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Newgarden\u2019s people skills make the total package. He was up at 5:30 a.m. on the day I interviewed him, traveling around Detroit to promote the kick-off of ticket sales for the 2018 Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear. The Grand Pric will be held\u00a0June 1-3. He hit multiple media interviews, met sponsors, signed autographs with Penske employees in Bloomfield Hills, and give thrill rides to Detroit Grand Prix auction winners at GM\u2019s test rack in Milford. Despite the pressure of working for an iconic franchise, he seems to enjoy it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">\u201cThere\u2019s not a lot of tolerance for mediocrity here,\u201d said Newgarden. \u201cBut Roger and the entire group give you time to sort things out the way you need them. From the outside you see they are the most successful team in IndyCar history \u2014 so if you can\u2019t get it done with them then you probably don\u2019t deserve to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">While he juggles his new notoriety and corporate duties, Newgarden stays focused on the task at hand: winning another championship in 2018.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Team Penske gives him all the resources he needs in a motorsports world that, like other fields, has been transformed by computer electronics. In the off-season he will spend hours on simulators and sifting computer data to set up his 2018 IndyCar racer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">\u201cAs a race car driver you\u2019re always just trying to crush people,\u201d Newgarden smiled. \u201cRace car drivers are the greediest people in the world. They win a couple of races, but it\u2019s never enough.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bloomfield Hills\u00a0\u2014 Josef Newgarden is not just the 2017 IndyCar champion. At 26 years-old, the charming Tennessee native is the new public face of\u00a0Penske Corp., a sprawling, Fortune 500 company based in an anonymous, white office building at the corner of Telegraph and Square Lake Roads here. Penske\u2019s racing division is anything but anonymous. While [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21292"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21292"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21293,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21292\/revisions\/21293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}