With back-to-back Indianapolis 500 victories, two NTT IndyCar Series Championships and 30 career IndyCar wins including 27 with Team Penske, it made tremendous sense that Josef Newgarden and Team Penske stay together for the future.

It became official Saturday afternoon at the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix as the team announced a contract extension with the IndyCar Series star.

“This very much feels like home here to me,” Newgarden said. “This is my eighth year with the team. They’ve provided me with every opportunity that I could have ever dreamed of. I’ve enjoyed my time here immensely, immensely. There’s nothing that’s ever been missing. Very thankful to our partnerships across the board.

“Chevrolet has powered every single one of my IndyCar victories that I’ve ever had, whether that was pre-Penske or during the entire time. Not somewhere else I want to go. I have loved working with Chevrolet, having them support me my entire career.”

Earlier on Saturday, Hitachi Astemo extended the company’s partnership with Team Penske in another multi-year agreement.

“Certainly, the Hitachi relationship was a very good one to receive when I got to Team Penske,” Newgarden said. “I used to watch Helio Castroneves drive the Hitachi car. I thought if one day I had an opportunity to drive for this team, I would love to drive that car. Helio passed the torch in 2018. We were able to follow that up with a championship in 2019.

“I don’t think it’s farfetched to say we nearly could have had four championships together in that time span. We finished second, runner-up, three years in a row. A couple were very close.

“I think for me what I look at, which is most gratifying, is the potential still has not been reached. There’s a higher ceiling here that we haven’t maxed out yet. That makes me excited for the future.”

Newgarden’s victory was team owner Roger Penske’s record-extending 20th Indianapolis 500 victory.

“Josef Newgarden is a true winner, and we are excited that he will continue as a part of Team Penske for years to come,” said team owner Roger Penske. “What he did Sunday in the Indianapolis 500 shows how Josef consistently delivers for our team and our partners on the track, and he is just as impressive off the track as well. We are proud to have Josef continue with our organization as his skill and passion embody what it means to be a Team Penske driver.”

Newgarden is one of the biggest stars in the IndyCar Series and has called Team Penske home since the 2017 season. In his seven-plus seasons with the organization, Newgarden has totaled 27 wins, 16 NTT P1 Award pole positions, and two IndyCar Series championships in 2017 and 2019.

A well-rounded driver that can win on any circuit, Newgarden has established himself as the top oval racer in the series and his 30 career victories place him alone in the 13th position on the all-time series wins list.

Most-notably, the Nashville, Tenn. native took the checkered flag in the Indianapolis 500 in 2023 and 2024, becoming the first driver since 2002 to win the race in consecutive seasons. His 2024 Indianapolis 500 victory on Sunday afternoon gave Team Penske 20 wins in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” This extension will allow Newgarden to chase immortality as the first driver to win three-consecutive Indianapolis 500s with the most-successful team in the race’s 108-year history.

In addition, this year Newgarden became the first driver in Team Penske history to win the Indianapolis 500 and the Rolex 24 at Daytona in the same season when he helped the team to the overall win in the endurance classic for the first time since 1969.

“Driving for Roger Penske and this iconic team is a dream that I never thought I would realize,” Newgarden said. “I’m thankful for the opportunities that I’ve been given during my time at Team Penske. I have a great amount of respect for the individuals that comprise our group, including the partners who support us.

“Our time together has been filled with hard work, teamwork and dedication; and I’m so excited that we will continue on for many more years to come. I’m sure that we can achieve much more in the future. I still believe we haven’t reached our full potential together just yet.”

Newgarden is seventh in the 2024 IndyCar Series standings with one win and two top-five finishes in the No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet. He is a 2019 winner of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, site of this weekend’s sixth round of the 2024 IndyCar Series championship that can be seen live on the USA Network at 12:00 pm ET on Sunday, June 2.

Team Penske is one of the most successful teams in the history of professional sports. Cars owned and prepared by Team Penske have produced more than 625 major race wins, over 685 pole positions and 44 championships across open-wheel, stock car and sports car racing competition.

Entering its 58th season in 2024, Team Penske has also earned 20 Indianapolis 500 victories, three Daytona 500 Championships, a Formula 1 win, victories in the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring, along with a win in Australia’s legendary Bathurst 1000 race.

In 2024, Team Penske will compete in the NTT IndyCar Series, NASCAR Cup Series, IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the FIA World Endurance Championship.

“The timing was kind of perfect,” Newgarden said. “You never know when you’re going to win the Indianapolis 500. The fact that we did, we have this great extension with Hitachi Astemo, we’re here in GM’s backyard, literally in their house, Penske Corporation is up the road, seemed like a good time to put this together.

“This has been coming for a little while now, so not surprised.”

IndyStar is tracking each killing to better understand violence in the city. This list is preliminary, and the number of homicides can change as authorities investigate each case, determining whether the slaying was criminal, justified, accidental or suicide. IndyStar has excluded cases ruled accidents, suicides, fatal overdoses or hit-and-run deaths unless they were deemed intentional. This information is compiled using data from Indianapolis police, court records and interviews with family and friends of those killed. Anyone with information that could help a homicide investigation is asked to call the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department’s Homicide Office at 317-327-3475 or Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317-262-8477 to remain anonymous.

Woman killed in shooting on Skylar Lane

June 1: Indianapolis police responded about 7:20 a.m. to reports of a shooting on the north side of the city.

Officers responded to the 3000 block of Armory Lane and found a woman, who has not been identified, with gunshot wounds inside a residence. She died at the scene.

Police have detained a person of interest in the case.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Passengers yelling threats shortly before takeoff Friday from Indianapolis International Airport caused a plane to return to the terminal, the airline and one passenger say.

Endeavor Flight 4494 from Indianapolis to New York’s LaGuardia Airport was interrupted while getting ready to take off at 3:30 p.m. Friday. Endeavor Air is a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines.

Bill Leschorn, a passenger onboard the flight says passengers were yelling and threating language was used.  The plane was forced to go back to the terminal, and everyone deplaned.

“We were literally engines were powering ready to take off and they stopped,” he said.

Leschorn says he sat three rows in front of a passenger who he says refused to put her bag under her seat or in the overhead bin, and argued with the flight attendant. The uncontrollable passenger escalated the situation, then was joined by two companions who joined her. They turned their anger toward the other passengers.

“This language she was using was very threatening, threatening physical violence, and verbal assault,” Leschorn said. “I heard a father say, ‘Please keep your voice down. There are children.’” 

Leschorn didn’t film inside the plane because he was afraid the women would attack him. But once off the plane, he turned on his camera. In the video that he shared with News 8, five officers handcuff a woman and her companions followed along.

A Delta spokesperson told News 8 that the plane “returned to the gate due to unruly passengers onboard.”

While the incident delayed the flight by an hour and a half, getting passenger to New York shortly before 6:30 p.m., that didn’t matter to Leschorn. He was relieved Delta’s crew took swift action. “I feel safer knowing we didn’t take off with that scenario on the plane.”

Since the beginning of this year, the Federal Aviation Authority says 624 dangerous passenger behaviors have disrupted flights.