IndyCar’s Josef Newgarden had no idea who played RHOSLC during the Cameo

Despite that The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City fangirl looking at him, IndyCar driver Joseph Newgarden was smitten after appearing on the Bravo reality series.

Newgarden, 34, appeared in a November 2024 episode of the series in which Bronwyn Newport invited the actor on a trip to an IndyCar race in Thermal, California, outside Palm Springs. When Newgarden met Housewives on the track, Newport called him “the nicest” and cast member Lisa Barlow he yelled, “Take off your shirt!”

The women even tried to start Newgarden with a single actor Heather Gaybut they were told that Newgarden was married to his wife, Ashley Welchand that the couple share a 2-year-old son Cat.

“I didn’t even know what was going on,” Newgarden admitted in an exclusive interview with My Weekly “I mean it, this is how it goes. We are on the track, we are in this race. Someone walks into our tech office and says, ‘Hey, there’s some people here, there’s some guests. Can you please come out and say hello?’”

Newgarden continued, “I went out and said hello to everybody. They say, ‘You’re going to be filmed, so don’t worry about it.’ I’m like, ‘OK, no problem.’ And then you don’t hear anything about it for a few months, right? And then I get all these texts when the show is on. I don’t know this show. I didn’t see it.”

Driver “had no idea” his interactions with the Housewives would be featured on the show, but called them “super sweet.”

After the episode aired, Newgarden joked about the surprising demographic that responded most to his Bravo debut.

“You know what was funny? You get messages from husbands and wives,” Newgarden said. “They are all men. Every text was from a guy and they were like, ‘I was watching with my wife’ or ‘My wife had it on TV and I noticed you were there. That’s pretty cool.” I got about 20 texts like that. I thought it was really funny.”

Outside of his new found Housewives of fame, Newgarden is also the face of the inaugural IndyCar season on Fox, which officially begins on March 2. Newgarden is featured in a splashy ad to promote the collaboration, which highlights Newgarden’s chiseled jawline and features a look from Tom Brady.

For Newgarden, being in such a prominent place for IndyCar is not something he takes lightly.

“I care about the growth of the sport, just being a competitor and loving IndyCar,” he said. “I want to see him reach the highest level he can. I remember when I was younger, IndyCar used to be a household name in North America. It affected not only America. It was a worldwide sport. I think it can come back to this point.”

Newgarden added, “I care deeply about his representation and how it is perceived. I think Fox really captures the essence of what IndyCar is, its cool factor. Because it’s always been there. It’s just a matter of exposure.”

Fox’s coverage of the 2025 IndyCar season begins with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Petersburg, Florida on Sunday, March 2.