IndyCar’s Joseph Newgarden had no idea who the RHOSLC actor was during the cameo

Despite The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City a fan at the sight of him, an IndyCar driver Joseph Newgarden was surprised after appearing on the Bravo reality show.

Newgarden, 34, starred in a November 2024 episode of the show in which Bronwyn Newport treated the cast to a trip to an IndyCar race in Thermal, California, outside of Palm Springs. After Newgarden met the housewives on the circuit, Newport called him “the most handsome” and cast member Lisa Barlow shouted, “Take off your shirt!”

The women even tried to create Newgarden with one cast member Heather Gaybut we are told that Newgarden is married to his wife, Ashley Welchand that the couple has a 2-year-old son Cat.

“I didn’t even know what was going on,” Newgarden admitted in an exclusive interview Us Weekly “I’m serious, this is how it goes. We are on the track, we are in this race. Someone walks into our engineering office and says, “Hey, there are some people here, there are visitors. Can you come out and say hi?”

Newgarden continued, “I went out and said hello to everyone. They say, “They’re going to film you, so don’t worry.” I say, “Okay, no problem.” And then you don’t hear anything about it for a couple of 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.”

The driver had “no idea” his interactions with the housewives would be featured on the show but described them as “super cute”.

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

“You know what was funny? You get text messages from husbands,” Newgarden said. “These are all men. Every single text message was from a guy and they were like, “I was watching with my wife” or “My wife saw it on TV and I noticed you were there.” It’s cool.” I have 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 IndyCar’s inaugural season on Fox, which will officially begin on March 2. Newgarden is featured in a striking commercial to promote the collaboration, which highlights Newgarden’s sharp jawline and appears from Tom Brady.

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

“I care about the development of the sport, I’m just a competitor and I love IndyCar,” he said. “I want to see him reach the highest heights he can. I remember when I was younger, IndyCar was a household name in North America. It went beyond America. It was a global sport. I think we can get back to that point.”

Newgarden added: “I’m very concerned about his performance and how it’s received. I think Fox is really going to capture the essence of what IndyCar is, the cool factor of it. Because it has always been here. It’s just a matter of exposure.”

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