Indy 500 2012 Results: Josef Newgarden Proves He's Not Ready to Be a Star

Josef Newgarden finished 25th in the Indy 500 on Sunday, and in doing so, proved that he's just not ready for the spotlight in the IndyCar Series.

Newgarden, the fastest rookie qualifier, was touted by many to be the next breakout star on the circuit, but raced to a disappointing end at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The 21-year-old Tennessee native won the 2011 Indy Lights season (not exactly the toughest competition) and was expected to race well in the IndyCar Series in 2012. He's been a letdown thus far, though, and has not finished better than 11th place.

He's also showing a propensity to drive extreme well in qualifiers but lay an egg on race day. Only once has he finished in a better position than he's started in, and he is in the midst of an ice-cold streak following his discouraging finish at Indy.

In his last three races, he's started second, ninth and seventh (Indy) but has faltered on Sunday every time. In those three races, he's finished very close to the bottom of the field at 26th, 23rd and 25th, respectively.

At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday, in the blistering heat, Newgarden made a rookie mistake and stalled out in the pits. We'll never know what caused Newgarden to stall. It could have been a combination of the heat, the nerves or maybe it was just a common driver error. Either way it didn't end well for Newgarden.

Even once he started getting some momentum back and began to make up some ground, his car lost power and he needed a tow back to the pits. Newgarden said this about his situation, as per Motorsport.com:

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“After we finally felt like we were in the mix again with getting our lap back, that’s when we lost power,” Newgarden said. “It’s just unfortunate that we didn’t get to finish the race.”

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It's hard to blame a driver for a mechanical failure, but they don't happen to great drivers, for the most part at least. We saw something similar happen with Will Power today, but that was a crash that couldn't have been avoided, as he was cut off and left with nowhere to go.

So far in the 2012 IndyCar Series, Newgarden has had a really tough time hanging with the great drivers in the field. He's in a really bad slump as of late and is probably going to meet some psychological (and maybe mechanical) issues down the road because of his bad start.

The good news for Newgarden is that he's still so young. Racing is unlike any other sport because the drivers can last so much longer than other athletes.

Newgarden will eventually turn it around, as he has too much talent to be stuck in the doldrums for his whole career, but it could take some time before he realizes his potential and becomes a force in the IndyCar Series.