Team Penske is rarely associated with nonsensical fun, but that’s just what fans witnessed last season with the arrival of The Chalice of Excellence.

According to new NTT IndyCar Series champion Josef Newgarden, whose No. 2 Chevy team introduced the dragon-festooned device to the world during an NBC broadcast, the Game of Thrones-inspired goblet became his team’s mascot, energy source, and good luck charm throughout his run to the 2019 title.

In the ultra-serious sport of motor racing, at the sport's most serious team, Newgarden & Company found a creative outlet with an ornate cup found at a truck stop, that helped diffuse the pressures they faced across the seven months and 17 races that spanned their championship pursuit.

Awarded to a different team member after every event, the chalice became the No. 2 crew’s equivalent of a game ball handed out to the person who did something excellent to earn its temporary possession.

Courtesy of Travis Law

It was also used like a miniature version of the Stanley Cup, as crew chief Travis Law and Newgarden's ace team drank from the chalice following their four wins and once more after being crowned IndyCar champions in September. Memorialized with an Instagram account run by the crew, the chalice took on a life of its own as its travels were captured in ways that were often more interesting than some of the content generated by Newgarden's rivals.

Picture the stoic or monotone drivers who say nothing memorable, or only know how to rattle off an endless list of sponsor names in an interview, and then embrace Tennessee's Newgarden, a two-time IndyCar champion by the age of 29, who would rather spend his words on that silly chalice and all the mirth it brought to Team Penske.

"I had a sip out of it, and it is mythical," he says of the idol that travels in a protective case. "You've got to be careful, because it's got two dueling dragons protecting it. So, you’ve got to navigate those waters when you're trying to sip out of the chalice. But it's an amazing vessel. That thing, it's got some powers. I'm telling you what. It's growing. It's growing in its allure.

"What I can say is that we feel very fortunate to have the chalice in our possession on the No. 2 car. We don't actually know the origin of it. There's been a lot of talk about its backstory and there's a lot of conflicting rumors and reports on its history and where it comes from. But one thing we know is that it does contain some sort of mysterious, other worldly power, and we don't know how to necessarily capture it. We just find that whoever is in possession of it seems to be benefiting from it.

Travis Law

"So, we tightly guard it, we protect it. We have been trying to dissect its history, but we haven't gotten there. We haven't had much time with it yet. But it is a fantastic goblet of people, and it will reign long and supreme hopefully on the No. 2 car for many years to come."

Within a humble crew that avoids personal recognition, receiving the chalice was, at times, an awkward exchange. As the season gained momentum, the passing of the award became more comfortable for most. Newgarden's stream-of-consciousness narrative continues:

"Well, there are some ground rules for sure. There's kind of a governance of it. We're still figuring that out. It's a learning process for us as well. But the chalice is bestowed to the worthy recipient from the previous race weekend.

"Each race it gets passed off and it has to be in their possession, and they need to guard it, they need to protect it, and they also need to have some history with the chalice. And by that is we need to know chronologically and documented. We have to have it documented what happened with you and the chalice and where you've been, what have you seen, and what has transpired. And that has to be conveyed to the group throughout the week that you have it or two weeks, however long that you have the chalice. And then you pass it on to whoever the next worthy recipient is. So yeah, there's a bit of a process."

The No. 2 team held IndyCar’s championship lead for almost the entire year. As his command of the 2019 season grew, Newgarden says teammates Will Power and Simon Pagenaud, and Penske’s IMSA and NASCAR teams that run out of the same North Carolina shop, wanted to get their hands on the vaguely demonic good luck charm.

"Oh, there is inter-team jealousy that I find," he adds. "There's other cars that that want in on this chalice action. And there's kind of an unspoken rule. It's not going to leave the No. 2 car. It has to stay within the No. 2 car.

"But we let other teams believe they could potentially earn the chalice, so then they're on good behavior. They try and put in the work to earn the chalice, when in reality they're really never going to get the chalice. But giving them that false sense of hope, it's interesting. People will ... they really ... they shape up when they think they can get the chalice. It's quite fascinating to see the human dynamic."

The Chalice on TV. NBC Sports

Asked if making human sacrifices to appease the chalice would be considered if it meant more success would follow, Newgarden refused to rule it out.

"You know what? Everything's open," he affirms. "It's so early in our journey with it that we don't know where this is going. We really don't. And we need to stay vigilant. We need to stay alert, just for the what ifs. And we don't know. We don't know what power this thing holds. We know it's a lot, but we just don't know the ultimate power. So, I think we need to be a little bit cautious around it and make sure we don't get ahead of ourselves."

Like the chalice, there’s nothing quite like Newgarden in motor racing.

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