PureDWTS Season 28 Cast Rumors & Watchout: James Hinchcliffe Thinks Fellow Indycar Driver Josef Newgarden Should Do DWTS

I’d categorize this one as “there’s a 50/50 chance between this being a complete joke and a legitimate possibility”, given the parties involved 😉

Hinch has said in multiple interviews since his time on DWTS that he’d “love to see Josef Newgarden do DWTS” – I believe he even mentioned it in a Facebook live with Sharna once, and Sharna was onboard with the idea.  Josef’s a fellow Indycar driver (a pretty successful one, too – he won the 2017 Indycar Series Championship), and is considered a sort of Indycar heartthrob – several of the drivers like to joke that he should be a Disney prince or in a boyband. He’s also a goofy guy and doesn’t seem to worry too much about “being cool”, so he’s uninhibited enough to give DWTS a shot, I think.

Well the other day Josef retweeted a gif of himself busting a move on the bricks at IMS (which was actually cropped from a YouTube video of him during the “Harlem Shake” dance craze five years ago), and this is how things went down:

Now while Josef might be kidding (or semi-kidding), I think Hinch is serious – and I think that Josef would actually be a wise casting move on ABC’s part. Charming, attractive, boyish young guy that doesn’t take himself too seriously and isn’t afraid to let loose and give himself over to the experience? That’s practically catnip to DWTS viewers these days (hello, Milo). And given that ABC has time to pin down the next cast (and reeeeallllly needs to focus on getting a quality cast to redeem themselves from the fiasco of season 27), I think they ought to look into Josef – Hinch ended up being wildly popular despite being a relative unknown headed into his season, and Josef is at least semi-well-known.

Thoughts?