Josef Newgarden celebrates on the podium after winning Saturday’s NTT IndyCar Series race at Iowa Speedway. Photo: IndyCar Media
It might be time to change the name of the city where Iowa Speedway is located from Newton to Newgardenton.
Josef Newgarden became the all-time IndyCar Series win leader at Iowa Speedway by capturing the victory in Saturday’s race, his fourth career win at the .894-mile oval and his fourth win of the 2022 season.
Newgarden and Ryan Hunter-Reay both entered this race tied atop the all-time Iowa win list with three apiece.
Newgarden, who started second, beat Pato O’Ward to the checkered flag by 6.1784 seconds for his 24th career victory. Pole sitter Will Power finished third on a scorching day in which air temperatures nearly reached 100 degrees.
“I’m glad I wore this cool shirt,” Newgarden said. “It was actually pretty nice and easy in there, to be honest with you. The car was good. I was surprised at how hard these guys were pushing on the restarts. This is a long-game day.
“I was disappointed after qualifying. I just hate losing, and I felt like we had enough to get the job done, and we didn’t. It motivated me. I knew we had a car here today to win this race in front of this great crowd. It’s one of my favorite tracks.”
Newgarden added the victory to his wins in 2016, 2019 and the second race of the Iowa doubleheader in 2020. He’ll get a chance to add to his win total at Iowa in race two on Sunday.
Newgarden also passed Power for second in the series championship standings and clawed to within just 15 points of leader Marcus Ericsson, who finished eighth.
“I feel good,” Newgarden said. “We’ve been in the game. It’s just not where we want to be in the game. We’re in the fight, we’re relatively there. We just got to figure out how to have more consistency. It’s either winning or going sideways on our weekends.”
There was nothing sideways about Newgarden’s performance. He led 208 of the 250 laps and ran away from O’Ward over the last 25 laps.
Newgarden also has finished every lap in the last nine series races at Iowa. That’s a stunning feat considering the perils of close-quarters oval racing and how easy it is to fall a lap down on a circuit where race laps take only 20 seconds.
While Newgarden never trailed after lap 80, O’Ward made it interesting during the final fuel and tire stint. O’Ward pulled to within eight-tenths of a second of the lead with 25 laps to go when Newgarden was held up in traffic.
But once Newgarden cleared that thicket of cars, it was check-out time. He will split $10,000 with his team and his two charities, SeriousFun Children’s Network and Wags and Walks Nashville, for the victory as part of the PeopleReady Force for Good Challenge.
“I was pushing Josef there at the end, but we didn’t quite have it,” O’Ward said. “We kept making the car better and better each stint. There at the end, I think we took a little bit out of them getting by Will and getting by Alex (Palou) and getting back the lappers trying to catch the No. 2.”
Rinus VeeKay continued his recent resurgence by finishing fourth, his second top-four finish in his last three starts. Scott Dixon followed his victory last Sunday at the Honda Indy Toronto by finishing fifth.
Dixon is one of five drivers lurking within about a race’s worth of points from leader Ericsson. Newgarden is second, 15 points back, Power third, 22 behind, Palou fourth, 33 behind, Dixon fifth, 38 back, and O’Ward sixth, 59 back.
Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson also was one of the stars of the show on Saturday, finishing 11th. Johnson made many brave moves in the highest groove of the racetrack to pass numerous foes. He led a career-high 19 laps – one of only three lap leaders – and was running in the top five for a healthy portion of the race.
While there were only three lap leaders, the competitive race featured 772 total on-track passes, including 372 for position.
NTT IndyCar Series
Iowa Speedway – Newton, Iowa
Hy-VeeDeals.com 250 – July 23, 2022
1. (2) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 250, Running
2. (4) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 250, Running
3. (1) Will Power, Chevrolet, 250, Running
4. (8) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 250, Running
5. (13) Scott Dixon, Honda, 250, Running
6. (14) Alex Palou, Honda, 249, Running
7. (10) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 249, Running
8. (12) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 249, Running
9. (16) Graham Rahal, Honda, 249, Running
10. (20) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 249, Running
11. (15) Jimmie Johnson, Honda, 249, Running
12. (22) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 249, Running
13. (19) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 249, Running
14. (6) David Malukas, Honda, 249, Running
15. (24) Kyle Kirkwood, Chevrolet, 249, Running
16. (25) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 249, Running
17. (18) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 249, Running
18. (7) Jack Harvey, Honda, 249, Running
19. (3) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 249, Running
20. (26) Dalton Kellett, Chevrolet, 247, Running
21. (9) Takuma Sato, Honda, 245, Running
22. (5) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 244, Running
23. (21) Simon Pagenaud, Honda, 244, Running
24. (17) Colton Herta, Honda, 242, Running
25. (23) Ed Carpenter, Chevrolet, 160, Contact
26. (11) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 109, Contact
Winner’s Average Speed: 134.674 mph
Time of Race: 1:39:34.4218 Margin of Victory: 6.1784 seconds
Cautions: 4 for 33 laps
Lead Changes: 4 among 3 drivers
Lap Leaders: Power 1-22; Newgarden 23-59; Power 60; Johnson 61-79; Newgarden 80-250.
Point Standings: Ericsson 375, Newgarden 360, Power 353, Palou 342, Dixon 337, O’Ward 316, McLaughlin 282, Herta 260, Rossi 253, Pagenaud 250, Rosenqvist 249, VeeKay 243, Rahal 232, Grosjean 223, Daly 209, Lundgaard 203, Castroneves 187, Malukas 179, Sato 163, Harvey 138, Ilott 131, Johnson 128, DeFrancesco 124, Kirkwood 121, Kellett 86, Tony Kanaan 78, Santino Ferrucci 71, Tatiana Calderon 58, Carpenter 54, JR Hildebrand 53, Juan Pablo Montoya 44, Simona De Silvestro 21, Marco Andretti 17, Sage Karam 14, Stefan Wilson 10.
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