Josef Newgarden celebrates in victory lane after winning the first of two weekend events for the NTT IndyCar Series on Saturday at Iowa Speedway. Photo: Penske Entertainment: Chris Owens
Josef Newgarden dominated Saturday’s NTT IndyCar Series race at Iowa Speedway, staying perfect in oval races on the season.
Newgarden also won in April at Texas Motor Speedway and the Indianapolis 500 in May.
Newgarden also has won five of the six oval races in the last 12 months, including this race last year. The only race he didn’t win during that streak was the second race of the Iowa doubleheader last year, as he crashed out while leading due to a mechanical failure.
“It’s a great day,” Newgarden said. “My team, they are unbelievable. They always give me a great car. I show up every weekend, and I feel like I’ve got the best of the best behind me. I love Iowa.”
This was Newgarden’s third victory of the season – all on ovals – and the 28th of his series career. He will try to pull off the weekend doubleheader sweep and stay perfect this season on circle tracks Sunday’s race at Iowa Speedway.
Team Penske finished 1-2 on the today, as Scott McLaughlin tied his career-best oval finish of second, 3.3755 seconds behind Newgarden. Pato O’Ward placed third. Marcus Ericsson finished fourth, with Will Power fifth.
Just five cars finished on the lead lap, an indication of Newgarden’s command of the race. Newgarden led a race-high 129 laps on the .894-mile oval, with Power leading 119 to put Team Penske out front for 248 of the 250 laps.
Power led 119 of the first 120 laps, losing the top spot to championship leader Alex Palou only during an early pit stop cycle. Newgarden, who started third, roared under Power exiting turn 2 on lap 121 to take the lead and paced the field the rest of the way except for one lap during a pit stop on lap 126.
Newgarden stretched his lead to nearly four seconds when the field was bunched for the only caution period of the fast, frantic race when Graham Rahal’s Honda hit the SAFER Barrier exiting turn 4 on lap 152. Rahal was unhurt.
That hope for the other drivers was fleeting as Newgarden rocketed away on the restart on lap 166. He built a 5.3-second lead over McLaughlin by lap 200 and appeared to be on cruise control to the checkered before he was snagged in a thicket of end-of-lead lap and lapped traffic on the “Fastest Short Track on the Planet.”
“It’s always tough in IndyCar. These guys that are about to go a lap down, they always run the leader really hard,” Newgarden said. “That’s the name of the game. It’s legal, but man, it’s a little frustrating at times. I’m going to study the tape. I’m going to be better tomorrow.”
McLaughlin pulled to within 1.6 seconds with five laps remaining due to the traffic jam, but he could get no closer as Newgarden threaded through slower cars and powered to the finish.
“I badly want to beat that guy, and I’m going to be trying everything I can to beat him,” McLaughlin said of close friend Newgarden. “But he’s the epitome of a great teammate, and I appreciate the help he’s given me.”
Palou finished eighth – tied for his season low. His lead in the championship shrank from 117 to 98 points over Newgarden, who took second in the standings from Scott Dixon with his win.
Despite Team Penske’s dominance up front, the race was a competitive affair throughout the 28-car field. There were 1,502 on-track passes, an IndyCar Series record at Iowa Speedway.
NTT IndyCar Series
Iowa Speedway – Newton, IA
Hy-Vee Homefront 250 – July 22, 2023
1. (3) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 250, Running
2. (2) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 250, Running
3. (5) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 250, Running
4. (10) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 250, Running
5. (1) Will Power, Chevrolet, 250, Running
6. (4) Scott Dixon, Honda, 249, Running
7. (17) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 249, Running
8. (7) Alex Palou, Honda, 249, Running
9. (11) Takuma Sato, Honda, 249, Running
10. (20) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 249, Running
11. (8) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 249, Running
12. (9) David Malukas, Honda, 248, Running
13. (21) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 248, Running
14. (14) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 248, Running
15. (23) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 247, Running
16. (24) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, 247, Running
17. (15) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 247, Running
18. (26) Jack Harvey, Honda, 247, Running
19. (6) Colton Herta, Honda, 246, Running
20. (19) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 246, Running
21. (22) Conor Daly, Honda, 245, Running
22. (12) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 245, Running
23. (16) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Chevrolet, 244, Running
24. (18) Ed Carpenter, Chevrolet, 243, Running
25. (27) Sting Ray Robb, Honda, 242, Running
26. (25) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 241, Running
27. (28) Benjamin Pedersen, Chevrolet, 235, Running
28. (13) Graham Rahal, Honda, 149, Contact
Average Speed: 143.155.
Time of Race: 01:33:40.4758. Margin of Victory: 3.3755.
Cautions: 1 for 14 laps.
Lead Changes: 5 among 4 drivers.
Lap Leaders: Power, Will 1-62; Palou, Alex 63; Power, Will 64-120; Newgarden, Josef 121-125; Sato, Takuma 126; Newgarden, Josef 127-250.
Point Standings: Palou 442, Newgarden 344, Dixon 328, O’Ward 309, Ericsson 307, McLaughlin 298, Power 274, Lundgaard 258, Rossi 250, Herta 250, Kirkwood 218, Rosenqvist 200, Grosjean 194, Rahal 172, VeeKay 171, Ilott 169, Armstrong 156, Malukas 152, Ferrucci 143, Castroneves 129, Canapino 127, DeFrancesco 119, Harvey 113, Daly 107, Pagenaud 88, Robb 87, Pedersen 85, Sato 60, Hunter-Reay 56, Carpenter 33, Kanaan 18, Andretti 13, Blomqvist 5, Enerson 5, Legge 5.
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