Josef Newgarden collects fifth and sixth career Iowa Speedway wins in Hy-Vee Doubleheader
The NTT IndyCar Series returned to Newton, Iowa last weekend for races 11 and 12 in the 2023 season slate, and the paddock eyed the biggest weekend in terms of available points as an opportunity to close in on championship leader Alex Palou. In the grand scheme of the weekend, only one driver managed to draw closer to the Spaniard racer at Chip Ganassi Racing — the master of the 0.894-mile bullring in the cornfields of the Iowa heartland, Josef Newgarden.
This year’s Indianapolis 500 champion leaves the weekend with a pair of first-place finishes and closed the point deficit to Palou down to 80 points before next weekend’s running of the Music City Grand Prix in Nashville, Tennessee. Newgarden’s third and fourth victories on the 2023 IndyCar season extend the Tennessee-born driver’s consecutive win streak on ovals in the series to five, dating back to WWT Raceway at Gateway last August.
Saturday, July 22nd – Hy-Vee HomeFront 250
Will Power claimed his 69th and 70th career pole positions in Saturday morning’s delayed qualifying session from the Iowa Speedway, with the fastest first and second laps in the NTT P1 Award Qualifying session under the doubleheader oval procedure. Power’s first lap timed in at 17.739-seconds (181.426MPH average) and his pole lap for race two was just faster at 17.724-seconds (181.578MPH avg) after a brief morning pop-up shower.
With his pole position, Team Penske’s No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet of Power circuited the first 62 laps in the lead, surrendering it for the first time for a pit cycle. American Legion CGR’s No. 10 Honda driven by Palou led the lap to collect a bonus point. Power reassumed the lead the next circuit, and held a commanding lead until lap 121. Newgarden, after fighting his Penske teammates for the opening half of the Hy-Vee HomeFront 250, took the lead for the first time at the end of a pit cycle.
Graham Rahal’s miserable season racing on ovals carried into the headline weekend for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, which has a strong relationship with sponsor and event promoter Hy-Vee Supermarkets. Rahal’s Saturday ended 101 laps shy of the goal after impacting the wall exiting the fourth turn. The No. 15 was the lone retirement of the race.
The caution flag displayed on lap 152 for Rahal’s contact and eventual stop in the infield grass broke the spell of the longest green-flag run to open an IndyCar Series event at the four-turn bullring built by Rusty Wallace in the circuit’s history. The yellow flag was displayed on just one occasion for 14 laps.
On lap 215, rookie for A.J. Foyt Racing, Benjamin Pedersen was penalized by race control for an unsafe pit release. The No. 55 crew released their Chevrolet right in the path of an entering Devlin DeFrancesco, who needed to reposition his Andretti w/ Steinbrenner Racing Honda before receiving service in his pit box. All of this, right in front of Pedersen’s teammate of Santino Ferrucci who was being attended to by the No. 14 Foyt crew, trapping the Connecticut-born driver in his stall briefly.
Newgarden battled with his close rival and teammate in Scott McLaughlin for the final stint of the event, carving through traffic. Penske’s two-time series champion was furious attempting to pin cars a lap back throughout the 250-lap event with his teammate chasing through the chaotic mess of cars. When the first checkered flag fell on Hy-Vee INDYCAR Weekend, Josef Newgarden claimed his fifth win in the dainty town of Newton, 3.375-seconds up the road from McLaughlin.
Unlike the extraordinary celebration the American showed after his maiden Indy 500 victory two months ago, it was a more subdued and red feeling in the makeshift victory circle at the finish line. Steam was nearly coming out of Newgarden’s head; his first words to McLaughlin who congratulated the 129-lap leader on the day could be worth an FCC fine for the broadcasters, as he was complaining about the traffic he faced.
The 32-year-old put his head down overnight and determined to better himself racing through slower cars for Sunday’s twin 250-lapper.
Pato O’Ward finished third, nearly ten seconds back of Newgarden. Arrow McLaren’s No. 5 team described the car as nearly crashing for the final stint of the event, and Patricio handily backed that sentiment up in his podium interview, nearly in awe at his miraculous result to the race — and drained of energy.
Marcus Ericsson led the Honda badges with a fourth-place result for his Huski Ice Spritz CGR team after a grid position of tenth. Kyle Kirkwood and Alexander Rossi made up ten positions to finish 7th and 10th, respectively. Both Juncos Hollinger Racing entries of Callum Ilott and Agustin Canapino gained 8 spots in the box score, 15th and 16th, respectively.
Colton Herta’s day was ruined on the first pit stop of the race, winding up 19th on the day. An over-40-second pit stop derailed the race for the Gainbridge No. 26 Andretti Autosport Honda, throwing a sixth-place qualifying run out the window after the left front wheel nut had difficulties being assembled to the Dallara-built car.
Alex Palou salvaged an 8th-place result, gaining 25 points in the championship.
Race 1 (Hy-Vee HomeFront 250; July 22nd) Results
1 – (2) Josef Newgarden / 28th Career IndyCar Win
2 – (3) Scott McLaughlin
3 – (5) Pato O’Ward
4 – (8) Marcus Ericsson
5 – (12) Will Power
6 – (9) Scott Dixon / 249 Laps
7 – (27) Kyle Kirkoowd / 249 Laps
8 – (10) Alex Palou / 249 Laps
9 – (11) Takuma Sato / 249 Laps
10 – (7) Alexander Rossi / 249 Laps
11 – (28) Romain Grosjean / 249 Laps
12 – (18) David Malukas / 248 Laps
13 – (6) Felix Rosenqvist / 248 Laps
14 – (06) Helio Castroneves / 248 Laps
15 – (77) Callum Ilott / 247 Laps
16 – (78) Agustin Canapino / [R] / 247 Laps
17 – (21) Rinus VeeKay / 247 Laps
18 – (30) Jack Harvey / 247 Laps
19 – (26) Colton Herta / 246 Laps
20 – (45) Christian Lundgaard / 246 Laps
21 – (60) Conor Daly / 245 Laps
22 – (29) Devlin DeFrancesco / 245 Laps
23 – (20) Ryan Hunter-Reay / 244 Laps
24 – (33) Ed Carpenter / 243 Laps
25 – (51) Sting Ray Robb / [R] / 242 Laps
26 – (14) Santino Ferrucci / 241 Laps
27 – (55) Benjamin Pedersen / [R] / 235 Laps
28 – (15) Graham Rahal / 149 Laps
Sunday, July 23 – Hy-Vee One Step 250
Will Power led just 30 laps in Sunday’s IndyCar affair about an hour away from Des Moines — the first 30 circuits before Josef Newgarden took the lead with an exhilarating two-for-one pass on both Scott McLaughlin and Power in one set of corners.
Three cautions flew Sunday, one for a drifting Agustin Canapino on the pit exit lane, one for a crashed Ryan Hunter-Reay with eleven laps remaining, and another on lap 157 many have criticized coming too late.
On the third pit stop of the race for Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing’s No. 51 Honda driven by rookie driver Sting Ray Robb, the right rear tire changer was signaling to the crew the wheel did not get tightened properly. Cameras next to the pit stop visually show the nut fly off the wheel and tire assembly of the car as Robb exits the pit lane with half of the pit crew in a frenzy. The team called the Idahoian back into pit lane immediately, but the No. 51 was already sent and circulated a lap in the slowdown lane. Unfortunately, the abrasion of the 17-year-old asphalt shook the tire from the car entering the third turn, and several drivers narrowly avoided a huge disaster off-track, inches away from piercing the stranded wheel. Caution was eventually deployed. INDYCAR disqualified the No. 51 team for going any further in the event.
Race control also parked the No. 55 A.J. Foyt Racing entry of Benjamin Pedersen, citing the Chevrolet failed to participate at competitive speeds after 193 laps.
The final caution for Hunter-Reay on lap 240 led race control down the path of abandonment of procedures. With so few laps remaining, stewards never opened the pit lane, setting up a five-lap shootout with five lead lap cars all on worn tires. Scott McLaughlin bled through the field, plummeting from second to fifth, nearly 8-seconds behind Newgarden after begging for tires. The Kiwi wanted fresh grip so much, the No. 3 Chevy nearly followed lapped cars down pit lane during the wave-by procedure.
Will Power and Alex Palou took advantage of the ailing XPEL No. 3 Penske, promoting themselves to podium positions. Power’s second-place result came after fighting his car for the majority of the race on long stints, however, managed to maintain pace on the final tire stint, keeping up with Newgarden to finish just 0.705-seconds behind the now six-time Iowa champion.
Felix Rosenqvist finished an impressive fourth but knew there was more left in the tank. The Swede for Arrow McLaren’s IndyCar Team was running in second-place, but moved up the racetrack by Will Power on the final restart, and needing to lift, lost all his momentum and slid back in the waning seconds.
Palou’s third-place result eliminates any advantage any driver other than Newgarden thought they had over the fourth-year driver many presumed is still coming to grips with short oval racing. His championship buffer was trimmed to 80 points after the twin Iowa weekend, still holding a one-race buffer with five rounds remaining.
Josef Newgarden has now led a career total of 1,847 laps at the Iowa Speedway, setting an all-time record in INDYCAR history. Newgarden’s domination in Newton now stands alone in the IndyCar Series record books as the most laps led at an individual track for a single driver.
Race 2 (Hy-Vee One Step 250; July 23rd) Results
1 – (2) Josef Newgarden / 29th Career IndyCar Win
2 – (12) Will Power
3 – (10) Alex Palou
4 – (6) Felix Rosenqvist
5 – (3) Scott McLaughlin
6 – (9) Scott Dixon / 249 Laps
7 – (26) Colton Herta / 249 Laps
8 – (18) David Malukas / 249 Laps
9 – (8) Marcus Ericsson / 249 Laps
10 – (5) Pato O’Ward / 249 Laps
11 – (27) Kyle Kirkwood / 249 Laps
12 – (28) Romain Grosjean / 249 Laps
13 – (45) Christian Lundgaard / 249 Laps
14 – (77) Callum Ilott / 248 Laps
15 – (7) Alexander Rossi / 248 Laps
16 – (06) Helio Castroneves / 248 Laps
17 – (60) Conor Daly / 248 Laps
18 – (21) Rinus VeeKay / 248 Laps
19 – (30) Jack Harvey / 247 Laps
20 – (15) Graham Rahal / 247 Laps
21 – (29) Devlin DeFrancesco / 246 Laps
22 – (14) Santino Ferrucci / 245 Laps
23 – (33) Ed Carpenter / 244 Laps
24 – (20) Ryan Hunter-Reay / 237 Laps
25 – (11) Takuma Sato / 237 Laps
26 – (78) Agustin Canapino / [R] / 236 Laps
27 – (55) Benjamin Pedersen / [R] / 193 Laps, DQ
28 – (51) Sting Ray Robb / [R] / 152 Laps, DQ
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