Newgarden dominates Iowa again, wins race #1

Josef Newgarden won his fourth race at Iowa Speedway in race no. 1 of the doubleheader weekend. Newgarden led over 200 laps in the event – the fifth time Newgarden’s done that at Iowa.

The race had four caution flags – three for crashes and spins; and one for debris. Jimmie Johnson spun early after clipping the yellow line off of turn four. Both Felix Rosenqvist and Ed Carpenter hit the wall in turn two, ending both of their days

The race had over 770 passes on track and an average speed of 134.674 MPH..

Johnson managed to climb back through the field and led over 10 laps during a pit stop cycle, staying in the top 10 most of the day until his car faded back to 11th.

Chevrolet dominated the day finishing 1-2-3-4 in the field. No.9 Scott Dixon was the highest-finishing Honda, in 5th.

More notable finishes were No. 10 Alex Palou in 6th, No. 28 Romain Grosjean in 7th and No.30 Christian Lungaard in 10th.

Points leader and Indy 500 champion No. 8 Marcus Ericsson ran a consistent top 12 car all day and managed a late-race charge to get another top 10 finish this season but Ericsson’s points lead fell to 15 points after the race.

With Newgarden closing in on the points lead, he will look to capitalize on Saturday’s race and gain a bigger advantage in the title hunt Sunday.

Watch Josef Newgarden and his other 25 competitors Sunday, live at 4 p.m. ET on NBC Peacock.