By: Spencer Neff
July 22,2023
After qualifying third, Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden found his way to the front nearly halfway through the Hy-vee Homefront 250.
From there, the two-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES Champion hardly looked back, leading 129 of 250 laps, including the final 124. In beating teammate Scott McLaughlin by 3.3755 seconds, Newgarden joins A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Nigel Mansell as drivers to win four consecutive oval races.
Newgarden’s dominance stretches back to six victories in the last eight ovals races, including the first three of the 2023 campaign. It is his fifth win on the .894-mile bull ring in Newton, Iowa.
Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward, winner of the second race during last year’s doubleheader, rounded out the podium. In fourth, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Ericsson was the best among the Honda-powered entries following a Chevrolet 1-2-3.
After winning pole for both of this weekend’s races, Power finished fifth, the last car on the lead lap, to bookend the Top Five for Team Penske.
After starting seventh, points leader Alex Palou would finish eighth. With six races remaining in the 17-race season, Palou’s lead in the points standings is 99, with Newgarden leapfrogging Scott Dixon for second in the points standings.
Race Recap
Power would lead the first 63 laps of the race and lapped all but the Top 10 of the 28-car field. On Lap 82, Graham Rahal tagged the backstretch wall. Fortunately, the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver continued on and the green flag run was unimpeded.
Up front, McLaughlin, pressured his teammate for the lead. While in the midst of their second tire and fuel stint, lapped traffic aided Power while allowing Newgarden to usurp second place from McLaughlin on Lap 94. Newgarden would find his way around Power before the second round of pit stops on Lap 126.
On Lap 153, Rahal again tagged the wall, this time in Turn 4. His car would slide to a halt on the front stretch infield grass. The first caution flag of the afternoon would fly as work begun to retrieve his car and clean up the race track.
Following the Lap 167 restart, Newgarden and McLaughlin held the lead ahead of O”Ward.
While the laps wound down, lapped traffic would become a factor in manipulating the gap between Newgarden and McLaughlin.
Ultimately, the lead would prove to be too much to overcome and Newgarden cruised to his 28th victory. The Hendersonville, Tennessee native breaks a tie with Johnny Rutherford for 14th on the all-time INDYCAR win list.
His next victory will tie him with Rick Mears. The single caution flag tied the first race of the 2020 doubleheader for the fewest in 18 races at Iowa Speedway, while the 14 caution laps were the fewest in any race here. At an average speed of 143.155 mph, it is the fourth-fastest race in the history of the track.
Up Next
Newgarden will look to become the first driver to sweep an oval doubleheader weekend since Rick Mears did so in 1981 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Here is the on-track schedule for Sunday. Keep up with indyCar1909.com for all the latest on the NTT INDYCAR SERIES at Iowa Speedway.
At-track schedule (all times Central):
SUNDAY, JULY 23
10:05-10:30 a.m. NTT INDYCAR SERIES systems check (Out and In Lap)
1 p.m. NBC on air
1:25 p.m. “Drivers, start your engines”
1:30 p.m. Hy-Vee One Step 250 presented by Gatorade (250 laps/223.5 miles), NBC (Live)
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