By: Spencer Neff
July 13, 2024

2024 Hy-Vee Homefront 250 Results

Midway through his fourth season competing in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin had won five races, all on road and street circuits.

After leading 164 of 250 laps at Iowa Speedway in Saturday night’s Hy-Vee Homefront 250, McLaughlin now has won on an oval.

The Kiwi, who led yesterday’s practice, started second and his “Thirsty 3’s” pit crew were able to get him to the lead during the opening pit stop sequence. He would hold off Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward by .4814 of a second at the .894-mile oval in Newton, Iowa.

Following the victory, McLaughlin vaults himself to fifth in the standings, 57 back of Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou. O’ Ward cuts Palou’s lead to 37 after he jumps to second in the points over Will Power.

After starting 22nd, McLaughlin’s teammate Josef Newgarden finished third in a podium bookended with Penske. McLaughlin starts on pole tomorrow as he looks to duplicate Newgarden’s 2023 Iowa double.

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon followed the all-Chevrolet podium in fourth, best among the Honda entries. In fifth, Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay earned his best result of 2024 and the best result since this race two years ago.

Race Recap

On Lap 1, David Malukas got loose on the exit of Turn 2, spinning on the high side of the race track.

Malukas’ spin would collect the Juncos Hollinger Racing duo of Agustin Canapino and Romain Grosjean.

Further back, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Christian Lundgaard spun in almost the exact spot as Malukas.

Grosjean would be on pit road thereafter with the other cars going behind the wall.

After the Lap 20 restart, A.J. Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci was given a drive-through penalty for being out of line. He would then be forced to serve a stop-and-go penalty after not following Race Control’s directions in a timely manner.

Ferrucci would be among a trio of drivers to be penalized for a similar restart violation (Linus Lundqvist and Katherine Legge). Despite the early penalty, he completed an impressive comeback to sixth.

On Lap 40, Dale Coyne Racing’s Jack Harvey would drop out of the race. Harvey has been experiencing severe back pain since last weekend at Mid-Ohio. DCR has lobbied to have Conor Daly fill in for the weekend and has been unsuccessful as of now.

At Lap 80, Graham Rahal began to slow on the front straightaway. The Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver would prompt the second caution of the evening.

During the ensuing pit stops, McLaughlin would narrowly gain the lead on pit road from Herta. It would prove to be the only lead change on the evening. On the ensuing restart, Herta fought wheel-to-wheel but was unable to pass McLaughlin.

With 74 laps to go, Palou spun on the exit of Turn 4, ultimately coming to a stop in Turn 1. Palou’s crash and the ensuing caution would be at a devastating time for Herta, who had just gone to pit road during the incident.

Palou’s crash ended a streak of 35 races where he’s been running at the finish, dating back to Road America in 2022.

With 40 laps to go, Palou’s teammate would also run into trouble as Lundqvist stalled on the apron just past Turn 1.

Following the Lap 224 restart, CGR’s issues continued when Marcus Armstrong’s rear caution lights continued to flicker. Just ahead of Armstrong, Herta got loose in Turn 3 but saved it as the caution flew for the fifth time on the evening.

On the Lap 229 restart, another points contender had issues as Will Power made contact with the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing entry of Pietro Fittipaldi, who went spinning into Ed Carpenter.

McLaughlin continued his lead in the final 13 laps run under green en route to his second win of 2024.

Armstrong would recover and earn a tenth-place finish in his second oval start. Arrow McLaren rookie Nolan Siegel would finish 12th in his first INDYCAR start on an oval.

Slowed by 6 cautions for 66 laps, the average speed of the race was 128.098 mph.

Up Next

Race 2 Starting Lineup

Here is the schedule for tomorrow’s Hy-vee One Step 250 presented by Gatorade at Iowa Speedway. Stay with IndyCar1909.com and our social media for the latest on the Hy-Vee INDYCAR Race Weekend.

SUNDAY, JULY 14

11 a.m. NBC on air

11:25 a.m. “Drivers, start your engines”

11:30 a.m. Hy-Vee One Step 250 presented by Gatorade (250 laps/223.5 miles), NBC (Live)

Header Image By Chris Jones/INDYCAR