It was an overwhelming performance as we’ve ever seen as Joseph Newgarden nearly interfered with the entire field, but a failure in the back of his car and a massive crash on lap 236 of the 300 led to Iowa Speedway’s double-headed approach wide open as a team driver wouldn’t recover. Penske winning streak.
Post-race IndyCar officials stated: “Following an accident on the track at Iowa Speedway, the Penske Josef Newgarden Team driver has been evaluated and released from the Inpatient Care Center. After today’s race ended, he fell and returned to the Inpatient Care Center. He is awake and has been moved to alert status. [Mercy One Des Moines Medical Center] For further evaluation.”
The biggest benefactor after the Newgarden incident was Arrow McLaren SP’s Pato Award, who finished second to Newgarden on Saturday, who led the second half of the second half and veered from Penske’s will to claim his second win of the season.
Winning by 4.2 seconds, O’Ward grabbed Power in check and Penske’s Scott McLaughlin 9.4 seconds at the checkered flag as the Chevy team completed a podium sweep and filled all six positions over the weekend.
“A great weekend for us,” O’Ward said. “We knew we needed to execute this weekend to have a chance in the championship. The guys were great at the pits. I did my job in the car, and I knew we had to go fast to win one.
“The problem was just trying to get to Joseph – the only thing is to get to him, the only thing is to get past him. I’m glad he’s okay. We took the opportunity that presented itself and just walked away from it. I knew we had the speed to do it.” [It’s] Just being in the right position.”
Newgarden drove 148 laps and was ready to lead the championship by 10 points until collapse. His misfortune dropped the Iowa specialist from second to fourth in the standings. O’Ward’s win was beneficial to his championship aspirations as he improved from sixth to fifth, just 36 points behind leader Marcus Ericsson.
Power entered Iowa with a 35-point deficit against Ericsson, who came home in sixth, and left with the gap narrowed to eight.
“A great weekend, in terms of points for us,” said the Authority.
There wasn’t much to report before the Newgarden crash that outpaced his racing mastery. On his way to fifth at some point, there was no hope for O’Ward, Power or anyone else to catch a No. 2 Chevy until the surreal photo of Newgarden sliding backwards with the back of his car in worrisome condition came to show.
“It was definitely a shock,” he said. “I want to cry. I’m so sad for my team. I don’t know what happened. It was a good run. It’s just one race but I feel terrible for us. The Chevy and Hitachi team did a great job. Something went wrong there.”
Off the podium, Chip Ganassi Racing had a solid day with most of its drivers as Scott Dixon overcame a poor start from 18th to finish fourth, the first Honda powered driver. Stablemate Jimmie Johnson posted his best IndyCar performance to date, looking quick and decisive on his way from thirteenth to fifth. The aforementioned Ericsson, who lacked some of his speed on the podium from the first race, persevered in sixth as the only CGR to suffer is Alex Ballou who never showed up and finished in 13th.
Dale Coyne Racing with David Malukas of HMD Motorsports delivered his best performance of the rookie season as he moved up to eighth. Teammate Takuma Sato pushed him hard in the closing laps but Mallukas won’t bow to the two-time Indy 500 winner. Andretti Autosport’s Romain Grosjean completed a brilliant start to the weekend in Iowa by finishing eighth to add to seventh the day before, his last major appearance being Callum Ilott of Juncos Hollinger Racing who improved from 12th on Saturday with another clean run on Sunday. to claim 11.
Other than Kyle Kirkwood’s wall turn 1 on his own on lap 117 and Newgarden’s sudden exit, 300 laps went uninterrupted.
Hy-Vee IndyCar Weekend in Iowa was a resounding success with a cheering crowd for the first race and an even bigger audience for the second. If half of the IndyCar events each year lacking big crowds and energy followed Iowa’s new scheme, it would be the richest and most popular series we’ve seen in decades.
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