What began as another setback for Team Penske at the first of two NTT IndyCar Series races at Iowa Speedway—Scott McLaughlin’s crash in qualifying—ultimately turned into a small step forward for the struggling organization.
By the conclusion of Sunday’s Farm to Finish 250, Penske won’t manage a third consecutive doubleheader sweep at Iowa. But Saturday it did notch what was likely its best collective outing of the season so far.
Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward marked his 100th career start with a win in the weekend opener, but the Penske trio of Josef Newgarden, Will Power, and Scott McLaughlin followed in order—helping Chevrolet sweep the top four finishing spots.
Newgarden started from pole for the first time this season and led 232 of the 250 laps, bringing his career total on the.894-mile tri-oval in Newton, Iowa, to new heights before finishing second.
“O’Ward got track position there, and it was game over. Just simple as that,” Newgarden said after O’Ward denied him his seventh Iowa victory. Still, Newgarden improved in the standings from 19th to 14th.
He also earned his first podium since the season-opener in St. Petersburg and received praise from the driver who beat him.
“Josef’s the master at these races. He rules around here. So I knew that we had to be spot on and I had to be so precise on the in laps to beat him at his own game,” O’Ward said. “We’ve had so many duels, Josef and I, but he usually has a percentage that comes out on top more. And today is the day that changes. So there’s great racing out there and I had a lot of fun making that outside groove working whenever we were fourth and fifth. And as soon as we were behind him, we just positioned ourselves to get it done.” He passed Kyle Kirkwood to move into second place in the standings, 106 points behind season-long leader Alex Palou.
Meanwhile, Power completed the podium and simply took satisfaction in a clean, trouble-free day.
“I’m really happy with third. I just wanted to have a smooth day with no problems. That’s what I got. We’ve always had the speed. Just a very smooth day, I would say.”
He also noted the development of the outside groove: “Some good racing out there in the second lane, which is awesome. I think everyone should thank [Juncos Hollinger Racing’s] Conor Daly for bringing it in or at least showing us how you do it. Him and [A.J. Foyt Racing’s Santino] Ferrucci, man, they roll it outside really well. I just watched Conor do it and I’m like, ‘Oh, OK.’ So he taught me there. But yeah, solid day.”
One of the most impressive drives of this 11th of 17 scheduled events came from McLaughlin, who started last in the 27-car field after his qualifying spin into the outside wall and charged his way up to a fourth-place finish.
Sunday’s race is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on FOX.
Synk 275 powered by Sukup Race Results
Results Saturday of the Synk 275 powered by Sukup NTT INDYCAR SERIES event on the 0.894-mile Iowa Speedway, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):
1. (5) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 275, Running
2. (1) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 275, Running
3. (7) Will Power, Chevrolet, 275, Running
4. (27) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 275, Running
5. (4) Alex Palou, Honda, 275, Running
6. (19) Christian Rasmussen, Chevrolet, 275, Running
7. (2) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 275, Running
8. (9) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 275, Running
9. (11) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 275, Running
10. (6) Scott Dixon, Honda, 275, Running
11. (14) Graham Rahal, Honda, 275, Running
12. (10) David Malukas, Chevrolet, 275, Running
13. (23) Colton Herta, Honda, 275, Running
14. (12) Louis Foster, Honda, 275, Running
15. (15) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 275, Running
16. (25) Rinus VeeKay, Honda, 274, Running
17. (3) Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, 274, Running
18. (22) Kyffin Simpson, Honda, 274, Running
19. (20) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 274, Running
20. (16) Robert Shwartzman, Chevrolet, 274, Running
21. (21) Christian Lundgaard, Chevrolet, 274, Running
22. (24) Sting Ray Robb, Chevrolet, 274, Running
23. (17) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 260, Contact
24. (8) Nolan Siegel, Chevrolet, 246, Contact
25. (13) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 236, Mechanical
26. (18) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 151, Contact
27. (26) Jacob Abel, Honda, 72, Contact
Winner’s average speed:139.146 mph
Time of Race:01:46:00.6760
Margin of victory:0.2352 of a second
Cautions:5 for 47 laps
Lead changes:5 among 5 drivers
Lap Leaders:
Newgarden, Josef 1 – 232
O’Ward, Pato 233
Power, Will 234 – 236
Palou, Alex 237 – 240
Armstrong, Marcus 241 – 243
O’Ward, Pato 244 – 275
NTT INDYCAR SERIES Point Standings: Palou 461, O’Ward 356, Kirkwood 322, Dixon 302, Lundgaard 272, Rosenqvist 272, Power 238, Herta 234, Armstrong 232, McLaughlin 229, Ferrucci 222, Malukas 205, VeeKay 193, Newgarden 186, Rasmussen 183, Rossi 181, Simpson 174, Daly 170, Rahal 158, Ericsson 156, Siegel 153, Foster 134, Shwartzman 123, Robb 113, DeFrancesco 110, Ilott 102, Abel 69, Takuma Sato 36, Helio Castroneves 20, Ed Carpenter 16, Jack Harvey 12, Ryan Hunter-Reay 10, Kyle Larson 6, Marco Andretti 5
