Josef Newgarden has picked up his fifth victory ahead of Scott McLaughlin at Iowa Speedway in Saturday’s Hy-Vee Homefront 250.
The Tennessee native picked up the lead from team-mate and polesitter Will Power just before the halfway point and never looked back, leading almost the entire second half of the 250-lap race except for green flag pit stops.
“It was a great day, my team is just, they’re unbelievable,” Newgarden said.
“They always give me a great car; I show up every weekend and I feel like I’ve got the best of the best behind me and so I’m proud to be a part of this team.”
Power had dominated the race to that point before Newgarden worked his way to the lead on Lap 121 after starting third. Scott McLaughlin in the #3 Team Penske Chevrolet finished second just over three seconds behind his team-mate.
“When I saw him coming, I was like, ‘Ahh, this old mate,’” McLaughlin said.
“The car was great today, [the] team gave me a great car. I have to thank Josef and congratulate him for winning the race, but during the week we sat down together and really went over everything and man, it helped me today.
“I learned a ton today, I badly want to beat that guy, I’m going to be trying everything I can to beat him but he’s the epitome of a great teammate and I appreciate the help he’s given me.”
Pato O’Ward was third ahead of Marcus Ericsson in fourth and Power in fifth, who had a small brush with the wall exiting Turn 4 in the later portion of the race.
The race had one yellow flag after Graham Rahal brushed the Turn 4 wall on Lap 152, causing the right front suspension on the #15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda to collapse and the car to head to the infield grass on the front stretch.
No drivers had mechanical failures and five drivers finished on the lead lap in a race that took just over an hour and a half to complete.
For Newgarden, there was a hint of frustration after the checkered flag for multiple reasons. Lapped cars drove him hard toward the end of the race.
“These guys that are about to go a lap down, they always run the leader really hard,” Newgarden said.
“And that’s the name of the game. It’s legal, but man, it’s a little frustrating at times and it’s gotten worse. It was much worse here than I’ve ever had it so I’m going to study the tape. I’m going to be better tomorrow, because if that’s how it’s going to be, then I’ve just got to elevate my game for Race 2.”
There were even some lingering bits of frustration stemming from Saturday morning qualifying. Newgarden had enough drop off for his second lap that he starts Sunday’s 250 lap race seventh.
“We did not start where we wanted to be,” Newgarden said. “And it was right from qualifying. I was so frustrated. We unloaded off the truck pretty much perfectly.
“I mean, Luke Mason [Newgarden’s race engineer] did an amazing job with this car, it was exactly where it needed to be, and then to qualify how we did, I’ve messed up qualifying so many times here and it never gets easier. I’m always so mad at myself that we didn’t get that right and it was like that in the beginning of the race.”
IndyCar points leader Alex Palou finished eighth, one lap down. His points lead went from 117 to 101 points over Newgarden.
Power starts on pole again for Sunday’s race ahead of McLaughlin with David Malukas and Ed Carpenter making up the second row.
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