Newgarden was all smiles after his second win in as many days. Photo: Kevin Dejewski
The second race of the Iowa Speedway double-header took place on Sunday afternoon, and many of the same drivers came out on top as the day before.
Will Power once again led the field away from green and was able to hold the top spot for a while, but then lapped traffic allowed his team-mates to catch him quickly.
Josef Newgarden took the lead on lap 32, quite a bit earlier than he did in Saturday’s race. But that was one of very few differences between his performances on the two days.
Even a late restart with just four laps to go did not seem to threaten his inevitability, and he cruised to his second win of the weekend.
When he climbed from the car, Newgarden was all smiles this time around. Anger over backmarkers racing too hard seemed to have faded when he took the checkered flag a second time in as many days.
The victory is the fifth consecutive oval win for Newgarden, and is the fifth win out of the last seven races held at Iowa Speedway.
Coming in a relatively distant second was Will Power, who climbed through the field near the end of the race to claim a podium result.
The veteran’s performance earns him his fourth podium of the season despite still having zero wins so far this year.
Alex Palou earned the third finishing spot, moving up a couple positions on the final restart.
The Spaniard is still well ahead in the points standings, but Newgarden’s dominance all weekend chipped away a bit at his advantage.
Felix Rosenqvist fell from second to fourth in the final laps, but still was able to bring a good result to the Arrow McLaren squad.
Scott McLaughlin rounded out the top five, and was the final driver on the lead lap. Much like Saturday’s tilt, long green flag periods allowed many drivers to be lapped by time the 250 laps were complete.
The Team Penske trio had the cars to beat all weekend. Photo: Kevin Dejewski
There were three cautions throughout the race, and the first was caused by Agustin Canapino who brushed the wall and very nearly hurt the suspension on his #78 entry.
Race control was extra cautious and threw the yellow even though he remained in control, opting to slow everyone in case he slid down across the track.
The second caution of the day came out when Sting Ray Robb’s left rear wheel fell off the car shortly after making a pit stop.
Replays showed that his crew never got the wheel tightened, and Robb was sent in error by the jack man.
Takuma Sato tagged the wall as well at one point, which did not bring out the yellow but did force him to make an unscheduled pit stop.
AJ Foyt Racing’s woes continued, as Benjamin Pedersen was disqualified by race control mid-race for not being able to set competitive lap times.
Drivers and teams get a much-needed rest before heading to the streets of Nashville in two weeks’ time for the final street race of the season.
Keyword: Double delight as Newgarden bags second win of IndyCar Iowa weekend