NEWTON, Iowa – Josef Newgarden was visibly disappointed after Friday night’s first race of the Iowa IndyCar 250s because he believed he had the best car, only to have an ill-timed caution affect his shot at victory.
He took his frustration out on the field in Saturday night’s second race of the NTT IndyCar Series doubleheader, starting on the field and leading the most laps to win the race.
“It feels really good,” Newgarden said. “I don’t know what we have to do to get the bad luck off of us, but this is a start. Last night, I thought we had the winning car and we weren’t rewarded for it.
“We were determined to come back and win the race. I’m just thrilled we were finally able to get this monkey off our back.”
Newgarden defeated Team Penske teammate Will Power’s Chevrolet by 2.7869 seconds. Graham Rahal was third in a Honda followed by another Team Penske driver, Simon Pagenaud.
“It was hard work and a great showing today,” Rahal said after finishing third. “It was great for us to come away with a great result. We needed it. It was fun to be racing with those guys.”
NTT IndyCar Series points leader Scott Dixon rounded out the top five in a Honda, just ahead of fellow Honda drivers Oliver Askew, Jack Harvey, Alexander Rossi, Marcus Ericsson and Marco Andretti.
It was Newgarden’s 15th NTT IndyCar Series win, his third at Iowa Speedway and his second in a row at the seven-eighths-mile short oval.
Newgarden’s win gave Team Penske a sweep of the Iowa doubleheader. Pagenaud won Friday night’s race after starting last in the 23-car field.
It was also Team Penske’s fourth victory in the eight races in two hemispheres it is competing in this weekend. Pagenaud won Friday night’s IndyCar race, Virgin Australia Supercar champion Scott McLaughlin won in Sydney, Australia, on Saturday and NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Austin Cindric was awarded the victory in Saturday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway after earlier winner Kyle Busch’s Toyota was disqualified in post-race technical inspection because of a ride height issue.
Newgarden’s Chevrolet was never passed by another car on the track Saturday. The only time he relinquished the lead was during pit stops.
He led 214 laps and it was the fourth time in six Iowa races that he has led more than 200 laps. Newgarden was the first pole sitter to win at Iowa Speedway.
“I heard that stat,” Newgarden said. “I knew we had the speed and were totally confident. I had complete confidence we can win any race we are entered in. We needed to win this race. It would have been nice to have had a couple of the finishes we thought we could have had. I knew we needed a win and needed another one to come soon.
“We need consistent finishes on the board.”
There were just two caution periods for fairly minor incidents. Ed Carpenter hit the wall in turn two on lap 113 for the first yellow. Ryan Hunter-Reay lost control leaving the pits and crashed on lap 178.
Neither driver was injured.
It was the second night in a row that fans were allowed to attend the race at Iowa Speedway as a limited number of tickets were made available to 5,000 fans.
It was also the end of a four-races in seven-day stretch for the NTT IndyCar Series with back-to-back doubleheaders at Road America and Iowa.
IndyCar is off for the next two weekends before returning to action at the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio on Aug. 9.
The 104th Indianapolis 500 is currently scheduled for Aug. 23.
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