There were complaints from fans and drivers at Iowa Speedway regarding the lack of passing during the NTT IndyCar Series’ doubleheader weekend.
Following his runner-up result in the first race on Saturday night, Pato O’Ward was visibly frustrated, stating he was happy with his race car, however, “you just can’t freaking do anything.”
“With no two lanes. It’s just a one lane race track and if you try anything, you are probably going to end up in the wall,” O’Ward said. “So, not worth the risk of it.”
While passes were down significantly in both races compared to last year due to Iowa’s partial repave in the corners of the race track, one driver forced his race car to sketchy scenarios, which ultimately paid off.
A.J. Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci, known to not shy away from making bold moves on the race track, was perhaps IndyCar’s poster boy this weekend.
In race one, while he started eighth and quickly vaulted as high as fifth, the 25-year-old was slapped with a penalty for being out of line on a restart. He lost a lap and dropped to 22nd.
That didn’t deter Ferrucci, however, as he gobbled up positions left and right, proving a second groove could work around the seven-eighths-mile short oval en route to a season-best sixth-place finish.
“I think it goes to show the No. 14 is back on the short ovals, baby,” Ferrucci beamed. “We got Parnelli Jones riding on the side of us, and Godspeed for him. Honestly, he was probably driving it more than me tonight, let’s be honest. I was just so fired up. Not in the right headspace.”
Ferrucci was upset following the penalty and needed a stern voice in his ear to get him refocused – A.J. Foyt Racing President Larry Foyt.
“Boss came on the radio, basically yelling at me to get on with it and do my job,” Ferrucci said. “Reminded me that I’m one of the best, especially around this track. We made it happen.”
Less than 24 hours after the checkered flag in the first 250-lap race, the green flag waved again for the Iowa finale, where Ferrucci started deep in the field in 19th.
Having his work cut out for him, Ferrucci was methodical but aggressive en route to cracking the top 10 just past the halfway mark of the race.
However, a slower pit stop on the last stint pinned Ferrucci back a handful of positions before he brought his No. 14 Chevrolet home in 11th.
“You know, I like this track a lot. I truly believe in the high side and making it work,” Ferrucci said after his eighth top-11 finish in 11 starts this season.
“We had a really great race car. Bummed we couldn’t get back inside the top 10. Obviously, just missing out. I had a lot of fun. Honestly, I went wheel-to-wheel with Kyle (Kirkwood) for maybe three laps, just bumping off each other, and it was probably the most fun I’ve had in a race car this year in this series. It was awesome.”
With six races remaining in the season, Ferrucci has now vaulted to 10th in the standings, only 26 markers behind Indianapolis 500 winner, Josef Newgarden.