NEWTON, Iowa — Will Power of Team Penske proved why he is one of IndyCar’s all-time best drivers with his victory in Sunday’s Hy-Vee Homefront 250.
He started 22nd in the race and advanced all the way through the field until he was running second behind race-leader Alex Palou before the final pit stop with 45 laps to go.
Power went one lap more than Palou before pitting and when he came out of the pits, he was able to blend into the lead ahead of Palou, who was coming out of turn two at full speed. Power’s Team Penske pit crew got his No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet in and out of the pits a full second ahead of Palou.
From that point, Power stayed in the lead and cruised to the 43rd IndyCar victory of his career, breaking a tie with Michael Andretti for fourth on the all-time IndyCar victory list.
Power defeated Palou by 0.3915-of-a scored his second victory of the season, his first on an oval since Pocono in 2019.
A major crash at the back of the field came at the end of the lap as Sting Ray Robb’s A.J. Foyt Racing Chevrolet flipped upside down in a collision with Alexander Rossi’s Chevrolet on the backstretch. Ed Carpenter’s No. 20 Chevrolet and Kyle Kirkwood’s No. 27 Honda were also involved.
Carpenter’s No. 20 Chevrolet landed on top of Kirkwood’s aeroscreen, saving the Andretti driver from potentially serious injury.
The AMR Safety crew tended to the victims in the multi-car crash. The stretcher was brought out for Robb, who was strapped in and put in a care vehicle. He was uninjured.
“After further assessment at Mercy One Des Moines Medical Center, Sting Ray has been released,” the team said in a release. “Sting Ray’s family and AJ Foyt Racing would like to extend our gratitude to the AMR Safety team for their quick response, to IndyCar medical staff for their thorough care and IndyCar for the high safety standards of our race cars that allowed Sting Ray to walk away from a horrific accident today. Thank you to everyone for your well wishes. We appreciate your support!”
The race was triggered when Rossi’s car was slowing out of turn two and Robb ran into it, launching it into the air. More chaos involved Carpenter and Kirkwood, who were trying to avoid Robb’s flying car.
The Top Finishers
It was Power’s 10th victory on an oval.
“It was a massive fuel safe,” Power said. “I just sat back in the pack and saved that fuel. We were hoping to catch one of those yellows to put us to the front and then went a few laps longer than Palou.
“I’ve been trying to win this race for years. I’m over the moon. We’re right in the game. Verizon and Chevy helped us fight this hard in the end.
“I wanted to win an oval this year and win multiple races. I’m still racing and racing hard. It’s all good.”
Palou remains the points leader, now leading by 35 points over Power.
“It was a good weekend,” Palou said. “Saturday was a terrible day after I made too many mistakes. Solid P-2. Looking forward to Toronto next week. It was a solid day.”
Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin’s No. 3 was third followed by Scott Dixon’s second-straight fourth-place finish in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing.
Colton Herta finished fifth in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda.
The race started at 11:30 a.m. local time, making it IndyCar’s version of Brunch.
As It Happened
Many of the fans who had weekend tickets and stayed until the end of the Eric Church concert on Saturday night were probably still groggy, or just arriving at Iowa Speedway as the race got underway. Others who came to see Post Malone perform at 3:45 p.m. may not have seen Sunday’s race, but their ticket purchase counted just the same.
As for the on-track action, it was a much cleaner start for IndyCar than Saturday night’s Hy-Vee Homefront 250, that had a crash on the opening lap.
In Sunday’s Hy-Vee OneStep 250, it was clean racing from the drop of the green flag until Lap 100 when the yellow flag waved for the first time.
Conor Daly, filling in for the ailing Jack Harvey in the No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda, came in for his first pit stop on Lap 87, but there was an issue getting the front wheel nut tight, adding a few extra seconds to the pit stop.
McLaughlin, who led from the pole, made his first pit stop on Lap 95, giving Palou the lead. Colton Herta also came down pit road.
Palou pitted on Lap 100, shortly after entering his pit box, the yellow flag waved when Agustin Canapino pulled off course off Turn 2 with smoke coming from under the engine cover.
Palou and Power both used the overcut, staying on the track longer than others before pitting, were scored as the front two cars at the restart on Lap 114.
Power had improved 21 positions from where he started.
On lap 123, Santino Ferrucci pulled off one of the best passes of the race when he drove to the outside of Newgarden’s Chevrolet and squeezed past the Team Penske driver for the position.
The final round of pit stops began with McLaughlin pitting on Lap 198. Palou, the race leader, came into the pits on Lap 205 followed by Power. Both had flawless stops, but Power’s was one second faster and was able to blend in ahead of Palou.
Afterwards, it was another Sunday drive on a hot Iowa day before the final lap chaos at the back of the field that came on the checkered flag lap.
Because of the lack of action, and the ability to pass after NASCAR, the owners of Iowa Speedway, repaved a portion of the turns at the short oval instead of all of it for the NASCAR race in June, it negatively impacted the IndyCar race because of higher speeds and different grip levels.
“It’s the most boring thing I’ve ever done,” Palou said. “It’s a shame we didn’t put on a better show. I’m sure everybody would agree it was a very boring show.”
Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward called it a “Snoozefest.”