Pato O’Ward celebrates after winning Sunday’s NTT IndyCar Series race at Iowa Speedway. Photo: IndyCar Media
Pato O’Ward won Sunday’s NTT IndyCar Series race at Iowa Speedway after dominant leader Josef Newgarden crashed out of the race with 65 laps remaining.
O’Ward drove to a 4.2476-second victory over Will Power. Scott McLaughlin finished third, giving the Penske team two of the top three finishers.
“We knew that we had a great car,” O’Ward said. “So, it was all about just capitalizing and being there when it counted. The guys did a great job calling when we had to pit. It was very, very enjoyable.”
Scott Dixon finished fourth, while his teammate and seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson recorded the best finish of his series career by placing fifth.
Series points leader Marcus Ericsson finished sixth. He leads second-place Power in the standings by eight points with five races remaining this season.
O’Ward earned his second victory of the season – he also won May 1 on the road course at Barber Motorsports Park – and fourth win of his series career. The victory, coupled with his second-place finish Saturday, helped O’Ward climb from sixth to fifth in the series standings. He is 36 points behind leader Ericsson.
“Hopefully we can win a couple more,” O’Ward said. “That would be fantastic. We’ve had a good year, but we’ve dumped two wins in the past couple of months. So, it’s definitely been a frustrating but rewarding few weeks. This is the perfect momentum we need.”
It looked like Team Penske might sweep the top two spots until Newgarden spun into the turn 4 SAFER Barrier while leading on lap 235 of 300 Newgarden, who won Saturday on the .894-mile oval, had led 148 of the first 234 laps and was 2.8384 seconds ahead of O’Ward before the stunning incident.
Newgarden was in cruise control before the crash, maintaining a steady gap to O’Ward. As he entered turn 4, the left front wheel of his car lifted off the ground after an apparent mechanical problem in the rear of the car, sending Newgarden spinning into the SAFER Barrier. His car suffered heavy rear-end damage, but Newgarden walked away from the incident.
“It was a bit of a shock,” Newgarden said. “Man, I want to cry. So sad for my team. I don’t know what happened. It was a good run. I feel terrible for us. I don’t know; something went wrong there.”
Newgarden was on track to lead the championship by 10 points when he crashed. Instead, he was credited with 24th place and is third in the standings, 34 points behind Ericsson.
After Newgarden’s unexpected exit from the race, O’Ward took the lead for good. The victory was secured when O’Ward, Power and the rest of the lead-lap drivers entered pit road for their final pit stops on lap 239. O’Ward won the race off pit road and then deftly navigated lapped traffic over the closing 60 laps.
“The No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP guys in the pits were awesome,” O’Ward said. “That’s what gave us our win. Obviously, I did my job in the car to keep her safe and maintain.
“I knew we had the pace, but it’s just tough whenever you’re going through the traffic. The guys in front of me are handling it a different way than you do, so it’s just different every lap.”
O’Ward put himself into position to grab the unlikely victory by passing Power as Power turned his out lap after his second-to-last pit stop on lap 195. O’Ward gained 2.953 seconds on Power during his in lap, stop and out lap for his penultimate stop on lap 194.
Power led 80 laps, second only to teammate Newgarden’s 148 laps. O’Ward led 66 laps and averaged 140.681 mph in a race slowed by just two caution periods for 25 laps.
NTT IndyCar Series
Iowa Speedway – Newton, Iowa
Hy-VeeDeals.com 250 – July 24, 2022
1. (7) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 300, Running
2. (1) Will Power, Chevrolet, 300, Running
3. (5) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 300, Running
4. (18) Scott Dixon, Honda, 300, Running
5. (13) Jimmie Johnson, Honda, 300, Running
6. (15) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 300, Running
7. (9) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 300, Running
8. (14) David Malukas, Honda, 300, Running
9. (10) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 300, Running
10. (4) Takuma Sato, Honda, 300, Running
11. (22) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 300, Running
12. (12) Colton Herta, Honda, 299, Running
13. (11) Alex Palou, Honda, 299, Running
14. (23) Graham Rahal, Honda, 299, Running
15. (25) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 298, Running
16. (3) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 298, Running
17. (19) Ed Carpenter, Chevrolet, 297, Running
18. (21) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 296, Running
19. (8) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 296, Running
20. (6) Jack Harvey, Honda, 296, Running
21. (24) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 295, Running
22. (26) Dalton Kellett, Chevrolet, 294, Running
23. (16) Simon Pagenaud, Honda, 281, Running
24. (2) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 235, Contact
25. (20) Kyle Kirkwood, Chevrolet, 117, Contact
26. (17) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 112, Mechanical
Winner’s Average Speed: 140.681 mph
Time of Race: 1:54:23.2097 Margin of Victory: 4.2476 seconds
Cautions: 2 for 26
Lead Changes: 7 among 5 drivers
Lap Leaders: Power 1-65; Sato 66-67; Malukas 68; Power 69-83; Newgarden 84-195; Sato 196-198; Newgarden 199-234; O’Ward 235-300.
Point Standings: Ericsson 403, Power 395, Newgarden 369, Dixon 369, O’Ward 367, Palou 359, McLaughlin 317, Herta 278, Rosenqvist 275, Rossi 265, Pagenaud 257, VeeKay 254, Rahal 248, Grosjean 245, Daly 223, Lundgaard 208, Malukas 204, Castroneves 196, Sato 184, Johnson 158, Ilott 150, Harvey 148, DeFrancesco 139, Kirkwood 126, Kellett 94, Tpny Kanaan 78, Santino Ferrucci 71, Carpenter 67, Tatiana Calderon 58, JR Hildebrand 53, Juan Pablo Montoya 44, Simona De Silvestro 21, Marco Andretti 17, Sage Karam 14, Stefan Wilson 10.
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