NEWTON, Iowa – Josef Newgarden continued his domination of Iowa Speedway, leading 208 of 250 laps in the Hy-VeeDeals.com 250 for his fourth NTT IndyCar Series victory of the season.
It was the 24th IndyCar Series win of Newgarden’s career, his fourth win at Iowa Speedway and his second straight at the 0.894-mile short oval.
That was in 2020. The track did not host an IndyCar Series race in 2021.
“It’s been a frustrating year in some regards, but it’s been tempered with great results,” Newgarden said. “We’ve had four wins. I feel like we’ve showed up at most of these weekends capable of winning the race.
“Fortunately, four of them have worked out pretty nicely. But it’s either working out like that or it’s just going sideways to some degree. I don’t know that I want to put that on any one specific thing. It’s been kind of bad timing in a lot of respects this year. Mid-Ohio was bad timing, qualifying and the race. Toronto, we had bad qualifying with P2 going out, hampered qualifying. Bad positions on the pit stop. Even the pit cycle before that was bad timing on when we pit.
“I don’t really think it’s anyone’s fault. I don’t think we have a problem in any part of the team. For whatever reason, we have odd timing on most of these weekends. The other weekends where there is no odd timing, we win the race. I think if we could find the middle ground there, we’d be handily in the points lead. We can’t seem to find that balance right now.
“You have to be careful trying to find it. We can’t change much. It’s just the way it is. 2018 was similar to this year, we won three races, finished fifth in the championship. We had four poles, super good. We were either winning the race or something weird was happening.”
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Ericsson, winner of the Indianapolis 500 on May 29, continues to lead the championship despite finishing eighth on Saturday. Newgarden moved into second place in the standings, and trails Ericsson by just 15 points heading into Sunday’s second race of the weekend doubleheader
“I think he’s done a great job obviously,” Newgarden said of Ericsson. “How could you not say so, right? He’s doing a tremendous job.
“He’s kind of just been level. There’s not a lot of flash to him. I would say even less so than Palou. Palou to me is like the best non-flash driver. That guy is super well-rounded, does everything well. There’s nothing much to him. You’re not seeing a lot of spark.
“Ericsson is like a step below that. I would put him like maybe below Palou. They’re just having a good run. They’re doing a great job. Obviously, they have a great team. You can’t do it alone in this series, they’re a great team at Chip Ganassi Racing. It’s a great combination for them.
“He’s not going to be easy to beat. If he keeps doing what he’s doing, that can win championships. It’s great to win four races. Our boring days we need to be finishing second or third. We just can’t seem to do that right now. When we figure that out, I think we’ll be in the mix, we’ll be just fine.”
The top five drivers in the championship are separated by just 59 points heading into Sunday’s race.
“I think it’s been very entertaining from a fan standpoint,” Newgarden said. “No one is getting away from anybody. We’re all together. So that’s exciting.
“Typically, this is what’s been happening the last couple years in IndyCar. It’s always gone down to the finale. You always have a couple horses in the race at least.
“I don’t know how it’s going to play out, I really don’t. Someone could go on a streak. It could keep going up and down. That’s kind of what’s happening right now. It’s so competitive that you have people sort of winning, then having a bad weekend, then you have guys like Ericsson who is in the middle and level. So, no one’s getting away.
“It’s impossible to predict. I have no idea. Someone could just go on a super streak, and maybe not. But tomorrow is not a given, I can tell you that. I think we have a good car, and we did a good job today, but that does not guarantee tomorrow’s race. It will be just as difficult as today. Cooler, absolutely. Hallelujah.”
Newgarden easily defeated Arrow McLaren SP’s Pato O’Ward by 6.1784 seconds. Team Penske’s Will Power, who won the pole earlier in the day, was third with Rinus VeeKay fourth. Scott Dixon’s No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda rounded out the top five.
There were four caution periods, the most serious was when Felix Rosenqvist’s No. 7 Chevrolet hit the Turn 1 wall and suffered heavy damage that his Arrow McLaren SP crew will have to repair overnight.
Between the start and the finish of the race in front of a massive crowd at Iowa Speedway, seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson of Chip Ganassi Racing put on quite a show.
He spun on Lap 16, kept the No. 48 Carvana/American Legion Honda off the fourth turn wall. After that, Johnson’s Honda was a rocket as he raced his way through the field, picking off one position after another until he was in the lead on Lap 61.
Johnson led 19 laps and drove his IndyCar like a stock car, using the high lines on the track that few in IndyCar dared to try.
Toward the end of the race, however, Johnson burned up the right rear of his car and finished 11th.
“I had so much fun out there today,” Johnson said. “I watched so many great races at this track. To be here in person, drive on it in an Indy car is such a rush.
“The first two-thirds of the race I really felt like we had a car competitive enough to win. Then there at the end it kind of slipped away from us. I think the longer run at the end also kind of exposed a weakness in our car, and I faded a bit more.
“We’ll sleep on it tonight, work with our teammates and engineers, make some good changes for tomorrow and come back stronger.”
Johnson showed no fear in running the highest lines on the race track even after his spin early in the race.
“I’ve had a lot of success in my Cup career, if you think of tracks like Atlanta or Richmond in the Cup cars, probably Kevin Harvick was one of the first ones to expose if you drive on the painted line, it will help turn the car and create some grip,” Johnson said. “I just tried it, and it didn’t work.
“I was running lower and lower in three and four. It was working well. I thought, let me just put the left sides on the painted lines. I was backward instantly. It was just a mistake on my behalf.
“Instinctively I was able to be myself in the car and stop thinking so much about everything that I do,” Johnson said. “Thank God there weren’t any braking zones for me to get beat in on this oval. It was really just about carrying momentum, carrying lines, understanding where a line would be overused, run off and lose grip, find a new line.
“I was just able to be myself. It was really a lot of fun.”
Johnson, Newgarden and the rest of the IndyCar teams will return to Iowa Speedway Sunday for the second race of the doubleheader, the Hy-Vee Salute to Farmers 300 at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time Sunday. The NBC telecast begins at 3 p.m. ET.