Josef Newgarden Dominates Race 1 in Doubleheader at Iowa

Death, taxes, and Josef Newgarden dominating at Iowa Speedway. Some things in life are just that simple and predictable. Newgarden's victory today was a surprise to no one, as he collected his fourth victory at the 0.875-oval. It is the fourth win of the season for Newgarden, who moved into 2nd place in the championship standings.

Newgarden led 208 of the 250 laps today, bringing his total to 1,358 over the last eight races at Iowa. That is more than the rest of the field combined, with no driver leading more than 110 laps over that stretch.

"I'm glad I wore this cool suit,” Newgarden exclaimed. “It was pretty nice and easy in there to be honest. I felt cool today and this car was good. I was surprised by how hard these guys were pushing on restarts. This was a long-game day.”

“I was disappointed after qualifying. I just hate losing and I felt we had enough to get the job done and it motivated me to win this race. It's one of my favorite tracks so to win here again is always very special.”

The championship is clearly the main focus for Newgarden and his team. “We're in the fight, we're relatively there. We've just got to figure out how to have more consistency, because it's either winning or going sideways on our weekends. I know we can do better than this, consistently, and I have faith in Team Penske.”

Pato O'Ward had a great second half of the race and was able to catch Newgarden, but could never find a way around him. His tires eventually wore down and finished 6.1 seconds behind Josef. The Arrow McLaren SP driver earned his third podium of the season and his first top-ten finish since Detroit.

With temperatures scorching in the high 90's for most of the day, O'Ward was understandably exhausted once he got out of the car. "Thought we had something for Josef but he was strong. I'm going to go get some electrolytes now. I'm pretty wasted."

“I was pushing Josef there at the end, but we didn’t quite have it,” O’Ward continued. “We kept making the car better and better each stint. There at the end, I think we took a little bit out of them getting by Will and getting by Palou and getting back the lappers trying to catch Josef.”

Joining Newgarden and O’Ward on the podium was pole sitter Will Power. He led the first 23 laps of the race but when Newgarden got by him on the first restart, he was unable to reel him back in. Rinus VeeKay had a solid afternoon with a 4th place finish and Scott Dixon rounded out the top five after starting in the 13th position.

VeeKay had some great battles with Johnson, and was happy with the result. "We had to take the tires super-far and I got super-loose on the high line," he said. "I got close with Will and I could have pushed a little bit harder that last lap but I didn't want to get into the wall. Fourth is good for a Saturday."

It was deja vu for Power and Dixon, who have always run well here, but have never been to victory lane. They now have a total of 9 poles, 15 top-fives, but zero wins in their 30 combined starts at Iowa.

It was another missed opportunity for Power, but still a decent result in the bigger picture. “We were definitely strong before that first yellow but that restart, I had a couple of big yaw moments and the rear just never recovered. I ended up maxed-out on my tools. It was either lose positions or really push in the dirty air of Josef.”

“The tires were so gone,” Power continued. “I was really stoked to hang on to third, it’s kind of fun sliding these things a lot. It was definitely a good effort. Another top three, so you don't look back on those as bad days."

Dixon's teammate Alex Palou followed him from the 14th starting spot to finish 6th. Romain Grosjean was the only Andretti Autosport driver to finish inside the top 12 on Saturday. Marcus Ericsson had a few hair-raising moments during the race, but managed to bring home an 8th place finish to retain his lead in the championship.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing continued their improvement today as Graham Rahal and Christian Lundgaard rounded out the top ten in today's race. Jimmie Johnson finished 11th, and was very competitive after his spin early in the race. He avoided making contact with anything during his spin, and a set of fresh Firestone rubber had him racing inside the top five for most of the evening.

Johnson led 19 laps in today's race, and explained what happened during his spin. "In a Cup car, you can hang your left front tire on the paint. Doesn't work in an IndyCar. I figured that out. As soon as I did it, I was like, 'You idiot! Why did you do that?' Was able to bump start it when it pointed in the right direction."

Alexander Rossi has had a miserable weekend since the moment he arrived in Newton, Iowa. After a brutal practice session and subpar qualifying result, he only managed a 13th place finish today. Conor Daly had high hopes going into the race after showing speed in practice and qualifying, where he was top-three in each. He fell through the field at the start and was never able to regain his position, finishing a disappointing 19th today.

A number of drivers had a taste of bad luck on Saturday. Scott McLaughlin had to pit for a loose lug not on his right-rear wheel just before a restart. He was running in 4th at the time and instantly went two laps down to the leader. The Penske driver eventually finished 22nd.

Colton Herta's misfortune continued today during a pit stop just before the halfway point. He was unable to get the car into neutral and the team ended up having to switch out steering wheels. He fell six laps down and finished 24th. The Andretti ace was running in 9th position when he came to pit road, slicing his way through the field. He will have to do the same again tomorrow as the team plans to switch out his engine before tomorrow's race.

Two drivers found the wall on Saturday, making life difficult for their teams to repair the cars in time for tomorrow's race. Felix Rosenqvist was the first to hit the wall on Lap 111 when he lost control of his No. 7 Chevrolet. Ed Carpenter did the same at nearly the same spot on the track on Lap 164. They will look to rebound with a solid finish on Sunday.

Ironically enough, this was the fourth consecutive race where the driver starting in 2nd place went on to win. Six of the 11 races this season have been won by the driver starting 2nd, and Newgarden starts from that same spot tomorrow. The pole sitter has only won once in the 16 races here and just one time this season.

One down, one to go at Iowa Speedway. Teams and drivers will regroup and try for a better result tomorrow. Coverage for tomorrow's Hy-Vee Salute to Farmers 300 begins at 3 PM ET on NBC.