The NTT IndyCar Series concluded it’s weekend Saturday night for race two of the Iowa IndyCar 250s at Iowa Speedway. Penske Racing was looking for the sweep after Simon Pagenaud won race one Friday night. They had two cars on the front row with Josef Newgarden on the pole and Will Power starting second.
Josef Newgarden quickly jumped ahead of Power once the green flag was waved. The top five cars got into a single file while Colton Herta and Pato O’Ward were battling for the sixth spot. Herta would take over the sixth spot from O’Ward ten laps into the race. Newgarden was up by 1.472 seconds over teammate Will Power on lap 12. Meanwhile, Marcus Ericsson and Scott Dixon were fighting for the thirteenth position. Power did cut Newgarden’s lead to 1.241 seconds.
Colton Herta would lose two spots as he went high off of turn four, allowing Santino Ferrucci and Tony Kanaan to drive by him, Herta was now in ninth place. Marcus Ericsson made his way into the top ten, moving up three spots.
On lap 47, the first round of green-flag pit cycles began with Simon Pagenaud and Takuma Sato, the first to pit road. Josef Newgarden would pit on lap 58 with Will Power taking over the lead. Power would pit a lap later Scott Dixon was the new leader. Dixon, Rahal, and Palou were the only cars not to pit yet.
Scott Dixon would come in on lap 62, leaving Graham Rahal as the new leader. A lap later, both Rahal and Palou would pit to complete pit cycles as Newgarden resumed the lead. Pato O’Ward challenged Will Power for the second position racing side-by-side. He would get Power with an outside move off of turn two to take over second place and now was trailing Newgarden by 1.480 seconds.
Takuma Sato would come in for his second pit stop on lap 80. Conor Daly was chasing Will Power for third place. The lap car of Marco Andretti prevented Daly from getting third; however, Daly would get the third spot from Power a lap later on turn two.
Jack Harvey was able to take away the sixth spot from Ryan Hunter-Reay with an inside move off of turn four. Hunter-Reay would also lose another spot to rookie driver Oliver Askew for seventh and fell to eighth. A lap later, Hunter-Reay would come to pit road to start the next cycle of pit roads.
Simon Pagenaud would pit on lap 101. Will Power would catch Connor Daly and reclaim the third spot with an inside move on turn one. Meanwhile, O’Ward was still chasing Newgarden for the lead. Will Power would pit on lap 107, Newgarden would follow a lap later as Pato O’Ward took over the lead. O’Ward came in a lap later, leaving Connor Daly as the new leader. After Alexander Rossi’s pit stop was complete, he stalled the car exiting his box. It took several minutes for his crew to get the car fired up again.
Connor Daly would pit on lap 112 with Graham Rahal now the new leader. Two laps later, the first caution was out for Ed Carpenter as his car went high off of the outside wall of turn two and hit the front end of the car breaking his suspension. During the caution, some of the leaders pitted.
Once the race resumed, Newgarden pulled away as the rest of the cars were in single file. By lap 143, Pato O’Ward was behind Newgarden by .180 seconds. He was unable to catch Newgarden for the lead as lap traffic came into play.
On lap 168, Connor Daly came in for his scheduled pit stop as the pit stop cycles began for the third time. Pato O’Ward gave up the second spot to come to pit road. As he was leaving, his left rear tire was not tight as his crew had to push him back into his pit box to tighten the tire and send him off, costing him a lap.
A lap later, the leader Josef Newgarden came in for his final pit stop of the night with Graham Rahal now the new leader. Rahal would pit two laps later with Ryan Hunter-Reay now the new leader. On lap 178, Hunter-Reay came in for his scheduled pit stop handing the lead over to Oliver Askew. As Hunter-Reay was exiting pit road, he lost control of his car and hit the front left tire on the inside wall of turn two to bring out the second caution of the night.
After the track crews cleaned up the wreck, pit road opened up with Oliver Askew, Alexander Rossi, Felix Rosenqvist, and Marco Andretti coming to pit road. Newgarden led the field back to green with 57 laps to go. With 34 laps to go, Conor Daly came down pit road for another stop.
Newgarden pulled away from his teammate Will Power. He would go on to win race two of the Iowa IndyCar 250s Saturday night by 2.7869 seconds over Will Power. Newgarden also made history as the first driver to win the race from the pole position at Iowa Speedway. He also led 214 laps in this race.
The rest of the top ten finishers were Graham Rahal third, Simon Pagenaud fourth, Scott Dixon fifth, Oliver Askew sixth, Jack Harvey seventh, Alexander Rossi eighth, Marcus Ericsson ninth, and Marco Andretti tenth. There were twelve lead changes by eight drivers with two cautions for 24 laps.
The top ten in points right now are Scott Dixon with 244 points, Simon Pagenaud with 195 points, Josef Newgarden at 191 points, Pato O’Ward at 162 points. Graham Rahal and Will Power are tied with 142 points, Colton Herta at 141 points, Marcus Ericsson with 137 points, Felix Rosenqvist at 120 points, and Alexander Rossi with 118 points.
The next race for the NTT IndyCar Series will be in two weeks at Mid-Ohio Sunday, August 9th, at 1:30 pm on NBCSN.
