IndyCar: Josef Newgarden dominates at Iowa for first win of 2020

Josef Newgarden dominated the second Iowa IndyCar 250 race at Iowa Speedway to secure his first victory of the 2020 IndyCar season.

For the first time in the 2020 IndyCar season and the first time in 52 weeks, Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden found victory lane, as he dominated the second race of the Iowa IndyCar 250s at Iowa Speedway.

Newgarden started tonight’s 250-lap race around the four-turn, 0.894-mile (1.439-kilometer) oval in Newton, Iowa from the pole position, and his dominant win made him the first polesitter not only to win at the bullring-type track in 15 races but to finish in the top three.

The driver of the #1 Chevrolet, whose most recent win came at Iowa Speedway last July, held off teammate Will Power in his #12 Chevrolet by 2.7869 seconds to become the fourth different winner through six races this season. Power’s second place finish tied his season-best. Four different drivers have won the last four races.

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While the two drivers who started on the front row finished in the top two, the were no other top 12 starters who finished in the top six.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal finished in an impressive third place in his #15 Honda after starting in 19th to secure his second podium finish of the season. In a race filled with tire degradation, he caught a break by staying out of the pits after most of the rest of the field had come in for a stop, as he was able to make a pit stop under caution from the lead after Ed Carpenter Racing’s Ed Carpenter crashed to bring out the race’s first caution flag period.

Another driver caught a similar break from the lead later in the race with the race’s second and final caution flag period when Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay hit the inside wall coming out of the pits, ending what could have been a top five run.

That driver was Arrow McLaren SP rookie Oliver Askew, who started in 12th place and finished in sixth in his #7 Chevrolet after his career-high third place finish in yesterday’s race.

Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud, who started in 23rd (last) place in both races after missing the qualifying session with a fuel pressure issue, finished in fourth place in his #22 Chevrolet after winning yesterday night’s race and becoming just the sixth driver to go from last to first.

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon, who maintains his lead in the championship standings and has yet to trail anybody in points this season, finished in fifth in his #9 Honda after starting back in 18th.

Meyer Shank Racing’s Jack Harvey finished in a season-high seventh place in his #60 Honda for the second consecutive night. Alexander Rossi led a disappointing Andretti Autosport team in eighth in his #27 Honda ahead of Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Ericsson in ninth in his #8 Honda. Ericsson has now recorded five consecutive top 10 finishes.

With a last-lap pass of A.J. Foyt Enterprises’ Tony Kanaan, who was making his final start at Iowa Speedway, where he won in 2010, Andretti Herta Autosport’s Marco Andretti secured his first top 10 finish of the season in his #98 Honda. He had not finished in the top 10 at Iowa Speedway, where he also won back in 2011, since 2015.

While the race featured a season-high 12 lead changes among eight drivers, Newgarden led 214 of the race’s 250 laps. He has led at least 214 laps in four of the last six races at the track.

The race’s other leaders were Power, Rahal, Dixon, Askew, Arrow McLaren SP’s Pato O’Ward, Carlin’s Conor Daly and Hunter-Reay.

One driver who had a solid chance to pull off a victory was O’Ward, who closed to within about one tenth of a second behind Newgarden at one point. But an issue with a late pit stop mired him one lap down, and he was unable to battle back. He finished in 12th place in his #5 Chevrolet.

Of the 23 drivers who competed in the race, only Carpenter and Hunter-Reay failed to finish it. The top 11 drivers finished on the lead lap.

Here are the full race results of the second race of the 2020 Iowa IndyCar 250s at Iowa Speedway.

Race Results
1st – Josef Newgarden
2nd – Will Power
3rd – Graham Rahal
4th – Simon Pagenaud
5th – Scott Dixon
6th – Oliver Askew
7th – Jack Harvey
8th – Alexander Rossi
9th – Marcus Ericsson
10th – Marco Andretti
11th – Tony Kanaan
12th – Pato O’Ward
13th – Conor Daly
14th – Alex Palou
15th – Felix Rosenqvist
16th – Charlie Kimball
17th – Rinus VeeKay
18th – Santino Ferrucci
19th – Colton Herta
20th – Zach Veach
21st – Takuma Sato
22nd – Ryan Hunter-Reay
23rd – Ed Carpenter

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After a grueling 15-day stretch that featured five races, there are no more races on the 2020 IndyCar schedule for the next 22 days. The next race is the Honda Indy 200, which is scheduled to take place at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Sunday, August 9. This race is set to be broadcast live on NBC beginning at 12:45 p.m. ET.