March 28, 2024

Newgarden reigns at Iowa Speedway

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Mother Nature made sure the 2019 NTT IndyCar Series Iowa 300 was indeed a night race. After severe weather delayed the race four-and-a half hours past original start time of 6 p.m., the IndyCar drivers were given the command to start their engines.

There were no worries of a low-hanging Iowa summer sun going through Turns 3 and 4 at Iowa Speedway. Rain, lightning and thunder was gone and so were the 90-plus degree temperatures.

Josef Newgarden of Team Penske brought the lightning and thunder to the Newton racetrack. He reigned over the 22-car field to claim victory at 1:14 a.m. Sunday.

After qualifying third in the heat on Friday at Iowa Speedway, Newgarden like the weather and the track surface cooled down and ran a dominating race. For the fourth time in five IndyCar races at the 7/8-mile oval, Newgarden led the most laps — 245.

“I don’t know if it’s our place. I’m much happier tonight, I can tell you that. I was really a little bit frustrated yesterday just because I knew we had a pole-winning car, we didn’t put it together. It’s competitive,” Newgarden said about Iowa Speedway and his win.

Newgarden drove an Ed Carpenter Racing car to victory in 2016. In 2018, Newgarden finished fourth at Iowa but led 229 laps. He has led the most laps — more than 100 laps — in four of the past five IndyCar races at Iowa Speedway.

“Kind of redeemed ourselves from last year, too. Last year I felt we had the car. It honestly fell apart with 100 laps to go. Why did it fall apart last year and how do we make it right again? I think we achieved that tonight,” Newgarden said.

“I’m really pleased we were able to execute as well as we did tonight. We just did a good, solid job, car was perfect, pit stops, great strategy from Tim and the boys. We got another win here.”

It was billed as a night race and to run under the lights. It was indeed run under the lights after a rainstorm that came through the Newton area just about an hour before race time.

Newgarden’s Team Penske teammate Will Power took the lead from pole sitter Simon Pagenaud. Newgarden got past Power just before the second “rain” delay came 55 laps into the race which officially started at 10:45 p.m.

The race resumed after a 25-minute stoppage to dry the track. Then it was all Newgarden who drove his Team Penske No. 2 Hitachi Chevrolet to Iowa Speedway’s Victory Lane at 1:14 a.m. Sunday.

Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing was second and Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports’ James Hinchcliffe — the 2018 Iowa 300 winner — ran third.

Dixon found himself running in 16th position and a lap down during the race. He made a charge all the way back to second to get on the Iowa podium.

“Huge credit to the team,” Dixon said. “They (left) me out pretty long before the last caution. It enabled us to stay on the lead lap, get that lucky yellow, get new tires. (We) had a good restart, were able to (pass) some cars. … We were actually probably going to be happy with a top 14 or 15 (finish), so that was pretty stellar.”

Hinchcliffe dueled with Dixon during his charge, eventually finishing third — his third podium finish in eight races at Iowa Speedway after wins in 2013 and last year. And his first podium of the 2019 season.

“Big credit to the guys,” Hinchcliffe said. “Every time we came into the pits, they made it a little bit better. They were adjusting tire pressures, wings — whatever we needed. I was working with the tools in the car, and every stint we just seemed to take a step forward.”

All three drivers praised Iowa Speedway and IndyCar crews in drying the track from the rain so the race could be completed Saturday night. They also thanked the Iowa Speedway fans for staying through the long delay and watching the race.

The victory allowed Newgarden to extend his series points lead to 29 over Alexander Rossi, who finished sixth.

Iowa Speedway brings the curtain down on its 2019 season this coming weekend with the NASCAR K&N Pro Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series on Friday and Saturday.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535
or jsheets@newtondailynews.com