Josef Newgarden swept the Iowa weekend winning his sixth race at the track and the 29th of his career.
Will Power began the second race on the pole, while teammate and Race No. 1 winner Josef Newgarden began back in row four. Power began to lap cars on lap 15 with Benjamin Pederson the first to be lapped. McLaughlin would challenge Power for the lead on lap 28 but after being unable to make the pass found himself being passed by Newgarden who after passing McLaughlin made short work of Power on lap 31 to assume the lead.
Cars towards the back of the field would begin to pit as early as lap 46. Six laps later Power would pit from sixth and from there those ahead of him followed. Agustin Canapino would bring out a caution on lap 87. The yellow would allow those who had fallen a lap down to get a lap back, included in that group was points leader Alex Palou. Track sweepers were deployed to clean up the tire rubber. Newgarden would win the race off pit road.
Takuma Sato would tag the wall and have to bring it to pit road on lap 142. Pato O’Ward would pit on lap 145 brining everyone else to follow. Sting Ray Robb’s crew did not get the right rear tire on his car and it would fall off on track bringing out a caution on lap 158. Fortunately no one made contact with the tire. McLaughlin, O’Ward and others opted to gamble and grab fresh tires during the caution.
Newgarden and Power would pit on lap 197 with McLaughlin following a lap later. Newgarden would be the leader after pitstops with Felix Rosenqvist moving up to second.
With 11 laps to go Ryan Hunter-Reay got into the marbles making contact with the wall to bring out a caution. With just five cars on the lead lap IndyCar opted not to open the pits but instead moved the lapped cars behind the leaders. With three laps to go the race restarted with Power passing Rosenqvist for second while Newgarden began to pull away. McLaughlin would fall to fifth as Palou moved up to third ahead of Rosenqvist.
With the win Newgarden swept the weekend giving Penske 1-2 finishes in both races,
Iowa Speedway IndyCar Results
July 23, 2023
