O’Ward Beats Newgarden On Pit Road En Route To Iowa Win
NEWTON, Iowa. — When you look at this IndyCar season, it has been one of nightmares for both Team Penske and Arrow McLaren.
More so for Penske than McLaren, but regardless of your interpretation of it all, both teams have struggled this season. So imagine their surprise (or relief) that they were the two teams to beat on Saturday at Iowa. The team duel culminated in a battle between two old rivals: Josef Newgarden and Pato O’Ward.
It would the latter of the two who would win the day. Pato O’Ward and crew executed a flawless pit stop on the last round of stop late in the race to overcut Newgarden and gather the team’s first win of the season, not to mention the first win of the year for a Chevy-powered car.
“It’s just great. We’ve been waiting for this one all year.” O’Ward said. “This Chevy-powered machine, it was a 1-2-3 Chevy podium! We knew we had to be precise and I had to be spot on on the in laps and it paid off.”
The day started off slow with Colton Herta bringing out the race’s first caution as the field took the green flag. It was yet another folly in a season that can certainly be described as ‘forgettable’ for him. Despite that, he would battle back to a 13th place finished after restarting dead last.
Once the race got into a rhythm, it appeared to be Newgarden’s to lose. Having started on pole, he was in prime position to maintain his title as ‘King of Corn Country.’ Newgarden ticked away the laps and executed time and again on pit road.
While this unfolded, the tire strategy became ever so delicate. All drivers had to be careful of not only when to pit, but also to pit swiftly and surly. It appeared Newgarden would be the standard set for the rest of the field in that regard, but on the final round of stops, an uncharacteristically slow stop from Newgarden’s Penske crew and a fast one from O’Ward’s, allowed O’Ward to overcut Newgarden and gain the lead for the first time with just 20 laps left in the race.
A late caution brought out by Nolan Siegel, which procured a red flag, allowed Newgarden to regroup and try and jump O’Ward on the restart. He had another shot after Callum Ilott spun as well. Both tries came up short as O’Ward held a charging Newgarden off to maintain the lead and secure his first win of the season.
“We’ve had so many duels Josef and I,” said O’Ward. “He usually comes out on top, but today I finally got him! We positioned ourselves to get it done!”
The win is O’Ward’s eighth of his career. It also helps him in the chase for the championship. He has now flipped positions with Kyle Kirkwood for second place behind Alex Palou. Kirkwood crashed out of the race and would finish 26th. Palou came home fifth in another steady performance to protect his championship lead.
O’Ward is now 106-points back of Palou, which is still a larger lead than what Palou entered the race with. Palou will be in a good position to extend his lead further on Sunday as drivers will tackle Iowa Speedway again on Sunday in Race Two. Palou is starting on pole.
