Newgarden passes team mates to win as Penske dominate in Iowa · RaceFans

Josef Newgarden powered his well beyond pole winner Will Energy to say victory within the first of two IndyCar races at Iowa Speedway this weekend.

By the top of the 250-lap race Newgarden was on the purpose of placing Energy a lap down. He clinched his third win of the 2023 season after a near-perfect day for the whole Penske operation. The Indianapolis 500 winner strikes inside 98 factors of championship chief Alex Palou who completed – by his requirements – a lowly eighth.

The primary 150 laps have been dominated by the Penske trio of Energy, Newgarden, and Scott McLaughlin. From pole, Energy negotiated lapped visitors completely as he led 119 of the primary 121 laps. McLaughlin ran second behind him till he was overtaken by Newgarden, and after gaining second place, Newgarden closed in on Energy and took the lead on lap 121.

Even after Energy brushed the wall out of flip 4 and dropped from second to fourth, Newgarden continued the Penske stranglehold on the entrance of the sphere. Solely six vehicles remained on the lead lap by the point the primary warning flag of the race was proven on lap 151, after Graham Rahal crashed out of flip 4 and broke his right-front suspension.

It was the one warning interval in an in any other case frantic race dominated by the sheer tempo of the three Penske Dallara-Chevrolets. Newgarden and Energy led 248 of the race’s 250 laps between them, as Newgarden retained the lead after his closing pit cease and drove on to the victory by 3.3 seconds.

The win was Newgarden’s fifth at Iowa, extending his private file on the seven-eighths mile oval. He’ll intention to finish the weekend sweep that eluded him final 12 months when he begins seventh for the second Iowa 250 tomorrow.

McLaughlin closed to inside a second of Newgarden late however couldn’t make his approach by means of the visitors shortly sufficient to stick with his workforce mate, and completed second – his greatest end since he gained at Barber Motorsports Park. Pato O’Ward completed third, making it a clear sweep for Chevrolet engines on the rostrum.

Marcus Ericsson was fourth, adopted by Energy, the final driver on the lead lap. Scott Dixon fell off the lead lap within the center phases of the race, however aided by the wave-around given to lapped vehicles in the course of the warning interval, he recovered to complete sixth.

Kyle Kirkwood drove from seventeenth on the grid to complete seventh forward of Palou. Takuma Satowithin the third begin of his ovals-only season for Ganassi, took ninth. Alexander Rossi accomplished the highest ten after climbing from twentieth on the grid.

Palou’s lead within the championship was trimmed to simply 98 factors heading into tomorrow’s race, whereas Newgarden strikes again into second within the standings. Although Newgarden will begin that race seventh whereas his workforce mates share the entrance row once more, if he can repeat at this time’s efficiency he stands a superb opportunity of scoring back-to-back wins.

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