For a second consecutive season, Team Penske swept the annual NTT IndyCar Series’ doubleheader weekend races at Iowa Speedway between July 13-14.
On this occasion, however, it was not this year’s two-time Indianapolis 500 champion Josef Newgarden who swept both races compared to the 2023 season. It was his teammates Scott McLaughlin and Will Power who each fulfilled equated dreams of their own by winning at Iowa for the first time in their IndyCar careers.
The action commenced on Saturday evening, where McLaughlin, who started alongside pole-sitter Colton Herta for the first of two Iowa weekend events, received quick service from his No. 3 team to beat Herta off of pit road first amid a caution period on Lap 84. From there, McLaughlin, who fended off Herta during the following restart period on Lap 92, never relinquished the lead as he proceeded to survive through four caution periods and fend off Pato O’Ward in a 12-lap shootout to win for the first time on an oval circuit.
Overall, McLaughlin, who led the final 164 of 250-scheduled laps in his No. 3 XPEL/Team Penske Dallara-Chevrolet, notched his sixth career victory in the IndyCar circuit, his second of the 2024 season and first since winning at Barber Motorsports Park in April. The Iowa victory reignited McLaughlin’s quest to contend for this year’s IndyCar championship as he also continues to rally from the disqualification during the season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg due to him and teammate Newgarden manipulating the ECU software that enabled them to use the push to pass on restarts.
“What got [the win] done tonight was the pit stops [by] the team,” McLaughlin, who also won the pole position for the 2024 Indianapolis 500, said on the frontstretch following Saturday’s race. “[The pit crew] got me out in front of [Colton] Herta there and then we showed our pace. That’s a big deal today. Man, I’ve been working for that for a couple of years. It takes a lot of hard work. I never was going to call myself an IndyCar driver until I won on an oval [circuit]. So, I’m going to call myself an IndyCar driver now. Hopefully, the floodgates open. We bloody need them to because we’re fairly behind in the championship, but we’ll see how we go.”
The following day, McLaughlin, who won the pole position for the second Iowa event, stormed out of the gate when the green flag waved and proceeded to lead the first 94 laps. Then after McLaughlin pitted from the lead on Lap 95, where a cycle of green flag pit stops had commenced, the race changed as the caution flew on Lap 101 due to Agustin Canapino coming to a stop in the backstretch. By then, Alex Palou, the reigning IndyCar champion, had just entered pit road and serviced his No. 10 DHL Dallara-Honda, where he was then able to blend back onto the track as the race leader. McLaughlin, meanwhile, was shuffled back to third place as teammate Will Power, who had also not yet pitted, moved his No. 12 Verizon/Team Penske Dallara-Chevrolet into second place.
Once the race restarted under green on Lap 113, Power, who spent a majority of the event’s remainder trailing Palou while managing to lead eight laps in the process and conserving fuel in the process, capitalized on his final green flag pit stop that lasted only 5.8 seconds with 45 laps remaining to blend back onto the track in front of Palou, who pitted a lap earlier but emerged with a pit time of 6.3 seconds.
From there, Power, who officially returned to the lead on Lap 209 after rookie Linus Lundqvist pitted, fended off a late charge from Palou towards the event’s conclusion on Lap 250 as he beat Palou to the checkered flag by three-tenths of a second for his first elusive victory at Iowa in the IndyCar circuit.
Power took the checkered flag just before a harrowing four-car wreck erupted on the backstretch that resulted with Sting Ray Robb going airborne, flipping twice and sliding on his roof after he hit Alexander Rossi, who had run out of fuel, as Ed Carpenter and Kyle Kirkwood were also involved.
With the victory, Power, a two-time IndyCar champion and the 2018 Indianapolis 500 champion, notched his 43rd career win in the IndyCar circuit, which moved him solely into fourth place on the all-time IndyCar wins list and left him nine victories shy of tying Mario Andretti for the third-most victories. It was also Power’s first victory since winning at Road America four races ago in June and his first on an oval circuit since he won at Pocono Raceway in August 2019.
“Massive fuel [saving was the key],” Power said on the frontstretch following Sunday’s race. “Honestly, just sitting in the pack. I had a really good car, a really fast car, so I sat back and used that pace to save fuel and get a massive [fuel] number. I knew once all those [leaders] pulled in [to pit], I could go hard and then, we caught a yellow. That was sort of the thing we were hoping for, to get one of those yellows to put us to the front. Then we were able to get better fuel mileage behind Palou and go a lap longer than him and then jump in. I’ve been trying to win this race for years [and] years. So, [I’m] over the moon. The guys did a great job. I felt really bad from yesterday when I accidentally buttoned off from the pit speed limit and ruined our day. We were right in the game…We’re still pushing and getting it done.”
In a span of two races at Iowa, Power went from trailing the points lead by 48 points to decreasing his deficit to 43 and 35 as he retains second place in the championship standings behind points leader Alex Palou. Teammate McLaughlin, who finished in third place during the second Iowa event on Sunday, gained 40 points in two days as he now trails the points lead by 65 points while he is situated in fifth place in the standings.
Meanwhile, Palou, who is still pursuing his first oval victory in the IndyCar circuit, rallied from wrecking out in the first Iowa event to rack up his fifth podium result of the 2024 season and retain the points lead with six events remaining on this year’s schedule.
“It was a good weekend,” Palou, driver of the No. 10 DHL/Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara-Honda, said. “Yesterday was a terrible day for us. Just made too many mistakes, but [I] rebounded today. Almost got the win. Solid P2. Looking forward to Toronto next week. It was, overall, a really good weekend.”
Pato O’Ward, who finished second and sixth, respectively, during the Iowa doubleheader features, is ranked in third place in the driver’s standings with a 52-point deficit despite achieving a resurgent victory a week ago at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Meanwhile, Scott Dixon, who finished in fourth place during both Iowa events, is scored in fourth place in the standings as he trails teammate Palou by 57 points.
Next on the 2024 NTT INDYCAR Series schedule is the series’ annual trip north of the border to the Streets of Toronto, Canada, for the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, July 21, and air at 1 p.m. ET on Peacock.
