PATO O’WARD TAKES CHEVROLET TO VICTORY LANE IN IOWA RACE NO. 1
Team Chevy Drivers Sweep Podium and Score Seven of Top-Eight in Finishing Order
NEWTON, IOWA (July 12,2025) – Pato O’Ward took his No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet to Iowa Speedway Victory Lane to score his first win of the season, his second at the .875-mile track and the eighth of his NTT INDYCAR SERIES career. He led 33 of the 275 laps in today’s race, the first of the Sukup INDYCAR Race Weekend doubleheader.
O’Ward’s win of the SYNK 275 is the first of the season for Chevrolet and the 14th for the Bowtie Brand on the Iowa D-shaped oval. He now sits second in the standings, 105 points down to leader Alex Palou.
Chevrolet drivers swept the podium with Josef Newgarden bringing his No. 2 Astemo Team Penske Chevy to the checkered flag in the runner-up spot, his ninth podium at Iowa. Teammate Will Power, No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet completed the podium in third place, his seventh time on an Iowa podium.
Scott McLaughlin had to start 27th in the field after an incident on his qualifying out lap that resulted in his No. 3 XPEL Team Penske Chevrolet making hard contact with the turn two wall. The winner of the 2024 Iowa race one drove through the field to finish fourth. McLaughlin made 24 on-track passes in his quest to score a solid finish
- Christian Rasmussen, No. 21 Splenda Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, drove from the 19th starting spot to finish sixth, also making 24 on-track passes
- Conor Daly piloted the No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet to seventh in the final finishing order
- Santino Ferrucci completed the seven Chevrolet powered drivers in the top-eight bringing the No. 14 Sexton Properties AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet across the finish line in eighth place
- Chevrolet has led an amazing 4,099 at Iowa Speedway with Newgarden leading the way with 2,079 led including 232 today after starting on the pole
- Race Two of the Sukup INDYCAR Race Weekend at Iowa Speedway – The Farm To Finish 275 (275 laps) – is scheduled to start at 1pm (ET)/ noon (CT)/11am (MT)/10am (PT) and will be broadcast on FOX/INDYCAR Radio Network/SIRIUSXM 218.
DRIVER POST RACE QUOTES
PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN CHEVROLET, RACE WINNER:
“This is great we’ve been waiting for this one for over a year. My 50th race was also a win here in Iowa and that’s the only other thing I have here so it’s a cool story. Great job by the Arrow McLaren guys and gals. This Chevy powered machine was, I think it’s 1-2-3 right? 1-2-3 Chevy podium. I think it was about and I’m super happy I’m the Chevy guy that gave them their first win this year.
Josef is the master at these races, he rules around here so I knew that we had to be spot on and I had to be so precise on the in laps to beat him at his own game. This is awesome and we have another chance tomorrow, it would be really awesome to double up.
How did you hold him back
I mean we’ve had so many duels, Josef and I, but he usually, he’s a percentage that comes out on top more. I said that today is the day that changes, so racing out there and you know I had a lot of fun making that that outside groove work whenever we were 4th and 5th and as soon as we were behind him, we just kind of this positioned ourselves to get it done.”
JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 ASTEMO TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 2ND:
“O’Ward got track position, it was a simple as that. My car was quick, and Team Chevy did a great job Finally got a win for Team Chevy is a big deal. They should have had way more on the year, so good to finally get one.”
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 3RD:
“We’ve always had the speed. Just a very smooth day I would say. Some good racing out as the second lane came in, which is awesome. I think everyone should thank Conor Daly for bringing it in, or at least showing us how to do it. Him and Ferruci rolled that outside really well. I just watched Connor do it I’m like oh OK, so he taught me that. It was a solid day, I’m really happy to have a smooth day with no problems. That’s what I got and hopefully tomorrow you can go for the win.”
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN, NO. 3 XPEL TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 4TH:
“Oh, man, it’s huge. I don’t know how many people saw, but the amount of people, that not only work on the No. 3 car, but the No. 2 and the No. 12, It was just a huge team effort to get back in the race. I know I was talking to some drivers, and some teams may not have even been able to do that, so it’s a proud moment for us. Proud moment for me. After the last few months, it’s just nice to have a decent result, but the problem is we’ve do it again tomorrow, but I think we can. The car was really good. I would rip the bottom. I would rip whatever lane I wanted, So, I put a lot of trust in it. I put trust in it because the guys are so good, you know, and just really proud of everyone, and everyone on the XPEL Chevy.”
CHRISTIAN RASMUSSEN, NO. 21 SPLENDA ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 6TH:
“Done with the first race at Iowa Speedway! Finished P6 after starting P19, a good result. We just steadily moved our way through the field from the beginning to the end. I had one exciting moment with probably the biggest drift I’ve ever done on an oval and still saved it! Thankfully, we got through it and the good thing is we get to do it all over again! We are starting a little farther up tomorrow so maybe we can have an even better day!”
CONOR DALY, NO. 76 JUNCOS HOLLINGR RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 7TH:
“Honestly, I was really happy with the Chevy, the whole day. Really appreciate the team’s work on giving me a fast car. I just struggled a little bit in the middle of the race. myself, just with what was going on, not car related, just driver related. But, it was good to get a last restart in to get one more spot. But yeah, just lost a little bit in that first pit exchange because we had a tough in, but, you know, car was still really fast. We’ve just got a fine tune a few things for tomorrow, and I think we’ll have a shot at it.”
SANTINO FERRUCCI, NO. 14 SEXTON PROPERTIES AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 8TH:
“”Tough, tough day. Honestly, i thought we had a much better race car than we did, just based off our practice, but as it turned out, we were incredibly tight and just trying to battle that. You can only do so much, you’re max-tooling in the car. you can only put so much front wing in before you tip it over. So, hands tied but happy to come home with a top-10 and ready to make some overnight changes and get back after it tomorrow.”
DAVID MALUKAS, NO. 4 CLARIENCE AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 12Th:
“We missed the mark on the setup when we first went out, so it was a little bit of a survival and then the yellow came out for the first stop. So we decided not to do any changes with the wing, just not to change the balance. But we were going backwards. and fell back to 17th. On the next stop, we were able to do the turns of wing and the car just kicked alive and we worked our way from 17th up to 12th. With the rain and the tornado, it cut our sessions even shorter. We didn’t do the testing here that everybody else did. So, I think that showed there and we missed the mark on where the car needed to be by the end of a race stint. But we learned, so thankfully, we have another race going tomorrow.”
ROBERT SHWARTZMAN, NO. 83 PREMA RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 20TH:
“I think we had a pretty good qualifying with what we had. The balance was not perfect, but overall, the car was quick, and I was quite happy with what we had with the short time we had to get everything ready. In today’s race, I really struggled with the car balance; it was really difficult to drive. I had a few moments where I was close to losing the car and putting it in the wall, but I managed to keep it alive. We need to analyse overnight to see what changes we can make for tomorrow’s race, where we start from a promising grid position.”
STING RAY ROBB, NO. 77 UNCOS HOLLINGER RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 22ND:
“Race one was a bit more chaotic than I think that we would all like, but nonetheless, we brought it back all four wheels attached to the car, with some learning to do as well. I think that we can get some good reset for tomorrow for Race 2. I feel like we have a good data from today that we can apply and really overall, I think that it’s an okay day. It’s not the result that we wanted, but with the result of Connor finishing inside the top 10. I think that’s very good for the team and for everyone involved. And so we can go into tomorrow with a lot of confidence.”
CALLUM ILLOT, NO. 90 PREMA RACING CHEVROLET, 23RD DNF CONTACT:
“We had a really fast car but it was just not a good day in the pitlane. We were slow and also very unlucky with the timing of our second pitstop early on, which put us the only car laps down. We raced back through, but I managed to take too much risk with the pace increase and it didn’t end very well. We have another race for tomorrow and the positive is that the pace looks good.”
NOLAN SIEGEL, NO. 6 ARROW MCLAREN CHEVROLET, 24TH DNF CONTACT:
“It was a little weird from the time I left pit lane and had a lot of oversteer up until then and then I don’t know I just lost it in the middle of (Turn) ¾. I was pushing hard. There’s not much more to it. It was a big hit. I’m fine.
You and Kyle have been really gelling
It’s been great. I think Kyle’s doing a great job it’s been great working with him, obviously we haven’t had a ton of time to work together, but I really enjoying working with him so far. I think that was a great race from his side, from the strategy side and I think we were in position to I don’t know where we’re sitting, but it was unfortunate for it to end like that but we’re in a good spot.”
POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPTS:
PATO O’WARD
TONY KANAAN
JOSEF NEWGARDEN
WILL POWER
THE MODERATOR: Now joined by the champion of the Synk 275 powered by Sukup in Pato O’Ward, who led 33 of the 257 laps this afternoon, driver of the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, his first win of the season, Chevy’s first win as well as mentioned, eighth career win, second here at Iowa. The first win at Iowa came on your 50th start. This came on your 100th start. Your thoughts about win No. 1 this season for you.
PATO O’WARD: Yeah. First time I do a repeat at a track, so that’s a cool milestone for myself. Super happy for, first of all, all the guys and gals at Arrow McLaren. We’ve been working really hard. But the guy we’re chasing down keeps winning a bunch of them.
Also very happy for Team Chevy. This was important and very deserving for Team Chevy. I’m glad it was an all-Chevy podium.
Yeah, for my race, I started getting creative. They’re just such long races. There’s time to get your car in the window, start getting creative on where you want to place it. So yeah, we got moving in that second restart, and as soon as I got to Josef, he’s one of the guys that when you’re behind him, he tries to outsmart you, definitely. He’s been running ovals for more than I’ve been in the series. That experience only comes with laps, and he’s also very strong here, so I knew that we had to be perfect.
We capitalized on that in lap. I think I went a little bit over the limit and risked a bit more than I was planning to, but all in all, it actually worked out because he was right on our gearbox on that 3 and 4 when we came out. Yeah, great pit stop, and did my job to secure us that overcut, and that’s pretty much what gave us the win today.
THE MODERATOR: The difference was between you and Josef just over two-tenths which was the closest finish at Iowa since 2012 when Ryan Hunter-Reay defeated Marco Andretti.
Q. I saw this stat on social media. I haven’t been able to fact check it myself, but it sounds right. You’ve had 16 runner-up finishes in your career and seven of those have been in races that Josef Newgarden has won. In those moments, I think of the Indy 500 a year ago, I think of Texas 2023. What have you taken away from those late-race battles, particularly on ovals, with Josef, and was there anything that you did tonight that you would say kind of came from some of those learnings?
PATO O’WARD: I mean, he’s the guy that I’ve been most around, especially to win races. If it wasn’t for him, I would have a lot more wins. But he’s a tough competitor. I think this year for him has been quite different to what it’s been in the past. I see him very differently, to be honest, like his attitude and everything is definitely not the Josef that I’ve always praised, I would say.
But I’ve studied him. I know how to race him. He gets what he gives. If he was flirting with fire there, then that’s what he got, and that’s what I was going to give him because you get to these points in your career, and for me especially today when I was behind him, I said, today is the day that’s going to change because obviously he’s got a lot more experience than I do, but I think over the years, I’ve grown to realize that I’m pretty handy, at least in certain ovals, and I believe our package is very strong, and it’s important to capitalize when we can get those wins.
We were super close in Gateway and we’ve been so close there, and now here, we’ve won here before, but it was kind of given to us when Josef had a failure there that 50th race for me that I won here. I said, you know what, today we’re going to — I knew I had all the pieces in place to outright beat him at his own game. Yeah, that’s what we did today, and it obviously is a great feeling to go into tomorrow and know that we’ve got a car that we can fight our way forward and battle our way and see what we can make happen.
Q. Of the kind of three late-race moments that I think you guys were probably closest together, when you blended out in front of him on the last pit stop and then the final two restarts, which of those did you feel like he was closest to being able to pass you, and as you think back on whichever moment that is, what did you do specifically just to make sure that you held him back?
PATO O’WARD: Those Penske cars were running quite a bit higher than I was, so when I kind of made my way through the guys, when I was fifth, I think, in line, fourth or fifth in line that second restart, I feel like I kind of started the trend.
I think Conor started it, and then I followed. Then I could tell he was watching when I was behind him, and then I saw him start exploring.
Then I think — I don’t know if it was maybe 40 laps to go or so, Power was coming quick. He was running really high. With new tires, you can run a lot higher than I thought. I think tomorrow — with now a race under our belt, people are going to try to get a little bit more confident up there and see if they can make it work.
But yeah, it felt very reminiscent of Conor and I in Gateway where you can hold that outside line pretty much almost as fast as the guy down low and you can just stay there and see what you can come up with.
Yeah, I think the closest he was was probably when we came out of the pits where we’re still coming up to speed. He’s coming fifth, sixth gear and we’re just coming third, fourth, and we’re trying to spool up. But we got it done.
Q. I don’t know if you’ve seen the points yet. You’ve still got a ways to go to get to Alex, but you trimmed off —
PATO O’WARD: Let me guess, still over 100 points.
Q. Just barely. 125 come into the weekend, it’s 105 right now. You’ve got another chance to go out there and potentially sweep the weekend tomorrow and chip away at that even more. Does it still at this moment in time still feel like it’s possible, or do I need to wait to ask you tomorrow?
PATO O’WARD: In racing, anything is possible. There’s been some weird, weird stuff that happens. I think if weird stuff happens even more in INDYCAR, that makes sense.
But the guy just doesn’t have any bad races, and a bad race for him is like fifth. Otherwise he’s on the podium.
We’ve just got to keep chipping away at it. I’ve been as consistent as I’ve ever been. I feel like I’ve been laying low, and that usually means you’re staying out of trouble. But it’s tough to be podium contention and qualifying, top 3 every single weekend.
This year for me, qualifying specifically, it’s been horrible. I find my ways in recovery drives like almost every weekend, which it’s fun to try and do it when you know you’ve got a car that can go it, AKA Mid-Ohio, but there’s other scenarios where you’re like, we’ve really got nothing to fight with, and that’s where you’re just like — you’re just hoping that you stay out of trouble and you try and capitalize on people’s mistakes when people are making mistakes.
I think the name of the game for us this year has been really the consistency that we’ve had but also capitalize when you need to, and I think today was an important day to be able to do that.
Tomorrow we’re starting a little bit further back, but seeing how the restarts are working and that second lane, I think we can make our way forward and start getting the leaders a little bit nervous.
I’ve never doubled up. I know we’ve only got one double weekend this year. There’s a few drivers that have in the grid, so I’d love to be a part of that list.
Q. There’s been a lot of — Tony was up there saying Chevrolet needed this and the team needed this, but I’m curious, how bad did Pato O’Ward need this?
PATO O’WARD: How bad did I need it? I wanted it. I wouldn’t necessarily say if I didn’t get it, it was going to be the end of the world. We’ve been chipping away at it. If it wasn’t a win, I think it was going to be a second.
I don’t know how many seconds I have this year, three or four — three? Whatever. Number one looks and feels much better.
I’m glad that — I was pretty determined to be the first one that kind of broke through for Chevy. I wanted to do that at Mid-Ohio, but we weren’t able to do that. So I said, you know what, I think Iowa is going to be a great place to go capitalize.
We don’t just one want. We want more. But it’s a great start to have our first.
Q. Kit didn’t follow through with the pinky swear and come to Victory Lane, so does he still need to —
PATO O’WARD: Yeah, yeah, I told him, and Emma was like, I’m going to bring him to the podium if you win. But no. Maybe he’s sleeping or something. No, he’s such a good kid, so much energy. So much energy. I spent a lot of time with him at the bus when we did the parade at the 500, and yeah, Scott is like, you want him? Great kid. He looks like a ball of energy and a lot of fun. Great family.
Q. Were you a little surprised when Josef Newgarden dived in first before you into the pit stops in the final stint?
PATO O’WARD: No. I was saving more fuel than he was. I know he was on defense mode for a while there. But he was stuck. He was looking for clear track, which he did get. But wasn’t enough to get us.
Q. Out of the pit stops, I saw there was a couple bobbles coming through the gears there. Were you a little afraid of the same situation happening in practice earlier, that you were about to spin it trying to get to the lead?
PATO O’WARD: Me spin? In the exit from the pit lane? I was pushing. Oh, man, the apron was super busy. Oh, yes, I was pushing. That’s what you have to do, man. When you’re racing a guy like that with so much experience, you just know that he’s going to to try — you know he’s trying to do that, so you just got to do that and go better.
But yeah, I knew the objective in hand, and I did it.
Q. What was going through your mind when the red flag came out and you had to sit in pit lane?
PATO O’WARD: Nothing, really.
Q. You weren’t worried about the restart? You weren’t thinking about the restart?
PATO O’WARD: No, because it was going to be the same if we had a restart earlier and no red flag. It was going to be the same story. No, but I had VeeKay behind me. But anyways, I knew what I had to do.
Q. Pato, you said on the FOX broadcast that you wanted to turn the tables on Josef. Do you feel like you usurped the king of corn country?
PATO O’WARD: Yeah, he was poised to get another win. He’s dominated here. But like I said, we’ve had a lot of battles, a lot of one and twos, and a lot of those one and twos, I’ve been two. It’s just way nicer and a way better feeling when you’re number one.
Yeah, I know how to race him. He’s probably the guy that I know how he races the most and the one that I’ve studied the most because he’s the one that I’ve been behind the most. Yeah, pretty straightforward really.
THE MODERATOR: As promised, we have joined by Tony Kanaan, team principal of Arrow McLaren as the team celebrates their 26th win in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. It was a pretty thrilling race, Tony. Your thoughts from the pit stand.
TONY KANAAN: You want to know? I’m not a very good spectator. It’s nerve-racking, actually, checking on Nolan that was at the medical center at the time and red flag and so on. I did not watch the last three laps. So I could never blame my mother for some watching my races anymore. I texted her right after the race and said I am sorry, for 40 years I made fun of you; today I was you.
Q. Obviously it was a team win for Pato and the 5 and a good pit stop to get ahead of the 2.
TONY KANAAN: Yeah, obviously a tough place to pass. We had to do something, and then Pato — it was all Pato there on the out lap, so the guys did a great job, and then once Pato got in the front, I knew it was going to be hard fought for Josef.
I’ve been in that position before. I’ve lost this race in the last five laps to Hunter-Reay, so I was just watching Newgarden on the podium. It was the same face I had when I lost to Hunter-Reay.
But it feels good. Obviously Chevy needed this. I think the series needed this as far as Palou is doing a great job, but we wanted to break that, and as a team, for me, everybody back home, especially the F1 team doing so well, Zac was looking at me like, I think it’s you.
I texted him today, it’s not me. But happy for the team and happy for Pato for sure.
Q. Tony, were you not watching the last couple laps because you were still involved with Nolan or because you were too nervous to watch and figure out how —
TONY KANAAN: I can use the first one, but no, I was in the timing stand with Moyer and Hunter, and I just sat down just because I couldn’t watch. No, I was not with Nolan.
Q. I know Team Chevy has been looking for that first win. You guys have been carrying the mantle in terms of the podiums you’ve had where your top 2 drivers are positioned in the championship, overtaking Team Penske this year. How important was it to get that first win for Team Chevy this year?
TONY KANAAN: I mean, as a team, we’re chasing a championship, but also we get so much support from Chevy that it was not getting any easier for us every race to have a Honda win.
For me, it was a matter of we’ve got to do it. Obviously I wanted a Chevy to win. Most likely I want us to win. It came down to that.
But for me, we kept looking around. This is what we’re doing. What can we do to try to beat those guys? Last race we played three different strategies of three cars, the strong cars we had to try to, and they still managed to get us.
It was good. I think coming to an oval, we kind of knew the Penskes are going to be strong, especially here. Newgarden has been dominating the ovals for the past few years. It was kind of a little easier to say I think we’re going to get that win, and that we did.
Q. I know you were on the Nolan stand and probably watching him a lot and kind of focus on that, but as the laps are winding down, Pato is sitting right there with Josef, it seemed like it was especially up toward the front, pretty difficult to make a pass for that one-two spot. I don’t think we saw that on track at all today. What was going through your head? Did you feel like there was going to be an opportunity for Pato to pass if that exchange didn’t happen? What were your nerves going into the final 50 laps or so?
TONY KANAAN: I’m on the 6 timing stand, but I had a scanner so we actually can communicate. Pato said the only way I’m going to pass this guy is if you guys pull something out in the pits or on the pit sequence or if it had gone yellow maybe he would have tried.
Obviously the guys did an awesome job with the pit stop. Pato knew what he needed to do. Newgarden for some reason decided to pit when he pit, we stayed out and Pato pushed as much as he could to close that gap and then on the sequence we ended up beating him out.
I think one thing that people don’t take into consideration, if you guys notice, Pato spun this morning coming out of the pits because he was trying to leave as fast as he could, and I think he found the limit, and today he won the race. It was all him today on that pass. The guys did the job they needed to do, but we needed him to come out of the pits as fast as he could, and that was it.
Q. TK, what were you thinking throughout the course of the race? Seemed like Pato obviously looked like he could get by a couple guys during the duration of the race. What did you think of the passing today compared to last season?
TONY KANAAN: The race was as tough as last year. I think this race was better last year. At some point we got actually a two-lane race. I think at some point when one guy went up there and then the spotter started telling people, hey, that’s working, it came up.
It was tough to pass. If you look at the guys in the front, it was just a waiting game. But they’re getting some pretty good positions on the restarts and then you’d just sit there and wait. But to me it’s INDYCAR racing. In comparison to last year, I think it was a better race.
Q. So many drivers in the INDYCAR Series have gotten a win in their 100th start. How much does it mean to you to be a part of Pato’s win in his 100th?
TONY KANAAN: Oh, it means a lot to me. It’s my first win. This kid is unbelievable. I’ve been a fan of Pato even before I was here. We’ve been through quite a bit in the past three years, and I’m a big supporter. We’re here to win, and he has this team around him, and he delivers when it needs to be delivered. I’m not going to keep talking about him. Glad that I’m part of this.
Q. Mr. Tony, you remember Adrián Fernández, Mario Dominguez, Bernard Jourdain. How do you feel remembering these racers with Pato O’Ward?
TONY KANAAN: I don’t disrespect my old Mexican friends, but Pato is Pato. Obviously this is the era of social media. But watching every race, how popular he is and how much he has behind him from his own country, it’s pretty cool to see.
Obviously I had a little bit of a small part of experiencing that myself, and then Pato comes along and makes you feel like you don’t have that many fans. (Laughter.)
He put me back in my place pretty quick. But obviously it’s generations. I think with Adrián just started all that, no different than Emerson starting for the Brazilians. Hopefully we will keep growing that fan base. When Pato doesn’t win, I get a lot of complaints in Spanish on my own social media. They blame me quite a bit. Hopefully today I kept the Mexicans happy. (Laughter.)
THE MODERATOR: Wrapping up today’s Synk 275 powered by Sukup, Josef Newgarden has joined us, who led 232 laps today of the 275, driver of the No. 2 Astemo Penske Chevrolet, best finish of the season, second podium here of 2025, 60th of his career, which ties him with Johnny Rutherford for 17th on the all-time list.
Josef, take us through the day, please, with your best finish of 2025, but I’m sure you wanted one more.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, it was okay. Our car was really good. Team did an amazing job. Been good all weekend. Really proud of the Astemo car we put out there. Team Chevy did amazing. It was great to see them get a result. They’ve really deserved one all year. Yeah, that’s that.
Q. It’s a Chevy one-two-three, so good stuff from the bowtie brand. Also joining us, Will Power, who led three laps this afternoon, driver of the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, matching his best finish of the season, now 107 career podiums, which is, of course, still fourth on the all-time list.
A lot of good action out there, Will. What did you think of the race?
WILL POWER: Yeah, I really enjoyed it. It was sort of one and a half lanes. Conor Daly kind of showed us the way when he just rolled the outside and showed that he could go there, so then you start going there, and there was grip. Yeah, worked on people a lot. Worked on two Ganassi guys and then can’t even remember the rest. But it was fun.
Q. You hate to see cautions, but a lot of two-by-two action.
WILL POWER: Yeah, that actually helped rubber it in. Restarts definitely help big time.
Q. Josef, I know very close to the line, had a great day all day, but what does it mean for both of you to get this result for you, for you, for Power and for McLaughlin to all finish up there and battle so close to the lead?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, I think it was just a clean day for the most part. We’ve just struggled to have clean days; one thing has happened or another, and today was mostly pretty okay.
WILL POWER: No strange issues.
Q. What does it mean for you going into tomorrow? Obviously y’all showed — Chevrolet finally showed strength on the track, finally beating the Honda. I know it was Pato O’Ward, but how much confidence does that bring you going into tomorrow?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I don’t think they finally showed strength; I think they just finally got a result is what I would say for Chevrolet.
WILL POWER: Yeah. We’ve been there.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It’s the truth. Anybody who’s been watching would know.
WILL POWER: We had plenty of potential to win a race all year. It was just a strange year.
Q. Josef, on those last 20 laps and the last two restarts, did you need Pato to make a mistake or was there anything you could do?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: No. I mean, he pushed me up in 3 in the restart when I had a good run. You’re going for the win, so I almost — I can’t fault him. But with this package I was flat out. Couldn’t do anything different. He got position, and that was that.
Q. Did you think you had a shot to pass him when you came out of the pits? Looked like you got right up to him.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, if we were just a little quicker, then we do. It takes one little bobble.
Q. Will, you were battling with Scott there toward the end, probably both knowing that you need to be smart and also knowing, I’m sure, you guys both just really badly wanted to get a win here or move up and gain a spot and put yourself in the right position. How did you manage and deal with that battle with him down the stretch?
WILL POWER: I was hoping it wouldn’t be close. It was good on the first restart. I was like, good, I’ve got a gap. You don’t want to have any issues when you’ve got three team cars in a row. You just kind of want to finish there, considering the season we’ve had.
But I think — I’m sure he was thinking the same. He’s come all the way from the back of the field. To be where he was is pretty impressive. I think he’s going to be pretty happy with where he was.
Yeah, always difficult with a teammate. You don’t want to cause him a problem. Even tougher if you’re going for the win. You don’t want to — the last thing we want at this point with the season we’ve had.
Q. Josef, between the last pit stop when Pato was blending out just barely ahead of you, between that moment, then the two restarts at the very end, which of those did you feel like maybe you had the best chance or maybe the closest moment to be able to pass him back and take the lead back?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: We just needed to maintain position. That was going to be the key.
Q. Speaking of teammates, Scotty Mac came all the way from the back, fourth place finish from 27th. That’s pretty impressive. When you think about that two-three-four finish for Team Penske even though you didn’t win? You’ve still got to walk away feeling pretty good that you’re getting the program back in the right direction.
WILL POWER: Oh, man, I was stoked to get a podium. I really was. Wins are nice, but considering what’s been going on, just top 5 would have been good. Just finish the bloody race, get some points. Crying out loud, we have such potential every week. Just to leave so much on the table in the last few races has been really disappointing. Just nice to have a solid result and build on it tomorrow.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Tremendous for the group. Very good.
Q. Will, specifically about Scotty, what did you think? You’ve had some pretty good moves through the field before in your career. He said he went high when nobody else would because in order to do that you’ve got to do what the other drivers aren’t.
WILL POWER: It didn’t surprise me actually when I saw him there. I was like, man, that’s awesome, but not really surprised, and especially after a big shun. It’s not nice to get back in that thing and trust the rear straight off the bat, but that’s a big recovery right there. Good for him.
Q. Josef, you kind of mentioned the package. I’m going to ask it bluntly. Do you think there’s a possibility or a scenario where we could seen an on-track lead change tomorrow, or is it all going to be on the pit sequence?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: No, I think throughout a sequence you will. In 10, 15 laps you won’t. Certainly not like at the end of this race. But through sequencing if there’s a car that’s faster than the leader, I think you can get by him, yeah, for sure.
Q. It seemed like in lap traffic today it seemed like you were picking your spots. Could you make more passes in lap traffic than you were showing, or was that kind of a decision to hold position and knowing that it was really tough to pass for second?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, I was just kind of managing risk today. A day like today going, I wish I would have done a little bit more. But we’ve got tomorrow, so we’ll see what we can bring.
Q. Will, you mentioned the track is kind of one and a half lanes right now. It seems as the race improved, that second lane got better and better. What can we expect tomorrow from that?
WILL POWER: Actually probably a true two lanes now. You can put your tires just on that black seam, maybe a little higher, which is two lanes.
Yeah, you need just half a car and you can start working someone, especially if they’ve got someone in front of them. Yeah, that’s how I got past the guys I had to get past. Yeah, it was good. Much better than last year. It really was.
Q. Will, you mentioned a couple of weeks ago at one of the press conferences, I think it was at Road America, about the changes in the downforce levels at this track and how you thought it could be a lot more physical. Did that actually play out in the race, or was it similar to last year?
WILL POWER: It wasn’t initially when everyone was just saving fuel going slow, but once we started hammering, it got physical. Like at the end there, man, oh, my God, big arm pump just trying to hold on.
It was nice when it went yellow, you could open your hands, shake them out a bit. Your grip, when I came to pit, I could hardly pull the paddle and press the neutral button. It was very difficult for me because you had so much arm pump. It got pretty hard, and I think it’ll be harder tomorrow. More grip, people have better cars. Yeah, and it’ll be a more hectic race because everyone knows there’s two lanes, so you’re never going to sit back and save fuel, you’re going to try and pass.
Q. Because of the fact that the track has now got some rubber on after the rain, will that second lane really become a true second lane?
WILL POWER: Yeah, it’s rubbered in. It could actually help the race tomorrow. It will already be rubbered in. Everyone will have seen that you can run two lanes. Everyone will run two lanes, so essentially it will be just better racing. Sometimes everyone’s car improves, and that sort of stops a bit of passing, but yeah, looking forward to it.
Q. Following up on that last question, during the FOX broadcast, FOX interviewed Pato during the red flag and he said that the second lane was working. He was worried you would catch him, Josef. Any feedback you can give about whether that second lane was working in your opinion?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It’s in. It’s working. Yeah, we were using it. It’s come in.
WILL POWER: Josef loves to answer questions at the moment. He’s seething. Seething. He didn’t win. He was close, man. I saw it. I was like, he’s going to get him. He’s going to get him on the outside. But he moved him up a little. Yeah, it was — yeah, second lane, I think tomorrow will be really in.
Q. Will, if you can follow up, we might ask the same question after tomorrow’s race, but there’s been so much speculation about the future of this date heading into this weekend because that second lane didn’t work last year. If the racing starts to get back to something that we’ve seen in the past, could that mean good things for the future of INDYCAR here?
WILL POWER: I think it will be all about the numbers, how many people they got here. I think they want to go to places that have big crowds and successful events. I think it’ll be all about that.
Chevrolet at the Iowa Speedway
Chevrolet wins at Iowa Speedway: 14
· 2025 Race #1 – Pato O’Ward -Arrow McLaren
· 2024 Race #1 – Scott McLaughlin – Team Penske
· 2023 Race #2 – Josef Newgarden – Team Penske
· 2023 Race #1 – Josef Newgarden – Team Penske
· 2022 Race #2 – Pato O’Ward – Arrow McLaren
· 2022 Race #1 – Josef Newgarden – Team Penske
· 2020 Race #2 – Josef Newgarden – Team Penske
· 2020 Race #1 – Simon Pagenaud – Team Penske
· 2019 – Josef Newgarden – Team Penske
· 2017 – Helio Castroneves – Team Penske
· 2016 – Josef Newgarden – Ed Carpenter Racing
· 2013 – James Hinchcliffe – Andretti Global
· 2012 – Ryan Hunter-Reay – Andretti Global
Chevrolet poles at Iowa Speedway: 15
· 2025 Race #1 – Josef Newgarden
· 2024 Race #2 – Scott McLaughlin – Team Penske
· 2023 Race #2 – Will Power – Team Penske
· 2023 Race #1 – Will Power – Team Penske
· 2022 Race #2 – Will Power – Team Penske
· 2022 Race #1 – Will Power – Team Penske
· 2020 Race #2 – Josef Newgarden – Team Penske
· 2020 Race #1 – Conor Daly – Carlin
· 2019 – Simon Pagenaud – Team Penske
· 2018 – Will Power – Team Penske
· 2017 – Will Power – Team Penske
· 2016 – Simon Pagenaud – Team Penske
· 2015 – Helio Castroneves – Team Penske
· 2014 – Scott Dixon – Chip Ganassi Racing
· 2013 – Helio Castroneves – Team Penske
Chevrolet Podiums at Iowa Speedway: 39
Chevrolet podiums at the Iowa Speedway by driver: Josef Newgarden (9), Will Power (7), Pato O’Ward (5), Scott McLaughlin (4), Tony Kanaan (3), Ryan Hunter-Reay (2), Marco Andretti (1), Oliver Askew (1), Helio Castroneves (1), Scott Dixon (1), JR Hildebrand (1), James Hinchcliffe (1), Sage Karam (1), Simon Pagenaud (1), and Spencer Pigot (1).
Chevrolet podiums at the Iowa Speedway by team: Team Penske (20), Arrow McLaren (6), Andretti Global (4), Chip Ganassi Racing (4), Ed Carpenter Racing (4) and KV Racing Technology (1).
Chevrolet Laps Led at Iowa Speedway: 4,099
Chevrolet laps led at Iowa Speedway by driver: Josef Newgarden (2079), Helio Castroneves (434), Will Power (403), Tony Kanaan (317), Scott McLaughlin (260), James Hinchcliffe (245), Pato O’Ward (130), Simon Pagenaud (97), JR Hildebrand (38), Ed Carpenter (20), Scott Dixon (18), Conor Daly (17), Ryan Hunter-Reay (15), Oliver Askew (10), Sebastien Bourdais (6), Marco Andretti (3), Ryan Briscoe (2), Max Chilton (2), Felix Rosenqvist (2) and Rubens Barichello (1).
Chevrolet laps led at Iowa Speedway by team: Team Penske (2844), Ed Carpenter (451), Chip Ganassi Racing (337), Andretti Global (263), Arrow McLaren (140), Carlin (17), and KV Racing Technology (7).
Chevrolet On Short Ovals – All-time wins
Manufacturer History at Iowa Speedway
Wins (with competition)
14 – Chevrolet (2025 Race #1, 2024 Race #2, 2024 Race #1, 2023 Race #2, 2023 Race #1, 2022 Race #2, 2022 Race #1, 2020 Race #2, 2020 Race #1, 2019, 2017, 2016, 2013, 2012)
3 – Honda (2018, 2014, 2014)
Poles (with competition)
15 – Chevrolet (2025 Race #1, 2024 Race #2, 2023 Race #2, 2023 Race #1, 2022 Race #2, 2022 Race #1, 2020 Race #2, 2020 Race #1, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2016, 2013)
2 – Honda (2024 Race #1, 2012)
Historical Chevrolet Information
INDYCAR SERIES Manufacturer Championships (since 1979)
Chevrolet-Powered Wins in the Twin-Turbo 2.2L V6 Era (2012-present)
Chevrolet-Powered Wins (All-time)
About General Motors
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