By Roy J. Akers- www.skyviewsports.net
The Double Header at Iowa is the home for Indy Car in 2024 as six of the final eight races are at ovals. Pato O’Ward is a talked about driver that could close the gap on NTT series leader Alex Palou. But the heavy favorite is Josef Newgarden, who has won five of the last six races at Iowa. Penske drivers Will Power and prohibitive favorite Newgarden are the favorites, but Colton Herta and Alex Palou could spoil the HyVee 250 Party. But there are other drivers to watch for in the first race of the weekend doubleheader.
Checkered Flag
Scott McLaughlin is the third car for Penske but after qualifying second for the HY-VEE INDYCAR RACE, he was looking past both teammates Will Power and Josef Newgarden and celebrate a win for himself. Racing behind pole sitter Colton Herta for 86 laps, McLaughlin took advantage of the first round of pits and took control of the race. He wins his first oval race in Indy Car holding off O’Ward. McLaughlin said, “Nobody would take me seriously until I won an Indy Car oval race.”
Podium- Second Place
Pato O’Ward– likes Iowa and after his victory at Mid-Ohio, he entered the Hyvee 250 with two race wins and six top tens on the season. O’Ward improved his position to second when Herta was caught pitting early and O’Ward moved to second. He quickly whittled McLaughlin’s lead to less than a second. Seizing on Palou’s rare mistake, O’Ward went from third in series points to second, just 37 behind Palou with a great chance to overtake the series leader.
Podium – Third Place
Josef Newgarden qualified poorly at Iowa, slowly worked his way up the field, and was in 10th place by lap 80. Trying to pick off cars in a race where passing was not easy for an oval, he worked his way to eighth place during the Alex Palou crash on lap 175. During the pit stop for track cleanup, Newgarden leaps past four drivers and moves from eighth to fourth, right behind Dixon, O’Ward and McLaughlin. Passing Dixon down the stretch for third place, Newgarden moved from 22nd to third place. He will have to the same thing in race two as qualifying on Saturday covers both ends of the double header.
In the Hunt
Scott Dixon qualified fifth and started the Hy Vee 250 on the third row and climbed to third behind McLaughlin and Herta. Passing was tough for drivers at the higher end of the field and Dixon but Dixon closed the gap behind Herta for second place. With his pit team making sure he would conserve fuel to finish the race with only one stop, he was measuring Herta but instead of catching him, Newgarden passed him and SD finished fourth.
In the Hunt II
Colton Herta has had an up and down season in 2024 and his mission is to prove to everyone including himself that he is one of the best open wheel oval drivers in the world. Herta held the race lead for 86 laps until a vibration issue caused him to nurse his machine for the second half of the race. Herta pitted at lap 175 for fuel and to fix the vibration problem and was caught in the pits to go down a lap when the two-time series leader Alex Palou crashed. Herta became a victim of lapped traffic during the crash and at the restart, he fell to 15th.To his credit, Herta climbed back to 11th place at the end of the race. He will be on the pole for the Sunday finale and is sixth in NTT Indy Car points, 66 behind the series leader.
Waiting for Race Two
Alex Palou lost his car in turn four and for the 7th time in 70+ NTT races, he received a DNF. Palou did not make excuses in a pit road interview conducted after his race was over. “I just lost the car in turn four.” Palou will be given grace by his race team but the points race has been shaken up with his 23rd place finish. Palou’s points lead has tightened to eight drivers including himself being within 86 points of the series lead.
Race Results- Iowa Hyvee 250 Race One
He Said It…
Q. It’s safe to say you feel like a complete driver now and you didn’t before?
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: There’s room for improvement all the time. I’m nowhere near a complete driver. I just feel like I’m an INDYCAR driver now, or I’m proud to say that I
am. Ultimately everyone wants to win on an oval. It’s exhilarating, most fun racetracks some days.
More Racing Stats
Only three lead changes in the race with two drivers (Herta and McLaughlin as the leaders. With 176 passes, it looked like the leaders were passing at will but up front, that was not the case. McLaughlin took over as race leader from Herta during the first pit stop and never trailed again.
Santino Ferrucci qualified 8th and received a penalty early for getting out of line about 1/1,000 of a second hearly sending him a lap down. Ferrucci led the field with 20 passes and finished an outstanding 6th in the race.
