Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden took a second IndyCar victory in a row at Iowa, his sixth at the track, and cut Alex Palou’s championship lead to 80 points in the process – but not without a late caution creating a tense showdown.
Newgarden won from third in the weekend’s first race on Saturday, answering any questions onlookers had over Penske skipping an Iowa test attended by most of its rivals last month.
Despite his five previous Iowa wins and four IndyCar oval victories in a row, some questioned how long it would take Newgarden to get to the front from seventh this time or whether he could even do so, but it took just 30 of the 250 laps to get to the front, capped off by a double overtake in the same corner on his team-mates for the lead.
WHAT CAN'T @JOSEFNEWGARDEN DO!?
He passes for second, then the LEAD at @IowaSpeedway!
TV: NBC and Peacock pic.twitter.com/DncKathzSV
— INDYCAR on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) July 23, 2023
A caution on lap 87 shown when Agustin Canapino brushed the wall reset the field and gave Newgarden some clean air before having to catch and pass traffic again.
Rookie Agustin Canapino brushes the wall, bringing out the yellow.#INDYCAR | @NBC and @Peacock pic.twitter.com/6IhTS7ig2S
— INDYCAR on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) July 23, 2023
Newgarden handled it with ease – after fending off a racy Scott McLaughlin on the restart – and built another six-second lead before the penultimate pitstops.
Just after those stops a caution bunched the field again for Sting Ray Robb’s wheel coming off after a woeful Dale Coyne pitstop.
The 20kg wheel rolled up the race track and almost hit half of the field as the drivers avoided the moving target while at upwards of 130mph midway through a banked corner, with Conor Daly and Alexander Rossi especially showing great skill to avoid the wheel. Robb was disqualified almost immediately after the incident.
OH MY GOODNESS!
So many close calls as Sting Ray Robb loses a wheel! #INDYCAR