Pato O’Ward claimed victory in Saturday’s race at Iowa Speedway, giving Chevrolet its first win of the season. O’Ward took the lead during the final round of pit stops and successfully defended his position against pole-sitter Josef Newgarden. Will Power finished third behind Newgarden, while Scott McLaugh finished in fourth position.

Start of the Race

Shortly after the green flag waved to start the race, the yellow flag was already needed again. Toward the back of the field, Colton Herta spun but was able to continue on his own.

Once the field was released again, polesitter Josef Newgarden maintained the lead, ahead of Conor Daly and Felix Rosenqvist. However, it didn’t take long for Rosenqvist to lose third place to Alex Palou, who had started in fourth.

The first crash of the race occurred on lap 72 and involved Jacob Abel. The Dale Coyne Racing driver ran a line that was too high through Turn 2, hit the marbles and understeered into the wall. The right front of the #51 car sustained significant damage, forcing him to retire from the race.

The caution came just as many drivers were nearing their first pit stops, which meant the entire field pitted at the same time. This worked out well for Palou, as Daly had a slower stop and dropped from second to fifth place. After the restart, Pato O’Ward quickly launched an attack on Palou, passed him and as Palou lost momentum, Daly was able to get back around him.

Kyle Kirkwood Crashes After Tire Failure

Another nearly full stint was completed under green, until a crash with major championship implications occurred: on lap 152, Kyle Kirkwood suffered a right front tire failure in Turn 1 and slammed into the wall with no steering control. That marked an early end to the day for the championship’s second-place driver, who had to head for a wardrobe change much earlier than planned!

During the following stint, Newgarden held the lead firmly, while teammates Will Power and Scott McLaughlin made strong progress through the field.

Early Pit Stop Costs Newgarden the Lead

At that point, the entire field still had one more pit stop to make, and Newgarden pitted one lap earlier than O’Ward. To Newgarden’s surprise, O’Ward rejoined the track ahead of him after his stop. Newgarden immediately went on the attack, but O’Ward smartly positioned himself and managed to keep the American behind him.

Right after the final round of pit stops, the race had to be neutralized once more. This time, the incident was caused by Nolan Siegel, who took too low a line through Turns 3 and 4, spun, and backed into the wall. The impact was severe enough to damage the SAFER barrier in the corner, forcing the race to be red-flagged for repairs.

After a red flag period of about 15 minutes, the race resumed with 14 laps to go, but it wasn’t long before the yellow flag came out again. This time it was Callum Ilott, who took too high a line through Turn 1 and hit the wall.

With eight laps remaining, the race went green again, and Newgarden launched a full-on attack to try and reclaim the lead from O’Ward. Despite his determined efforts, Newgarden was unable to get past, allowing O’Ward to secure his first win of the season by just 0.2 seconds.

Full results of the 1st free practice session on Iowa Speedway