“Anything is possible” - How O’Ward beat Newgarden to Iowa IndyCar honours

Credit: Joe Skibinski

Tony Kanaan could not bear to watch.

Winless as an organisation since Round 15 of the 2024 season, his driver had taken the lead of the Saturday evening race at Iowa Speedway with an impressive final-stint overcut. To that point, Josef Newgarden had led all 232 laps in a return to form for Team Penske.

But with 27 of the short 0.894-mile tours of the Corn Country bullring remaining, one of the Arrow McLaren team principal’s other three drivers found the Turn 4 wall.

It was a heavy impact for Nolan Siegel, who had been having one of his strongest days to date inside the top 10. But in a double blow for the papaya team, Pato O’Ward had found himself suddenly in control of the race - masterfully using backmarker traffic to fend off Newgarden - at the time of the caution being brandished.

From a position of relative security, he would have a restart to contend with. 

There were 10 laps run under yellow flag conditions before it was deemed that a red flag was necessary for barrier repairs. More time for O’Ward to ponder, alone in his thoughts. Or maybe not. 

“Nothing, really,” he admitted of what was going through his mind. “I knew what I had to do.”

Unlike his boss, O’Ward emanated a sense of serenity. He knew he would have six-time Iowa victor Newgarden breathing down his neck upon the resumption but plenty of times before has O’Ward been faced with a late-race oval duel with the Penske man.

It would be easy for memories of last year’s heartbreaking Indianapolis 500 finish or the thrilling climax at Texas Motor Speedway in 2023 - two of the times he has finished second to Newgarden - to be playing on O’Ward’s mind. But not in the slightest.

In fact, there is a lot O’Ward has learned from Newgarden over time.

Credit: Joe Skibinski

“He’s probably the guy that I know how he races the most and the one that I’ve studied the most,” O’Ward said. “Because he’s the one that I’ve been behind the most.

“If it wasn’t for him, I would have a lot more wins. But he’s a tough competitor. I know how he races. 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, over the years, I’ve grown to realise that I’m pretty handy at least on certain ovals. And I believe our package is very strong and it’s important to capitalise when we can get those wins.”

There was something of a false start upon the return to running after the red flag. Almost as soon as the green flag dropped with 14 laps remaining and O’Ward had streaked away, the race was neutralised again as Callum Ilott backed his PREMA machine into Turn 2.

By this point, Kanaan had made his way back from the medical centre, where he was with Siegel as he was cleared following his accident, and onto the timing stand. Another caution meant another last-gasp restart and yet more stress. 

With nine laps remaining, green again. And Newgarden was charging.

The driver who had dominated the race was looking inside and outside. And again. Lap by lap. Sitting on the timing stand, by the time there were three laps remaining Kanaan could cope no more.

“I’m not a very good spectator,” he joked. “It’s nerve-racking. I did not watch the last three laps. So I could never blame my mother for not 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.’

“I just sat down because I couldn’t watch.”

Credit: Joe Skibinski

But no matter the duress from a driver who had crossed 2000 laps led at Iowa that evening, O’Ward had Newgarden covered and held on across the line by 0.2352s - the tightest winning margin under green flag at Iowa since 2007. 

And he sealed it with the fastest lap of the race on the final lap.

“He pushed me up in [Turn] 3 in the restart when I had a good run,” Newgarden said with a hint of semi-complaint. “You’re going for the win so 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.”

A beneficiary of Newgarden suffering a car failure at Iowa in 2022, it is the first time O’Ward has repeat won at a track. And after winning at Iowa for the first time in his 50th career race, his 2025 success fittingly marked a century of races in the series for the Mexican superstar.

It was enjoyable beating Newgarden at his home away from home on merit this time.

“We’ve had a lot of battles - a lot of one and twos,” O’Ward remembered. “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.

“I knew I had all the pieces in place to outright beat him at his own game. That’s what we did.”

Kanaan recognised the face of thunder on Newgarden, who despite finishing a season-best second place was visibly disappointed at coming up mere tenths short after a minor bobble on his final pit stop.

There was a trace of sympathetic glee as he remembered being in that position himself at the same track. While not as a driver, Kanaan has now felt both sides of that coin.

“I’ve lost this race in the last five laps to [Ryan] Hunter-Reay,” Kanaan recalled. “So I was just watching Newgarden on the podium… it was the same face I had when I lost to Hunter-Reay.”

Credit: Travis Hinkle

Newgarden’s slight dismay was evident as he faced the media following the opening race of the doubleheader weekend. For the most part, he was fairly concise in his answers.

But there was a moment of levity triggered by his ever-comedic teammate Will Power.

“Josef loves to answer questions at the moment,” quipped the third-place finisher sarcastically. “He’s seething. Seething. He didn’t win… he was close, man.”

O’Ward had similarly picked up on Newgarden’s downcast demeanour after the podium ceremony, fitting what he believes is a wider trend amid a trying year that saw Newgarden enter the Iowa weekend a lowly 19th in points.

There has always been a respect from the pair - and that remains - but there has been a shift in Newgarden this year, O’Ward believes.

“This year for him has been quite different to what it’s been in the past,” he observed. “I see him very differently, to be honest. His attitude and everything is definitely not the Josef that I’ve always praised.”

For O’Ward, it was a day of patience in his pursuit of Newgarden. Starting fifth, he was in the ballpark of where he needed to be but was acutely aware of how important simply staying in the game can be across a 275-lap oval race. 

It was a settled start to the race before he opted to hike up his aggression on the Lap 84 restart after a crash for Jacob Abel. From fifth, he suddenly found himself second, making the most of the track having been swept of its tyre marbles

“Conor Daly showed us the way,” Power admitted of the willingness to trust the higher line of the track - a sentiment which O’Ward echoed.

From that point on, O’Ward emerged as the main challenger to Newgarden. But even then, it was too tall an order to make a move on the race leader on track, he felt, and O’Ward reported to the team that the final pit sequence would be critical.

And so it proved that way. The third and final pit stop was perfect - compared to Newgarden’s minor bobble - and O’Ward, stopping a lap later than Newgarden, produced a stellar in-lap and out-lap.

Credit: Travis Hinkle

“I started getting creative,” O’Ward said of his race. “There’s time to get your car in the window, start getting creative on where you want to place it. So we got moving on 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. I knew that we had to be perfect. 

“We capitalised on that in-lap. 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 when we came out. Great pit stop and did my job to secure us that overcut.

“That’s pretty much what gave us the win.”

Who knew, as Kanaan theorised, that a spin for O’Ward exiting the pits in the morning’s practice session would prove such a pivotal moment? In any case, that testing of the limits played into him being able to emerge ahead of Newgarden later that day.

“One thing that people don’t take into consideration… Pato spun this morning coming out of the pits because he was trying to leave as fast as he could,” Kanaan explained. “And I think he found the limit and today he won the race. It was all him today. 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.”

Followed in the order by three Penske cars before reaching the lead Honda-powered entry of Álex Palou, Chevy finally broke an 11-race winning run for their competitors. And by ending that run, Arrow McLaren have become only the third team to win this season.

“We kept looking around: ‘What can we do to try to beat those guys?’” said Kanaan of Chip Ganassi Racing and Andretti Global sharing the wins. “Last race, we played three different strategies of three cars and they still managed to get us.

Credit: Joe Skibinski

“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, Zak [Brown, CEO] 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.”

For O’Ward, last victorious in the opening race on the Milwaukee Mile late last August as he took home three victories last season, returning to Victory Lane was still more of a pressing ‘want’ than a ‘need’. 

Desperation had not necessarily crept in. But after three runner-up results and a third place in 2025, it was certainly a relief.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say if I didn’t get it, it was going to be the end of the world,” O’Ward admitted. “We’ve been chipping away at it. Number one looks and feels much better. 

“I was pretty determined to be the first one that 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 capitalise.’ 

“We don’t just want one. We want more. But it’s a great start to have our first.”

With Kyle Kirkwood suffering a right-front tyre failure and crashing out of the race, O’Ward has jumped to second in the standings ahead of Sunday’s second race of the Iowa doubleheader weekend, with six races remaining on the season.

“Let me guess… still over 100 points,” preempted O’Ward when the matter of the championship was raised.

And yes, he does remain 105 points behind Palou, who finished fifth and starts on pole for Sunday’s race. But for a driver with a career-best championship result of third in 2021, he is refusing to give up hope yet.

Credit: Chris Owens

“In racing, anything is possible,” O’Ward remarked. “There’s been some weird, weird stuff that happens. 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 three every single weekend.”

Indeed, O’Ward has achieved consistency in a manner in which he scarcely has before this year. His worst finishing position is 17th and he has finished inside the top seven eight times in 11 races. 

But at the same time, he has only once progressed to the Fast Six in road or street course qualifying - admittedly a season highlight with pole at the Thermal Club - as he grapples with the change in driving style forced by the heavy hybrid unit.

Still, there is a sense of reliability on race day that has lacked in the past - shown in its finest form on Saturday at Iowa.

“Qualifying specifically, it’s been horrible,” O’Ward conceded. “I find my way in recovery drives almost every weekend, which is fun to try and do when you know you’ve got a car that can go it but there’s other scenarios where you’re like: ‘We’ve really got nothing to fight with.’

“And that’s where you’re just hoping that you stay out of trouble and you try and capitalise on people’s mistakes. The name of the game for us this year has been really the consistency that we’ve had but also capitalise when you need to.

“Today was an important day to be able to do that.”