O'Ward secures Iowa 275 Race 1 win over Newgarden

Written by Morgan Holiday

Credit: Chris Owens

Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward became IndyCar's fourth race winner of the year, coming out on top of Josef Newgarden and Will Power in the first Iowa 275 race.

How it happened

An early caution marred the start of the first race in Iowa, as Andretti's Colton Herta spun out of 23rd place as the green flag waved. He avoided major damage and was able to continue at the back of the field.

Josef Newgarden led Conor Daly and Felix Rosenqvist when the race began in earnest at the restart on Lap 9. Down at the back of the pack, Newgarden's teammate Scott McLaughlin was on a race to recover from his crash in qualifying earlier today and began picking his way through the field. By Lap 26 he made his way up six places to 21st.

McLaughlin continued to pick his way through the field methodically, seeming to be the only driver able to make moves as the race mellowed out. 60 laps in he was up to 15th while the top five remained static.

On Lap 75 the yellow flags came out for the second time, this time for Dale Coyne Racing rookie Jacob Abel, who got too high on the track and spun, coming to a stop on the track. As drivers dove into the pits, Daly got stuck with a slow stop and it was Álex Palou who came out behind Newgarden. Scott Dixon, Pato O'Ward and Will Power were behind them completing the top five, Daly moved down to sixth.

But Daly charged on as the field went back to green, overtaking Power and getting up to fifth before passing Dixon and Palou as well to get up to third again. With O'Ward having passed Palou just before Daly, the Arrow McLaren driver was up to second place and gaining on Newgarden for the lead of the race.

A battle between Christian Rasmussen and Callum Ilott almost ended in tears as the pair went wheel to wheel and made brief contact, but they continued on without major incident.

Just like the last yellow flag, things settled down within a few laps of green flag racing and the field went back to static. Newgarden led O'Ward, Daly, Palou and Power. Even McLaughlin settled in at 13th place, seemingly unable to progress much further up the field at this rate.

On Lap 153 the caution came out yet again as it was Andretti Global's Kyle Kirkwood this time who had an issue with the car before hitting the barriers. Three laps later, everyone came peeling into the pits, the top five remaining the same afterwards. With over 100 laps still to go in the race, it meant that all the drivers would still need to make at least one more stop to get to the end.

Credit: Joe Skibinski

Power and Daly scrapped for fourth as the field went back to racing on Lap 166, though Daly was able to hold on and maintain his position. Further down, Dixon and Santino Ferrucci battled for seventh place, Ferrucci winning out in that fight.

Also taking advantage of the chaos at the restart was Nolan Siegel, who was able to take fifth place from Power. But Power regained the position a few laps later, relegating the young McLaren driver back down to sixth. Power didn't stop at Siegel, overtaking Daly to fight his way into the top four and later overtaking Palou as well to get into the podium positions.

By Lap 193, McLaughlin had snuck his way up to ninth place from dead last, up a whopping 18 places since the start of the race. Another driver still making their way up from the back of the pack was Rasmussen, sitting in sixth place after starting 19th.

Both Rasmussen and McLaughlin continued to advance even after the field settled back in, the pair making it up to fifth and sixth respectively by Lap 224.

With 42 laps to go in the race, Newgarden pitted and relinquished the lead of the race for the first time. The following lap, O'Ward, Rasmussen and Siegel all followed him into the pits. Newgarden came out in 14th, and O'Ward came out just ahead of him.

When the pair had cycled back into the lead of the race, O'Ward was still ahead of Newgarden with Power in third. A few laps later, Siegel hit the wall and brought out the fourth caution of the day. With 18 laps to go the race was red flagged so that the safety team could make repairs to the barriers.

After the barrier had been repaired, the cars got back on track for the restart: O'Ward, Newgarden, Power, McLaughlin and Palou leading the field.

Rasmussen wasted no time in making moves and was able to overtake Palou for fifth place before the yellow flag was back out as Callum Ilott hit the wall. The PREMA driver was able to get back to the pits with his damaged car.

With just nine laps to go, O'Ward led the field back to green. Palou and Rasmussen went back to scrapping over a top five finish, Palou securing the place after two laps.

Newgarden stuck right behind O'Ward in the final laps, hunting for an opportunity to overtake for the race win. Tensions were high as both drivers fought for their first race win of the season, but it was O'Ward who crossed the finish line first to secure the win.

Newgarden came in a close second, a disappointment for the Team Penske driver but still his best result of the year. Power rounded out the podium, with McLaughlin, Palou and Rasmussen completing the top six. Daly finished seventh, down from his second place start. Ferrucci, Marcus Armstrong and Dixon were the final drivers to finish in the top ten.