Written by Fleur Rogerson
Will Power took his first oval win in five years as Penske's stellar pit stops enabled him to go from 22nd to ahead of his teammate McLaughlin and championship leader Palou.
Scott McLaughlin dominated in the first race at Hy-Vee Homefront 250 and he started Race 2 on pole, looking to repeat his performance from the day before.
Palou lined up alongside him on the front row looking to redeem himself from yesterday - his race ending early following his crash. With only 36 points between the top two in the championship, Pato O'Ward was looking to close the gap further.
As it happened
Scott Mchaughlin made a strong start from the lead, holding off Palou in second. Will Power and Pietro Fittipaldi made contact in the first lap, Fittipaldi spinning and tumbling down the order to last place. Luckily, Will Power's Penske stayed on the road and undamaged.
By lap 10, Romain Grosjean had made up three places. Josef Newgarden and Stanley Ferrucci both made up four places in the opening laps.
Colton Herta in the Andretti Global found himself with Felix Rosenqvist's Meyer Shank closing in on him. By lap 40, the gap was only 0.2 seconds between the two drivers.
The pit stops were proven to be key in Race 1, with most of the gains being made in pit lane. Today was no different, with fuel saving in the first stints being vital to elongating the later stints.
Conor Daly was the first diver into the pits on lap 88. He had a slow pit stop after struggling with the front tyres.
Carpenter, Fittipaldi, Robb and Siegel all came in on lap 95, with quick stops sending them back out on track.
Scott Mclaughlin was the first of the leaders to blink. He dove into pit lane on lap 96. It was a swift stop for the Penske driver. Quickly, the other leaders followed only Power and Palou, opting to stay out.
Caution
Canapino in the Juncos Hollinger spun on lap 99. The car was stranded on the inside of the track and as Alex Palou left pit lane, the yellow flags were waved. Palou took the net lead as the cars were driving slower around the incident.
Will Power was yet to pit when the yellows went out. He had a lap over the rest of the field and when he pitted under yellows; he came out second.
McLaughlin lost out because of the caution ending up behind his teammate Will Power and championship leader Alex Palou.
Restart
Palou made a clean getaway during the restart, holding off Power and McLaughlin.
Ferrucci passed Catherine Legge into 13th. He wasted no time then getting past Felix Rosenqvist on lap 122, and on lap 123, he went around the outside of Newgarden, moving up into 11th. Ferrucci took the inside line on Grosjean on lap 125, and by lap 127, was fighting with Kirkwood for ninth.
Kirkwood stayed ahead of Ferrucci, even putting Rahal between them. Which left Rahal in the RHL fighting the A. J. Foyt car for ninth.
Out front, the Penske of Will Power remained close to the back of the race and championship leader Alex Palou, but wasn't close enough to pass.
Rosenqvist went into pit lane on lap 188, seeming to have a broken rear wing. Felix Rosenqvist climbed out of his car on lap 195. His race was over. Unfortunate for the Meyer Shank driver, who had an impressive race until that point.
Second round of pits
McLaughlin again dove into pit lane as the first of the leaders on lap 199, with a quick six second pit stop before he was back on track in 12th.
Herta, Dixon and O'ward all followed suit on lap 203, and on lap 205, Alex Palou pitted form the lead. Palou suffered a minor delay, but he wasn't held up long.
Power didn't stay out long, diving in a lap later with a 5.8 second stop. He came out ahead of Palou and into the lead. The difference in their pit stops was 0.888 seconds, and that enabled Power to come out ahead.
Unfortunately, the Penske of Scott McLaughlin wasn't as lucky in the second round of pits. He found himself third, but over two seconds behind the leaders.
The Final Stint
Will Power comfortably led from Palou in the final stages of the race, with 17 laps remaining. Palou tried to put pressure on the Penske driver, but he was still half a second behind the leader.
McLaughlin and Dixon began to catch the front two as Palou also got within 0.2 seconds of Will Power in the lead.
Further back, Nolan Siegel, the rookie in the Arrow McLaren, moved close to the back of David Malukas' Meyer Shank car.
In the final lap, the Penske of Will Power, who started 22nd on the grid, crossed the line to take his first oval win in five years. He was followed by Alex Palou in the Chip Ginassi and his teammate Scott McLaughlin in the other Penske.
Behind the leaders, there was a massive crash as Stingray Robb caught the slowing Alexander Rossi sending his car into the air and rolling across the track. Kyle Kirwood was trapped under Ed Carpenters' car with Alexander Rossi, also caught up. Kirkwood, Carpenter and Rossi all were out of their cars and okay.
Stingray Robb, whose car was upside down, was put into a stretcher but gave the cameras a thumbs up as he was lifted into the ambulance on track.
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