Josef Newgarden wins to sweep IndyCar Iowa weekend

The numbers breakdown after Josef Newgarden swept the IndyCar doubleheader at Iowa:

Click here for the full statistical package with results, points, lap leaders, section times and more.

Here’s what drivers were saying after Josef Newgarden’s record sixth victory at Iowa.

Josef Newgarden:

Will Power:

Alex Palou:

Josef Newgarden has completed the sweep at Iowa Speedway.

The Team Penske driver dominated for the second consecutive day at the 0.894-mile oval, earning his fifth consecutive oval victory dating to last year at Gateway, having won at Texas Motor Speedway, the Indy 500 and Iowa twice since then.

In lapping the field all the way to fifth, the two-time IndyCar champion now has a record six victories at Iowa.

Felix Rosenqvist finished second, followed by pole-sitter Will Power, Scott McLaughlin and Alex Palou.

A third caution flag has set the stage for a final restart at Iowa Speedway.

Ryan Hunter-Reay brushed the wall to bring out the yellow that suddenly threw the race outcome into doubt.

Josef Newgarden had been cruising toward a weekend sweep at Iowa with 10 laps remaining.

IndyCar has elected to keep the pits closed, meaning no one will have a tire advantage on Newgarden for the final laps under green.

After withstanding a brief threat from Felix Rosenqvist, Josef Newgarden is back on track to complete a weekend sweep at Iowa.

The Team Penske star has opened up a lead of more than 2.5 seconds on Rosenqvist, who is followed by Will Power, Scott McLaughlin and Alex Palou.

Colton Herta, Scott Dixon, Pato O’Ward, Marcus Ericsson and David Malukas rounded out the top 10.

Josef Newgarden gave up the lead to make what could be his last stop.

He quickly cycled back into first when teammate Scott McLaughlin pitted a few laps later but suddenly has a new challenger.

With 50 laps remaining, Newgarden now is under fire from Arrow McLaren’s Felix Rosenqvist, who trails by 0.3 seconds.

Josef Newgarden leads, but things are getting interesting behind the dominant driver at Iowa.

Teammate Scott McLaughlin gave up second to pit under the race’s second yellow flag. Though he dropped to ninth, McLaughlin quickly moved up to sixth and now has tires that are nearly 20 laps fresher than Newgarden’s with 75 laps remaining.

Newgarden leads by 0.7 seconds over Penske teammate Will Power, who also stayed out with Felix Rosenqvist, Colton Herta and Scott Dixon.

Major disaster was averted as a loose tire rolled around the banking in Turns 3 and 4 at Iowa Speedway.

Somehow, the 28 cars on the 0.894-mile oval managed to avoid rookie Sting Ray Robb’s left-rear tire, which failed to be fully secured during a pit stop.

Though one of Robb’s crew members tried to alert the team, the No. 51 Dallara-Honda exiting the pits, but Robb immediately slowed before pulling on the track.

Leader Josef Newgarden and Conor Daly narrowly missed the rolling tire, which evoked eerie memories of the Indy 500 accident that sent a tire sailing over the grandstands at Indianapolis Motor Speedway two months ago.

IndyCar announced last week that the rear-wheel bearing retaining nuts had been strengthened by 60 percent at Iowa, the first oval race since Indy.

It was likely a frightening case of deja vu for Daly, who struck Graham Rahal’s loose tire during the 2021 Indy 500 (which Daly had led).

IndyCar has parked Robb for the rest of the race.

Severe handling problems continue to plague Pato O’Ward, who is the first driver into the pits during this green-flag cycle.

The Arrow McLaren driver had dropped through the field after running in the top five for most of the first half.

Two laps later, the top two of Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin made their stops with 102 laps left.

Josef Newgarden is halfway to staying perfect on ovals in IndyCar this season.

With 125 laps remaining at Iowa, Newgarden leads by more than a second over Scott McLaughlin.

Newgarden is aiming for his record sixth IndyCar victory at Iowa and his fifth consecutive oval victory dating to Gateway last season. Since then he also has won at Texas Motor Speedway, the Indy 500 and Saturday at Iowa.

The first restart of the race is trouble for Pato O’Ward.

The Arrow McLaren star, who won Race 2 at Iowa last year, got snookered by Marcus Ericsson and fell to sixth on the restart.

Will Power, meanwhile, moved up to third to make it 1-2-3 for Team Penske again.

With tire degradation putting a premium on fresh rubber, all lead-lap cars pitted under the first caution flag.

Josef Newgarden maintained his lead, followed by Scott McLaughlin, Scott Dixon, Pato O’Ward, Marcus Ericsson, Will Power, Kyle Kirkwood, David Malukas, Romain Grosjean and Felix Rosenqvist rounding out the top 10 for the restart.

Colton Herta, Alexander Rossi, Alex Palou, Helio Castroneves, Christian Lundgaard, Callum Ilott, Agustin Canapino, Takuma Sato, Conor Daly, Jack Harvey and Rinus VeeKay also are on the lead lap, as many cars took the wavearound.

The yellow is out for the first time at Iowa Speedway with Josef Newgarden leading, followed by Scott McLaughlin, Scott Dixon, Pato O’Ward and Marcus Ericsson.

The rest of the top 10: Will Power, David Malukas, Kyle Kirkwood, Colton Herta and Romain Grosjean.

A brush with the Turn 2 wall by rookie Agustin Canapino brought out the caution.

Josef Newgarden continued to dominate Iowa through the first green-flag cycle.

In search of his record sixth victory on the short track, Newgarden pitted on Lap 55 but cycled back to the front just four laps later.

He and Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin were running 1-2 and separated by a second on Lap 70. Scott Dixon was more than 10 seconds back in third.

Will Power’s decision to short-pit seems to has paid off as the third Penske driver has improved to fourth from sixth before his stop.

Josef Newgarden had lapped the field up to 15th as green-flag pit stops began at Iowa Speedway.

Among the early takers is Will Power as the pole-sitter pitted on Lap 53.

With a power move around teammates Will Power and Scott McLaughlin, Josef Newgarden again showed why he’s the driver to beat at Iowa Speedway.

After moving from third to first, the Team Penske quickly opened a comfortable lead on McLaughlin.

Power led the first 31 laps at a blistering pace, and more than half the field already has fallen a lap down.

Global music superstar Ed Sheeran waved the green flag as Will Power led the field to the green flag at 2:29 p.m. ET.

While Power and Scott McLaughlin controlled the front row, Josef Newgarden flaunted Team Penske’s dominance on the short track by powering from seventh to fifth on the first lap in search of his second consecutive victory.

A fascinating subplot to Josef Newgarden’s dominance at Iowa Speedway has been how many tricks he has shared with teammate Scott McLaughlin.

On a recent flight back from a sponsor appearance, McLaughlin said Newgarden opened his full playbook on the 0.894-mile oval.

“I watched every lap of his race and every lap of mine,” McLaughlin said. “He was very open what I could do better, where I could get air, whatever. He doesn’t have to do that. I think that’s the camaraderie I think we’ve got on the team.

“I’m sure there’s things he hasn’t told me. At the end of the day he opened up a lot, and I learned a lot.”

That was evident Saturday at McLaughlin started and finished second. The No. 3 Dallara-Chevrolet driver was closing as Newgarden battled traffic in the final 20 laps on the way to his record fifth IndyCar victory at Iowa.

McLaughlin was envisioning a reversal of last year at Texas Motor Speedway. Newgarden made a winning pass of his teammate on the final, lap, denying McLaughlin his first oval victory.

“When I was catching him towards the end, I was like, ‘Oh, it’s going to be a little Texas rerun but other way around,’ ” McLaughlin said. “Yeah, didn’t quite get there. He’s very good on this place. He’s got a very good understanding of the car and where he puts it.”

Pole-sitter Will Power was fastest in the Sunday morning warmup at Iowa Speedway, hoping to rebound from finishing fourth after a brush with the wall Saturday.

Power, led 119 of the first 120 laps of Race 1 in his No. 12 Dallara-Chevrolet, also had the best consecutive lap averages in the warmup.

Takuma Sato turned the second-fastest lap in the 30-minute Sunday morning session, followed by rookie Agustin Canapino.

Josef Newgarden, who led 129 of the final 130 laps Saturday for his record sixth victory at Iowa, was 24th fastest in the session.

Click here for speeds from the warmup session.