O’Ward wins Iowa 300 after Newgarden crashes out of race lead

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Pato O’Ward took his second win of the season in the second, 300-lap race at Iowa Speedway after Josef Newgarden crashed out of the lead.

After leading 148 laps, Newgarden looked on course to claim a clean sweep of both wins at the short oval. But his race came to an abrupt end when his car suddenly snapped away from him at the exit of turn four on lap 236, sending him into the wall.

Newgarden was unhurt, but was distraught after his unexpected accident which cost him the opportunity to take the lead in the championship standings. He was credited with 24th place.

But one driver’s misfortune became another’s potential season-saver. O’Ward took the top spot, held his lead after the final restart, and began pulling away from second placed Will Power gradually as the laps ticked down. He went on to win the race by over four seconds.

And after a win and a second place finish in this weekend’s Iowa double-header, O’Ward’s championship chances – which looked remote after consecutive retirements at Road America and Mid-Ohio – have been refired. With five races left, O’Ward is now within 36 points of points leader Marcus Ericsson, who had another strong day and finished sixth.

Power, who led 80 of the first 83 laps from pole position, finished in second and he gained ground in the standings after two podiums in one weekend. The 2014 series champion is now just eight points behind Ericsson, second in the table.

Before the first caution of the race, when Kyle Kirkwood hit the wall at turn two, Power and Newgarden were running first and second at a searing pace, at one point all bar the two drivers closest to them a lap down.

Scott McLaughlin bounced back from yesterday’s misfortune with a loose wheel, to finish in third place behind his senior Penske team mate.

Following them were a trio of Chip Ganassi Racing cars: Scott Dixon in fourth and Jimmie Johnson with a career-best fifth place after overtaking Ericsson, who came in sixth. Alex Palou finished just outside the top ten, in 11th.

Felix Rosenqvist was seventh, rookie David Malukas recorded his best career finish in eighth. Ninth-placed Romain Grosjean was the first of the Andretti drivers, followed by Takuma Sato in tenth.

The top six in the IndyCar standings are now covered by 44 points with five races remaining: Ericsson, Power, Newgarden, Dixon, O’Ward, and Palou.

It’ll be a quick turnaround for the next race, the season’s second race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, which is part of a joint weekend with the NASCAR Cup Series. Colton Herta won the spring race around the Indy road course earlier this year.

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Iowa 300 results

PositionCarDriverTeamEngine
15Pato O’WardMcLaren SPChevrolet
212Will PowerPenskeChevrolet
33Scott McLaughlinPenskeChevrolet
49Scott DixonGanassiHonda
548Jimmie JohnsonGanassiHonda
68Marcus EricssonGanassiHonda
77Felix RosenqvistMcLaren SPChevrolet
818David MalukasCoyne/HMDHonda
928Romain GrosjeanAndrettiHonda
1051Takuma SatoCoyne/RWRHonda
1177Callum IlottJuncos HollingerChevrolet
1226Colton HertaAndrettiHonda
1310Alex PalouGanassiHonda
1415Graham RahalRLLHonda
1529Devlin DeFrancescoAndretti SteinbrennerHonda
1620Conor DalyCarpenterChevrolet
1733Ed CarpenterCarpenterChevrolet
1827Alexander RossiAndrettiHonda
1921Rinus VeeKayCarpenterChevrolet
2045Jack HarveyRLLHonda
216Helio CastronevesMeyer ShankHonda
224Dalton KellettFoytChevrolet
2360Simon PagenaudMeyer ShankHonda
242Josef NewgardenPenskeChevrolet
2514Kyle KirkwoodFoytChevrolet
2630Christian LundgaardRLLHonda

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Author information

RJ O'Connell
Motorsport has been a lifelong interest for RJ, both virtual and ‘in the carbon’, since childhood. RJ picked up motorsports writing as a hobby...

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5 comments on “O’Ward wins Iowa 300 after Newgarden crashes out of race lead”

  1. Shame for Newgarden as he was so dominant.

    Such a difference in how team mates deal with each other again compared to F1 after Andretti the other week – Johnson overtaking Ericsson and taking 2 points off him with Ericsson leading the championship was hard to understand!

    1. Bruno Verrari
      24th July 2022, 23:31

      Agree…and additionally: Dixon!
      Feels…unprofessional.

    2. Obviously you are not an American with those opinions on Jimmie. You should hear me yell at the TV every time I hear about a F1 driver whine over the radio for a free pass on a teammate. You earn everything over here. Props to Jimmie today.

      Prayers for Newgarden who was air lifted to a hospital for a head injury after his accident. I hope it was nothing more than a bit of dehydration.

      1. I didn’t know F1 driver got a free pass from their teammate’s but reading you comment means the title isn’t much worth for the team it’s only the driver who is important. So they rent a car from the team that is new to me….

      2. I didn’t think I gave any “opinions on Jimmie”. He drove a great race and was 5th on merit. I was just pointing out a big difference between indycar and F1. Johnson is nowhere near the front of the championship so him taking points off Ericsson doesn’t make much sense to me if the team wanted to maximise their chances of winning the drivers title. Dixon is still in title contention so wouldn’t expect the team to force a decision there.

        I’m not American, no. Maybe if I was I would understand why Jimmie Johnson gets such a free ride from the commentators given his performance over the last 2 seasons. Especially as you earn everything over there ;)

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