NEWTON, IOWA – Just as he did in Saturday’s race, Will Power led from the pole during the first stint of the Hy-Vee One Step 250 at Iowa Speedway, but his Penske teammate Josef Newgarden took over the second race of the doubleheader once the field hit lapped traffic. This time around, Newgarden did so with an awe-inspiring move, passing another teammate, Scott McLaughlin, along with Power in Turn 2 for the lead on Lap 31.
After that, the two-time IndyCar champion faced few challenges to his commanding lead, save for a close call on Lap 157 as a wheel from the #51 of Sting Ray Robb skidded up the banking in Turn 3, barely missing Newgarden, Conor Daly, and Alexander Rossi, among others.
Aside from that near miss, Newgarden had to navigate a solid challenge from Felix Rosenqvist with 50 laps to go. The Tennessee native navigated that well, clearing the Swede quickly. With 10 to go, Ryan Hunter-Reay brought out a late-race caution that closed up the field. Newgarden fended off the attack and took the checkered flag to sweep the Iowa doubleheader and grab a record sixth win at Iowa, completing the feat that a late-race suspension failure prevented him from doing a year ago.
“I’m happy that it didn’t happen again.” said Newgarden about his crash last year at Iowa. “…I just stay very vigilant with that because there is going to be a year. It’s bound to happen. We’re going to show up here, and we’re not going to be very good.”
Rosenqvist ended up finishing four seconds behind JoNew in fourth, with the aforementioned Penske drivers, Power and McLaughlin coming home P2 and P5 respectively. Alex Palou held on to an 80-point championship lead with a third-place finish, down from the 117-point lead that the Spaniard entered with before the doubleheader.
Sunday’s doubleheader race didn’t go without some controversial moments, namely a caution brought out by Agustin Canapino on Lap 86. Canapino brushed against the outside wall in Turn 2, immediately retreating to the apron until the caution flag flew. Media members and fans alike questioned the necessity of the caution by race control, as Canapino didn’t seem to pose a safety threat on track. After his wheel came loose, Sting Ray Robb and the #51 team were disqualified from the race. IndyCar race control wanted the Dale Coyne Racing car to stop on track instead of coming back around to the pits, which resulted in the loose wheel rolling onto the track in Turn 3.
Only five drivers finished on the lead lap, with drivers like Scott Dixon, Colton Herta, and Pato O’Ward coming home one lap down on the 7/8-mile oval.
| PLACE | DRIVER | NUMBER | TEAM | DIFFERENCE |
| 1 | Josef Newgarden | 2 | Team Penske | 1:40.25.7356 |
| 2 | Will Power | 12 | Team Penske | +0.7050 |
| 3 | Alex Palou | 10 | Chip Ganassi Racing | +2.6864 |
| 4 | Felix Rosenqvist | 6 | Arrow McLaren | +4.1167 |
| 5 | Scott McLaughlin | 3 | Team Penske | +7.8891 |
| 6 | Scott Dixon | 9 | Chip Ganassi Racing | +1 lap |
| 7 | Colton Herta | 26 | Andretti Autosport | +1 lap |
| 8 | David Malukas | 18 | Dale Coyne Racing | +1 lap |
| 9 | Marcus Ericsson | 8 | Chip Ganassi Racing | +1 lap |
| 10 | Pato O’Ward | 5 | Arrow McLaren | +1 lap |
| 11 | Kyle Kirkwood | 27 | Andretti Autosport | +1 lap |
| 12 | Romain Grosjean | 28 | Andretti Autosport | +1 lap |
| 13 | Christian Lundgaard | 45 | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | +1 lap |
| 14 | Callum Ilott | 77 | Juncos Hollinger Racing | +2 laps |
| 15 | Alexander Rossi | 7 | Arrow McLaren | +2 laps |
| 16 | Helio Castroneves | 06 | Meyer Shank Racing | +2 laps |
| 17 | Conor Daly | 60 | Meyer Shank Racing | +2 laps |
| 18 | Rinus VeeKay | 21 | Ed Carpenter Racing | +2 laps |
| 19 | Jack Harvey | 30 | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | +3 laps |
| 20 | Graham Rahal | 15 | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | +3 laps |
| 21 | Devlin DeFrancesco | 29 | Andretti Autosport | +4 laps |
| 22 | Santino Ferruci | 14 | A.J. Foyt Racing | +5 laps |
| 23 | Ed Carpenter | 33 | Ed Carpenter Racing | +6 laps |
| 24 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | 20 | Ed Carpenter Racing | +13 laps |
| 25 | Takuma Sato | 11 | Chip Ganassi Racing | +13 laps |
| 26 | Agustin Canapino | 78 | Juncos Hollinger Racing | +14 laps |
| 27 | Benjamin Pedersen | 55 | A.J. Foyt Racing | + 57 laps |
| 28 | Sting Ray Robb | 51 | Dale Coyne Racng | DSQ |
Next Race:
- Big Machine Music City Grand Prix
- Sunday 6 August – 3:00 p.m. EST/7:00 p.m. GMT on NBC/Sky Sports F1
- Nashville Street Circuit – Nashville, Tennessee
