1. Death, taxes, Josef Newgarden dominating Iowa. Did anyone expect less than this when it was announced Iowa was returning to the schedule and it would be a doubleheader? You could have written this result in ink last Christmas.
But we see crazy stuff all the times in IndyCar, including at Iowa, and we have seem Newgarden pulverizing the field only to finish fourth. There were a few close moments as these cars were on worn tires and Newgarden was battling lapped traffic. In true short track form, the leader could pull away, but traffic made it hairy and brought the field back to Newgarden.
Newgarden fought off efforts from Will Power, Marcus Ericsson, and Patricio O'Ward to overtake him and run away with this race, but each time Newgarden pulled through. The 2018 race must remain fresh in his mind, another one Newgarden dominated, but lost because he took it easy in traffic and James Hinchcliffe capitalized. In another world, this would be Newgarden's fifth Iowa victory, but four are just as good and he has a chance for a fifth tomorrow.
He will also have a chance at the championship lead. The deficit is down to 15 points, but more on that in a moment.
2. Patricio O'Ward came on late and had the tires down the stretch. O'Ward was 6.1784 seconds at the checkered flag, but he was breathing down Newgarden's neck with 30 laps to go. Traffic assisted O'Ward, but he was there and ready to make a move. Ultimately, Newgarden held on, but O'Ward looked impressive and no one would have been shocked if O'Ward had pulled it out even over Newgarden.
3. Will Power bounced throughout the top five all race. Power pressured Newgarden for first. He dropped back to fifth and came back. Power dropped behind O'Ward and had a tough battle with Álex Palou for the final podium spot. Power held on and he also decreased the gap in the championship to 22 points. Power fell behind Newgarden, but this was a momentous day for Power.
4. Rinus VeeKay nearly pulled a podium out as Power slid back on tires. The margin between third and fourth was 0.0926 seconds. VeeKay has wonderful aggression on ovals. It really stood out in his rookie season with the Gateway doubleheader and he made an infamous move on Colton Herta. We didn't see VeeKay go to that level today, but he was unafraid in each corner. Again, these kind of days have to be the norm for VeeKay and for the last two seasons they have been spotty. He gets another chance tomorrow.
5. Scott Dixon was quiet in finishing fifth. This has been the story of Dixon's season. Not many flashy races with large numbers of laps led, but he is in the top ten and top five and you cannot find much fault with his results. Dixon was in the back half of the top ten for most of this race. If anything, his veteran savvy saved tires for the closing laps and that is when we saw him come on strong and pullout a top five.
6. Álex Palou found speed late in the race and that was really the only time he was in the top five and battling for a podium position. Palou was caught in the battle with Power for third and at one point had to lift. That really killed his momentum for the closing laps of the race and instead of being third Palou dropped to sixth and ended up a lap down. That is not how you want to end a race but drivers had those moments throughout this race. If a driver lost momentum it was tough to get it back.
7. Romain Grosjean kind of saved Andretti Autosport's day, but it was still underwhelming for the team. Grosjean was great. He got better with every lap and this felt like Gateway all over again minus his struggles with cold tires. It has been a disappointing season for Grosjean and since May he has been in a rut. Hopefully today springboards a stronger final half of the season.
8. Marcus Ericsson took a big blow to the gut. At one point, Ericsson was in the top five, battling for a podium spot, and when battling Scott McLaughlin, Ericsson got wide and had to check up to keep it out of the wall. This dropped him to eighth and he never really recover. He was back to 11th at one point and late made moves on Graham Rahal and Jimmie Johnson to get back to eighth.
Ericsson is 15 points up on Newgarden, 22 points up on Power and Palou and Dixon and both within 38 points of Ericsson. We could see any of the top five leave tomorrow as the championship leader. And people were worried IndyCar would have a dull championship this year.
9. Considering his practice speed, I am sure Graham Rahal was expecting better than ninth today, but he improved throughout this race and deserved this ninth-place result. In 2020, Rahal had two bad starting positions for the Iowa races, did well in the first race and did even better in the second race. Today reminded me of that, but Rahal will have more work to do tomorrow as he starts seven positions worse than today.
10. And it was another double top ten finish day for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing as Christian Lundgaard took tenth late over Jimmie Johnson. Lundgaard ran solidly on the edge of the top ten all race and he was in the right place when the checkered flag fell. Considering this is his third oval race, this was a great day for Lundgaard and though it is far from contending for victory, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing should be pleased with this day.
11. Jimmie Johnson had the best race of his IndyCar career, much better than his sixth-place finish in Texas. Johnson nearly threw it away in the first 16 laps. He clipped the apron in turn four and spun but kept it out of the wall. Johnson admitted post-race he tried to drive it like a stock car at Richmond, where he would clip the paint on corner exit. That doesn't translate to an IndyCar, but Johnson learned and looked good. He struggled with tires late and he went from a possible top five finish to 11th. Not finishing in the top ten is harsh considering how Johnson looked. He learned a lot for tomorrow.
12. Christian Lundgaard did finish in the top ten but Callum Ilott should be recognized for how he raced. Ilott was with Lundgaard on the edge of the top ten for most of this race. Ilott wasn't spectacularly at Texas, but he did well keeping that car straight and completing laps. On top of that, Ilott was respectable that day. This was much better than Texas. I don't see how he can stay at Juncos Hollinger Racing next year. I am pretty sure Chip Ganassi Racing has his number.
13. Andretti Autosport is far from where it was at Iowa from 2010 to 2015. Alexander Rossi was 13th and that was the best he was going to do today. Rossi was behind Devlin DeFrancesco for most of this race and in the closing stint when skill was necessary Rossi went forward while DeFrancesco again settled in to finish 17th. I don't see Andretti making big gains tomorrow, especially with Rossi. He might be able to finish 13th again or might get lucky and pull out a top ten, but Andretti has lost the Iowa magic it once owned.
14. Let's quickly run through the field. David Malukas was good and finished 14th. Kyle Kirkwood should be proud of a 15th-place finish considering how bad this race was going at one point. At least Kirkwood saw the checkered flag and completed 249 laps. Meyer Shank Racing has been lost all weekend. Hélio Castroneves was 16th. Simon Pagenaud made additional pit stops and finished 23rd. That is the one team not looking forward to tomorrow.
15. HyVee has done a great job so far with this weekend. Sadly, the driver of the #45 HyVee Honda fell flat and today started well for Jack Harvey. Harvey qualified seventh. It felt like he was set for his best race of the season... and he was a non-factor and finished 18th. This season can only be described as disappointing for Harvey. He is one of the few drivers who has an actual sponsor that promotes him, but he cannot be finishing outside the top fifteen on a regular basis.
It doesn't sound like the team is going to replace Harvey, but the results warrant the question being mentioned especially when his sponsor is doing this much for IndyCar. If HyVee is going to have this massive doubleheader race weekend it is going to want a driver that can at least be in the top half of the field.
16. Just when you think Conor Daly is a sleeper for victory he finished 19th, one-lap down. That checks out. Dalton Kellett was three laps down in 20th That checks out as well. Takuma Sato retired five laps early. Sato has been rather anonymous all season. Scott McLaughlin had a loose right rear tire coming to the final restart and that cost him a top five finish. It would have been interesting if McLaughlin had remained in that lead group for that final run. I don't think he catches Newgarden, but he could have wound up one the podium.
17. Colton Herta cannot catch a break, and I think this points to more worries about Andretti Autosport. The team is failing Herta more than Herta is failing himself. Today, it was the car having an electrical problem and not allowing Herta get the car into gear after he drove into the top ten. Herta could have had a top five result today, but the car failed him.
Herta might be tied to the two less reliable teams at the moment in IndyCar: Andretti and McLaren. If Penske or Ganassi calls he should not hesitate to take the offer. These kind of things will not happen.
18. Ed Carpenter and Felix Rosenqvist were the two accidents in today's race. Carpenter looked poor all race and I will keep questioning if the oval-only schedule is worth it. It is great he shows up to Indianapolis, and we should be happy Carpenter is willing to run another car for the oval races, increasing the grid size, but I have stopped viewing Carpenter as a potential winner. Outside of Gateway 2019 when a caution fell at the right time to put Carpenter into second place, he hasn't really challenged for a race victory since Indianapolis 2018.
As for Rosenqvist, he just lost the rear. Iowa is rough. You catch a bump or a seam at the wrong time on worn tires and you are done. I am surprised we only saw the two spins today. Tires were dropping off quick. Tomorrow's race is 50 laps longer. It should provide a greater challenge for the drivers.
19. We get another Iowa race tomorrow, and I am thrilled Iowa is back. An unintelligent person will see only five cars finished on the lead lap and a 6.1784-second margin of victory with the winner leading 208 of 250 laps, but this was a fantastic race. Drivers were all over the place. There were three lanes at some points. Drivers would lose momentum and then gain it back. A car could make up ground late in a stint. This was tremendous.
Romain Grosjean said something interesting to Motorsport.com's David Malsher-Lopez ahead of this race. Grosjean said, "I like short ovals because there's two lanes and that makes it really fun. There's nothing worse than sitting in one lane and following the guy in front of you 60, 70-plus laps."
Iowa is kind of the only multi-lane track in IndyCar. Texas is ruined. Indianapolis is one lane and these universal aero kit do not punch big enough of a hole nor have enough stability at the rear to race like we saw at Indianapolis Motor Speedway from 2012 to 2017. Gateway is marginally two lanes in turns one and two, but it is tricky, and turns three and four is really not recommended.
After watching Iowa, I would love nothing more for IndyCar to have three more short ovals, but I am not sure they would necessarily match what we see at Iowa. We know Phoenix doesn't match it. I don't think Richmond would considering how the banking drops off from turn two to the back straightaway. The high line would be a massive disadvantage at Richmond. Milwaukee wouldn't race like that. I wish Loudon had more than just 2011 when it returned. The DW12 could have put on some good races there.
Memphis Motorsports Park isn't going to be an option, but I wish it was a viable option. I almost want to see IndyCar run Bristol just to try it and it could be really good. It would be tight, but I think IndyCar could make it work. If only Nazareth still existed.
Either way, Grosjean is right and if IndyCar wants to succeed on ovals and duplicate what we see at Iowa elsewhere, it needs to find tracks where they can run at least two lanes.
20. By the way, NASCAR is stupid for not racing at Iowa, specifically not bringing the Cup Series to Iowa. Iowa is what you get if Bristol and Darlington had a child. Tight confines with high tire degradation. And they own the damn place! Oh my goodness. Iowa should get a Cup race. It would be the best Cup race of the season. I know Newton, Iowa isn't a major media market, but NASCAR needs great races. Bristol, Martinsville and Darlington shouldn't get passes for legacy alone. If NASCAR continues to go to those small markets, it can introduce one more small market for the sake of great race.
21. Either way, IndyCar has a second Iowa race tomorrow and we are all grateful for it.
