Five Takeaways From Iowa

Newgarden Has The Best and The Worst

Josef Newgarden was cool and triumphant on Saturday evening, after absolutely dominating the race at Iowa Speedway, leading 208 laps out of 250, and winning his fourth race at Iowa, and fourth in 2022. Stepping out of the car in 99 degree heat in the peak of the day at one of IndyCar’s most physically demanding tracks, Newgarden declared the conditions to be “pretty nice and easy,” as he showed his mastery of Iowa. Fast forward to 24 hours later, and the media center emptied as reporters rushed to find Dr. Geoffrey Bellows, IndyCar medical chief, to ask about Newgarden as a helicopter spun up to take him to a Des Moines area hospital after a bus lot fall. IndyCar stated that Newgarden was “awake and alert” after he returned to the medical center, and was airlifted due to the overwhelming traffic around the speedway, and the fact that Des Moines is 45 miles away. Newgarden was released in the morning and will be reevaluated on Thursday, but to go from being on track to take the championship lead, to being 24th and possibly missing the next race in the span of one hour, is a huge swing of fortunes and a disaster for Newgarden. In a way, this could be the moment that loses him the championship as he ends up with 9 points at the bottom of the field, instead of 54 points at the top. A 45 point swing in a championship race where 6 elite drivers are within 44 points of each other could be game changing, and the moment we all look back at and say, “Gee, if only a Penske damper didn’t snap on him, he could be the champion.” Newgarden has also won 4 times, one on each track type. A speedway at Texas, a street course at Long Beach, a road course in Road America, and now a short oval in Iowa.

Chevy Powers To A Podium Sweep

Chevy drivers swept the podium both days, as the Team Penske drivers and McLaren drivers proved to be the class of the field. The Chevy drivers were quick to praise their engines, as Newgarden said Saturday, “They’ve delivered this year on all accounts. Chevy power, durability, performance, it’s always there for us.” Chevy was also quick to point out that the Newgarden wreck was a direct result of a suspension failure, which is a Penske manufactured part. However, Penske didn’t just have the Chevy advantage, as the Newgarden advantage proved to be very real, with Josef leading 356 of the 550 laps over the weekend. After Newgarden’s wreck, two more Chevys, O’Ward and Power stepped up and took over the lead battle, since the podium was in line to be the same as Saturday before the wreck. There was an off-hand joke from Will Power in the post qualifying press conference, about how McLaren had their setup thanks to an engineer going over there, referring to Gavin Ward, Newgarden’s former engineer who moved to McLaren saying, “When teams have our setup… We know McLaren has got it, because an engineer went there. Andretti has it because Pagenaud brought it over.” It didn’t seem to help the Andretti cars, and certainly not Meyer Shank, as both teams were considerably down throughout the weekend. 

Iowa Comes Back – Bud Denker Says Three More Years!!!

Wow. What an event at Iowa Speedway, and a huge congratulations to Hy-Vee and Penske. They pulled off an incredible event, and brought some fabulous publicity to IndyCar.Iowa in the past has felt like a race for diehard fans and a relic, a short oval in the middle of Iowa that harkened back to the old days, but what I experienced felt more like a Cup race. Packed stands, the concourse and food court was full of people, the concerts were fantastic, and the racing was undeniable. Graham Rahal also deserves his mention, as he was part of the team that helped to broker this deal and bring Hy-Vee in. Bud Denker, one of the most senior Penske executives, stated that Iowa was coming back through 2025, and it’s great news. All the things we’ve said about IndyCar needs more activation, more hype, more of an event like feel, that was all achieved in Iowa. Talking to fans after the race, it was clear that they wanted to come back, and that this event needs to be a mainstay for IndyCar, and a model for how to promote and pull off an event going forward. Hopefully sponsors see the kind of publicity Hy-Vee got from this, and are drawn in to what is in my admittedly biased opinion, the best racing series out there. Apart from the sweltering heat on Saturday, there wasn’t a negative thing said about this event from the fans, teams, and drivers. And I struggle to find anything bad to say either, although I was able to watch most of the race from the air conditioned media center. What a race. What a weekend for IndyCar. 

Jimmie Turns Back The Clock

And what a weekend for Jimmie Johnson! His first IndyCar top 5, and absolutely his best race in IndyCar, Jimmie was electric to watch, especially on Saturday. There isn’t supposed to be a third lane at Iowa, and we saw drivers wreck going into the gray, dirty part of the track, but Jimmie sent it up there with no hesitation multiple times on Saturday and Sunday. After an early spin, Johnson got on an alternate tire strategy, and wowed the media center, with audible appreciation as he flew around cars. We haven’t seen this version of Johnson in IndyCar, with some remarking that it felt like 2005 again. Johnson was confident and aggressive, passing cars in every corner it seemed, and leading 19 laps off strategy. When the caution flag finally flew again at lap 111, Johnson had worked his way up to 5th, and was able to pit with the leaders to get back on the same strategy. He repeated his drive through the field on Sunday, finishing 5th after working over championship leader Ericsson in the closing laps.  When asked by NRN after the race Saturday about how he felt Iowa was different from previous IndyCar races, Johnson said “I felt like instinctively I could just drive the car and didn’t have to think about things so much. Texas and Indy, speed is higher, you’re more precise with your inputs. Here it was down and dirty, short track driving. Fits my style really well.” 

Let’s Talk About Ericsson- Title Threat

Ericsson had a rough Saturday, falling victim to the marbles in the high lane late in the race, and falling back to what would eventually become an 8th place finish. He was just beaten in the closing laps by teammate Jimmie Johnson to finish 6th on Sunday. Ganassi never had the same speed that Penske and McLaren showed on track, which Ericsson dealt with admirably, still bringing home two top 10 finishes, but unfortunately his main championship rivals are from Penske and McLaren. With Pato O’Ward and Will Power finishing on the podium in both races, Ericsson saw his lead halve over O’Ward in the championship, and go from 35 to 8 over Will Power. Ericsson has been unerringly consistent this year, and while I’ll discuss the points later in this article, he’s built up a lead based off of his double points win at Indy, and then continuing to finish in the top 5. Ericsson hasn’t finished lower than P8 since Indy, and added a podium to that. But over the same time period, Josef Newgarden and Will Power won races, as did Pato O’Ward and Scott Dixon, his championship rivals. While if Ericsson possessed a larger lead this current finishing level would be acceptable, he doesn’t. He needs to win to secure this title. 

Points

Our usual points wrap up becomes the bonus sixth takeaway, as once again, IndyCar refuses to cut out drivers from the points race. The top 6 drivers remain within 44 points of each other, as Palou, Dixon, Ericsson, O’Ward, Newgarden, and Power all swap wins and podiums with each other. The field has only tightened over the past races, with Dixon a perfect example. After Mid-Ohio, Dixon sat 67 points back from Ericsson, but now sits only 34 points back. And as much as I want to eliminate as many people as I can and simplify this title fight, I don’t think we can even count out Scott McLaughlin. McLaughlin won at Mid-Ohio, and since then has slipped a little, sitting 86 points back, but as we approach the home stretch of the season, it’s entirely possible that McLaughlin could reel off podiums and climb the standings, pulling points from the top drivers. As we head to the Gallagher Grand Prix in Indianapolis, it is key to remember that Will Power has won there 5 times, and taken multiple pole positions. A Power win combined with anything less than second for Ericsson means he takes the championship lead, and Power is looking more and more the favorite. But as it stands now, all the drivers from 1st to 6th control their own destiny, and McLaughlin probably needs some help. With Indy and Nashville coming up in back to back weeks, it’s important to get a good run into the final three races, and finish out strong.