Josef Newgarden owns Iowa again with Hy-VeeDeals 250 win

Josef Newgarden might not love milk as much as he (or whomever was in the bathtub) did in the infamous 2014 Indianapolis 500 intro, but he certainly enjoys corn. He won Saturday’s Hy-VeeDeals.com 250 to break a tie with Ryan Hunter-Reay for the most NTT IndyCar Series wins at Iowa Speedway with four, having previously won the series’ last trip in 2020, as well as 2019 and 2016.

Newgarden annihilated the competition by leading 208 of 250 laps and putting everyone but the top five a lap down. The five lead-lap finishers were the fewest at Iowa since the same amount in 2018 and 2016, though the 2009 race tops the list with just four. Those spared of being lapped included Pato O’Ward, Newgarden’s Penske team-mate and pole-sitter Will Power, Rinus VeeKay, and Scott Dixon.

With his win and points leader Marcus Ericsson‘s eighth (and getting lapped), Newgarden leapfrogs Powet and Álex Palou for second in the standings, trailing by just fifteen points. A weekend sweep would give him the top spot provided Ericsson finishes no better than third.

Newgarden also ties his career best for wins in a season with four, equalling his amount in 2017, 2019, and 2020. Perhaps making his 2022 campaign more impressive is that there are still six races remaining, one of which (Gateway) has seen him win thrice including the two most recent events. The four victories also lead all drivers by a wide margin, with Penske colleague Scott McLaughlin being the only other multi-time winner at two. 

“I get so annoyed these days when I miss it,” said Newgarden. “It’s not that I want to be a sore loser, but I just am so competitive that it is frustrating to me when we don’t execute perfectly. That’s the way my mind works, so I was very motivated to get the race win.”

Jimmie Johnson, who has struggled in his IndyCar career but proven his meddle on ovals (which comes with little surprise for the seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion), continued to show off the latter by overcoming a lap 17 spin to fight his way into the top ten. The spin came after he took a page from his stock car days by sticking his left wheels along the painted lines at the bottom of the course, a tactic that works efficiently in NASCAR but results in lost grip for open-wheelers. But upon completing his comeback, he led nineteen laps, over nine times more than his career total (two at the Indianapolis 500), courtesy of pit strategy. However, he finished eleventh after using up his tyres.

New tyres were the name of the game for much of the race, especially in the summer heat of the Midwestern United States. Those like Johnson and Colton Herta benefitted from different tyre tactics than their peers, with the latter reaching as high as third before losing his clutch on pit road and needing a steering wheel change. He would finish twenty-fourth, the last car running and eight laps back.

Hy-VeeDeals 250 – Official Results