Scott McLaughlin finished second in this morning’s 250-lap race at Iowa Speedway, while Scott Dixon has slightly reduced the gap to championship leader Alex Palou by finishing sixth.
Indy 500 winner Josef Newgardern was the race winner, taking the lead in the mid-stages by working his way past McLaughlin and pole-sitter Will Power in what was ultimately a race-deciding move.
As a result of his victory, Newgarden jumps Dixon to move to second in the standings.
Dixon had also been in the mix with the front-runners early on but dropped back as he appeared to struggle with his tyres.
Power had led early proceedings, while McLaughlin sat close behind in second. Newgarden would pass McLaughlin on Lap 95 as the leaders encountered lapped traffic on the short tri-oval.
He would then pass Power on Lap 121 and begin to put a gap on the field following the following pit cycle.
That would be reduced shortly after when a caution was required as Graham Rahal hit the wall. The race would restart on Lap 167, with Marcus Ericsson and Pato O’Ward the biggest movers.
Newgarden would again build a solid gap over McLaughlin, who remained second and began to pull clear of O’Ward. At this point, just 11 cars, including Dixon, remained on the lead lap.
McLaughlin would eat into his teammate’s lead after the final round of stops, however, Newgarden maintained a distance by managing lapped traffic well, with only five cars on the lead lap by race end.
Newgarden would ultimately hold on for a 3.37-second victory over the Kiwi, while O’Ward was a further 6.2 seconds back in third.
Dixon managed a late pass on Kyle Kirkwood for sixth as championship-leader Palou came home eighth.
IndyCar returns for a second race at Iowa Speedway at 6.00 am on Monday.
Header Image Source: Scott McLaughlin (Facebook)
Can’t believe how much better Newgardens car was than any other car.