The Hy-Vee IndyCar Weekend began at Iowa Speedway on Friday with a 90-minute practice session, and the master of the 0.875-mile oval secured his spot in the 28-car field. Team Penske’s Joseph Newgarden and the No. 2 Chevy lapped the circuit at 176.428 mph, overshadowed by teammate Scott McLaughlin in the No. 3 Chevy (175.968 mph).
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Ericsson was third in the No. 8 Honda (175.877mph), Andretti Autosport’s Colton Herta was fourth in the No. 26 Honda (175.531 mph) and Arrow McLaren’s Pato Oward was fifth in the No. 5 Chevy (175.4.4).
“We got a really good package,” said a somewhat satisfied Newgarden. “There is nothing wrong with seed cutting. It’s tricky. I wasn’t 100 percent where I wanted to be, but we have the potential to get to where we want to be.
With cloudy blue skies and warm temperatures in the low 80s, the afternoon race was busy and behind Oward was Ganassi’s Takuma Sato in sixth (175.288mph) and Rahal Letterman’s Langan Christian Lundgaard close behind in seventh (174.364mph). Ed Carpenter Racing’s Ryan Hunter Ray was eighth (174.204 mph) and the car’s former driver Conor Daly for Meyer Shank Racing (174.003 mph) was ninth. Ganassi’s Scott Dixon rounded out the top 10 (173.943 mph).
After 30 minutes, Newgarden was fastest at 176.428 mph, followed by Hertha at 175.521 mph. Hunter-Reay was third at 174.204mph, with Erickson at 173.811mph and Dixon at 173.687mph with Chevy- and Honda-powered drivers sharing the top five.
With 44 minutes to go, Agustin Canapino spun out of pit lane and entered the race in No. 2, where Alexander Rossi took no action, and the first caution was required. The Juncos Hollinger Racing driver righted himself and the IndyCar AMR Safety Team fired his engine and sent him back to the pits.
The field returned to the field with 40 minutes on the clock, and Daly moved first to jump to fourth with a lap of 174.003 mph. As some drivers completed long runs to measure grip loss and others began running on new tires and moved up the speed charts, O’Ward shot right into third at the 30-minute mark at 175.470 mph.
Eriksson was next to move, improving from fourth to second at 175.877 mph, and Hertha nearly hit the wall with a 175.521 mph finish to take third. With 20 minutes to go, the leaderboard had Newgarden, Eriksen, Hertha, Oward and Hunter-Reay in the top five. Sixth through 10th were Daley, Dixon, Scott Power, Helio Castroneves and Alex Palu.
Another IndyCar caution was called when Santino Ferrucci entered the marbles but didn’t get close to the Turn 2 wall and was overturned. With new tires, McLaughlin jumped into second at the five-minute mark at 175.968 mph, and Jamboree was on the way to making the qualifying rounds.
But with 28 cars on this short track, finding clean space and fresh air to make those runs without interruption was all but impossible. While others improved after the top five, the order was unchanged at the checkered flag with Newgarden leading the pack with McLaughlin, Eriksson, Hertha and Oward.
Next: Qualifying, Saturday, 10:35 a.m. ET, airing on Peacock.
Results
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