Story By: CURT CAVIN / INDYCAR – NEWTON, IA – Add Iowa Speedway to the list of tracks where Will Power has won an NTT INDYCAR SERIES race.
Power put that one on his impressive list with a victory in Sunday’s Hy-Vee One Step 250 presented by Gatorade. In doing so, Team Penske’s two-time series champion pushed his career race win total to 43, giving him sole possession of fourth place in the sport’s history. Power tied Michael Andretti’s career total last month with a victory at Road America.
Sunday’s race was Power’s 19th attempt at the short oval east of Des Moines, Iowa. He had won an event-leading seven poles, but finishing second on four occasions, including last year, had been his best race result. His last oval-track victory was nearly five years ago at Pocono Raceway. He now has 10 career oval wins.
“I’ve been trying to win this race for years (and) years,” said Power, who started deep in the 27-car field due to brushing the wall in Saturday’s qualifying session. “So, I’m over the moon (happy).”
Power, 43, drove from the 22nd starting position and then received quick service from his No. 12 Verizon Business Team Penske Chevrolet crew to beat series leader Alex Palou during the final exchange of pit stops under green conditions. Power’s time advantage over Palou in that sequence was about nine-tenths of a second, according to information collected by NTT DATA.
The separation between Power and Palou at the finish line was .3915 of a second.
Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin, the winner of Saturday night’s Hy-Vee Homefront 250 presented by Instacart, finished third. He led the race’s first 94 laps to push his two-night consecutive laps led total to 259.
McLaughlin lost Sunday’s lead when a caution came out on Lap 101 for Agustin Canapino’s stalled car in Turn 2. As Palou was on pit road at the time and Power hadn’t yet made his scheduled stop, those two drivers cycled to the front, pushing McLaughlin back to third.
Power rode behind Palou for 104 of the next 114 laps before overtaking him on the second pit stop. That was the difference in the race’s outcome on a sunny and hot Midwestern afternoon.
“Massive fuel (saving),” Power said of how he moved up through the field. “Honestly, (I was) just sitting in the pack. I had a really good car – a really fast car – so I sat back and used that pace to save fuel and get a massive (fuel) number.
“I knew once all those (frontrunners) pulled in (for pit service) I could go hard, and then we caught a yellow. That was sort of the thing we were hoping for, to get one of those yellows to put us to the front. Then we were able to get better fuel mileage behind Palou and go a lap longer than him and then jump in (to the pits).”
Said McLaughlin: “We probably caught the caution at the wrong time, (but) first and third (in the two races), I’ll take that.”
Dixon finished fourth in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing while Colton Herta fifth in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda of Andretti Global w/Curb-Agajanian.
With the victory, Power cut Palou’s lead in the standings to 35 points with six races remaining.
As Power and Palou were crossing the finish line, a multicar crash coming off Turn 2 occurred. Sting Ray Robb ran over the back of Alexander Rossi’s car, vaulting Robb’s car high in the air vertically. Behind them, Ed Carpenter and Kyle Kirkwood spun and with Rossi, they ended up against the inside retaining wall with Carpenter’s car on top of Kirkwood’s.
Rossi, Kirkwood and Carpenter safely climbed from their damaged cars. Robb gave two thumbs up before being transported to Mercy One Des Moines Medical Center where he was examined and released, his team announced Sunday evening.
Practice for the 12th race of the season, the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto, begins Friday at 3 p.m. ET at Exhibition Place in Toronto. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Christian Lundgaard earned his first series race victory last year on the temporary street circuit. The 85-lap race will air live on Peacock and the INDYCAR Radio Network.
