Josef Newgarden delivered another dominant performance at Iowa Speedway on Sunday, completing a sweep of the IndyCar double-header on the short oval where he has now won six times.
The Penske driver’s victory was his fifth straight on an oval circuit, a run dating back to last season and including the Indianapolis 500 in May.
Newgarden passed two cars in the same corner to seize the lead on the 31st lap and dominated from there.
He finished .7050sec ahead of Penske teammate and reigning IndyCar champion Will Power of Australia after a three-lap sprint to the finish because of a late caution.
On that restart, Power passed Felix Rosenqvist for second, Rosenqvist going wide and losing spots to Alex Palou and Scott McLaughlin.
Series leader Palou of Spain was third for Chip Ganassi while Rosenqvist came back to take fourth ahead of New Zealand’s McLaughlin.
The greatest late-race drama came after Sting Ray Robb lost his right rear wheel, with Newgarden among a string of drivers to narrowly avoid hitting it.
As on Saturday, only five drivers were on the lead lap when the race ended on the .894-mile circuit.
Newgarden, who’d been irked Saturday by late traffic, was all smiles after posting his second win in as many days.
“I’m happy now,” said Newgarden, who averaged 159.4 mph (256.53 Km/h). “It’s great to have a double-header, but you just feel incomplete until you get through today.
“To be able to come back and do it again, make our car a little better … it’s a fantastic effort from everyone.”
Newgarden joined four-time Indianapolis 500 winners A.J. Foyt and Al Unser as the only drivers to win five straight oval races in the IndyCar series.
Despite his history of success at Iowa, Newgarden said he felt the pressure this weekend, especially after a disappointing qualifying.
“We knew we had a great car and the pressure was there because we wanted to execute on it and make sure it was a great weekend,” he said.
With the victory Newgarden closed the gap on Palou atop the standings, but with 477 points the Spaniard still leads him by 80 with five races remaining.
