IndyCar News: McLaughlin wins first half of Iowa Doubleheader
Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin held off McLaren’s Pato O’Ward by 0.4814s to win the first half of the Hy-Vee IndyCar doubleheader at Iowa Speedway Saturday night.
McLaughlin, who started second, continued Team Penske’s dominance at this track. His teammate Josef Newgarden, who won many races here, was a close third, 1.5s behind McLaughlin.
McLaughlin led the final 164 laps for his sixth career series victory. He also became just the third active driver to win a series race at this track, joining Newgarden and O’Ward.
“The XPEL Chevy was unreal and what got it done tonight was the pit stops by the team,” said McLaughlin. “Got me out in front of (Colton) Herta there and we showed our pace. That is a big deal today, and we have been working on that for a couple of years. It takes a lot of hard work, and I got bit by this place for a couple of years and it stung. I am really stoked for this whole team and for the whole team at Penske and give it another race tomorrow, and we start on pole. So, let’s go again.”
Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon was 4th, 5 seconds behind McLaughlin in the lone Honda in the top 6.
Rinus Veekay rounded out the top-5, 6.56-seconds behind McLaughlin.
Several crashes took out seven drivers, including four cars in the first lap after Juncos Hollinger’s Agustin Canapino spun out in Turn 2 and took out David Malukas, Christian Lundgaard, and his teammate Romain Grosjean. Lundgaard and Grosjean were both able to get back on track but finished a huge number of laps down.
Alex Palou, the series points leader before tonight, spun on Turn 4 and slid down the front straight away, ending his race day.
Palou’s lead in the standings took a hit as a result. He entered this event with a 48-point advantage on his nearest competitor. The margin is now 37 points over O’Ward with Power third, 43 points out of the lead. Dixon trails Palou by 46, McLaughlin by 59.
“Unacceptable,” Palou said of the miscue.
During the restart on Lap 221, Ed Carpenter, Pietro Fittipaldi and Will Power made contact in Turn 4, taking Carpenter and Fittipaldi out of the race. Will Power would come back out on track and finish the race in 18th place.
There 192 passes in the 250 lap race. AJ Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci was one of the only drivers to use the 2nd lane to make passes.
Now the crash damage for several cars will start in preparation for tomorrow’s 250 lap race at 11:00 am.
Race Results
|
STATUS
|
BEHIND
|
GAP
|
MFR
|
START
|
LAPS
|
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1
|
 S. MCLAUGHLIN |
Running
|
0.0000
|
0.0000
|
 |
2
|
250
|
|
2
|
 P. O’WARD |
Running
|
0.4814
|
0.4814
|
|
6
|
250
|
|
3
|
 J. NEWGARDEN |
Running
|
1.5174
|
1.0360
|
|
22
|
250
|
|
4
|
 S. DIXON |
Running
|
5.0041
|
3.4867
|
 |
5
|
250
|
|
5
|
 R. VEEKAY |
Running
|
6.5656
|
1.5615
|
|
13
|
250
|
|
6
|
 S. FERRUCCI |
Running
|
7.4575
|
0.8919
|
|
8
|
250
|
|
7
|
 K. KIRKWOOD |
Running
|
8.4200
|
0.9625
|
|
19
|
250
|
|
8
|
 A. ROSSI |
Running
|
9.3425
|
0.9225
|
|
7
|
250
|
|
9
|
 M. ERICSSON |
Running
|
10.3770
|
1.0345
|
|
10
|
250
|
|
10
|
 M. ARMSTRONG |
Running
|
11.4006
|
1.0236
|
|
9
|
250
|
|
11
|
 C. HERTA |
Running
|
11.8114
|
0.4108
|
|
1
|
250
|
|
12
|
 N. SIEGEL |
Running
|
12.1279
|
0.3165
|
|
15
|
250
|
|
13
|
 F. ROSENQVIST |
Running
|
12.4651
|
0.3372
|
|
11
|
250
|
|
14
|
 K. SIMPSON |
Running
|
13.5048
|
1.0397
|
|
27
|
250
|
|
15
|
 S. ROBB |
Running
|
14.0242
|
0.5194
|
|
24
|
250
|
|
16
|
 G. RAHAL |
Running
|
1 LAP
|
1 LAP
|
|
21
|
249
|
|
17
|
 K. LEGGE |
Running
|
3.9534
|
3.9534
|
|
26
|
249
|
|
18
|
 W. POWER |
Running
|
8 LAPS
|
8 LAPS
|
|
4
|
241
|
|
19
|
 E. CARPENTER |
Contact
|
21 LAPS
|
0 LAP
|
|
25
|
228
|
|
20
|
 P. FITTIPALDI |
Contact
|
21 LAPS
|
13 LAPS
|
|
17
|
228
|
|
21
|
 L. LUNDQVIST |
MECH.
|
40 LAPS
|
19 LAPS
|
|
12
|
209
|
|
22
|
 C. LUNDGAARD |
Contact
|
71 LAPS
|
31 LAPS
|
|
23
|
178
|
|
23
|
 A. PALOU |
Contact
|
74 LAPS
|
3 LAPS
|
|
3
|
175
|
|
24
|
 R. GROSJEAN |
Contact
|
201 LAPS
|
127 LAPS
|
|
20
|
48
|
|
25
|
 J. HARVEY |
DNF
|
221 LAPS
|
20 LAPS
|
|
18
|
28
|
|
26
|
 A. CANAPINO |
Contact
|
249 LAPS
|
0.1205
|
|
16
|
0
|
|
27
|
 D. MALUKAS |
Contact
|
249 LAPS
|
28 LAPS
|
|
14
|
0
|
Race Statistics
Winner’s average speed: 128.098 mph
Time of Race: 01:44:41.1172
Margin of victory: 0.4814 of a second
Cautions: 6 for 66 laps
Lead changes: 1
Lap Leaders
Herta, Colton: 1 – 86
McLaughlin, Scott: 87 – 250
NTT INDYCAR SERIES Point Standings:
Palou 336, O’Ward 299, Power 293, Dixon 290, McLaughlin 277, Herta 270, Kirkwood 260, Rossi 250, Newgarden 221, Rosenqvist 209, Ericsson 202, Ferrucci 202, Lundgaard 190, Armstrong 162, Grosjean 157, VeeKay 155, Rahal 153, Lundqvist 137, Fittipaldi 114, Simpson 113, Robb 107, Rasmussen 104, Canapino 94, Harvey 80, Pourchaire 75, Siegel 63, Blomqvist 46, Ilott 39, Malukas 32, Ghiotto 27, Castroneves 26, Carpenter 24, Daly 21, Larson 21, Sato 19, Legge 18, Sowery 17, Vautier 12, Braun 10, Hunter-Reay 6, Andretti 5