IndyCar Iowa: Power wins from 22nd on grid as Race 2 ends in big pile-up

Will Power handed out a masterful drive to capture victory in the second race of IndyCar’s double-header at Iowa Speedway.

After starting 22nd in the No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet, Power jumped the majority of the field with an overcut pit strategy and then grabbed the lead on the second pit stop and bested Alex Palou by 0.2590s on the 0.894-mile oval.

It was the second win of the season for Power, but first-ever at Iowa Speedway.

“Massive fuel save,” Power said, when asked by NBC how he won the race. “Just sitting in the pack, I had a really good car, really fast car, so I used that to just sit back and used that pace to save fuel and get a massive number.

“Then, once those guys pulled in, I can go hard and then we caught a yellow and that was the sort of thing we were hoping for to put us to the front and then we were able to get better fuel behind Palou and then go a couple laps longer than him and jump him.”

Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin, the winner of Race 1, finished third after starting on pole.

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon was fourth, followed by Andretti Global’s Colton Herta.

Pato O’Ward (Arrow Mclaren), Josef Newgarden (Team Penske), Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing) Rinus VeeKay (Ed Carpenter Racing) and Romain Grosjean (Juncos Hollinger Racing) made up the rest of the top 10.

The Race

McLaughlin led the field to the green flag and rolled out to a lead of six tenths through the opening 12 laps over front-row mate Palou.

Newgarden was among the early movers over that stretch, up to 10th after starting 14th. Both Grosjean and Ferrucci progressed five spots, with the former rolling around in 11th while the latter was 15th in the No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet.

Conor Daly, subbing for the injured Jack Harvey for the second race, was the first to make a pit stop on lap 87, which was delayed after an apparent airgun failure. He fell from 24th to last (27th) and three laps down as a result.

The first round of pit stops started to happen over the next several laps, with McLaughlin pitting from the lead on lap 96, handing the lead off to Palou, who came in to pit on lap 100.

The No. 78 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet of Agustin Canapino spun off Turn 2 on the apron after exiting the pits just as Palou entered the pit lane, which brought out the caution.

Power inherited the lead and was still out on track, having yet to pit when the yellow occurred. Palou cycled back as the leader when Power pitted on lap 107, but he rejoined in second as a result of his overcut strategy and the well-timed caution. McLaughlin and Dixon lined up third and fourth.

The restart saw Palou lead Power, with several lapped cars breaking up the running order of the top 10.

Once again, Ferrucci was making the restarts interesting, pulling off outside passes on the likes of Meyer Shank Racing’s duo of Felix Rosenqvist and David Malukas to move into 12th.

Ferrucci managed an outside pass on Newgarden in Turn 4 on lap 123 to move into 11th, and continued the theme by making an inside pass on Grosjean the next lap to get into 10th.

Ferrucci and Kirkwood ended up in a fierce side-by-side battle, with the former unable to get by as the latter jetted off and then by Rahal to take eighth. Despite multiple looks, Ferrucci was unable to mount a challenge on Rahal.  

Palou’s lead on Power began to shrink as the two were separated by 0.452s on lap 136. Power began to apply the pressure on Palou by lap 165, inching to within a car length before settling in behind and rolling in and out of the corners with delicate throttle control.  

Rosenqvist pitted on lap 183 after a suspension issue to the right-rear of his No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda. Ultimately, he stepped out of the car and was the second retirement of the race after Daly.

McLaughlin pitted from third on lap 197, Dixon followed on lap 203, while Palou and Power remained out on track.

Palou then pitted from the lead on lap 205, while Power went one extra lap before coming in for a 5.8s stop. Power’s pit lane advantage was 0.888s over Palou, which was enough for him to cycle out ahead of the Spaniard once both came up to speed.

Lapped traffic became the theme with 40 laps to go as Power came up on Arrow McLaren rookie Nolan Siegel, who was running 16th, just behind Malukas. The gap between Power and Palou was 0.47s with 20 laps to go, while McLaughlin was 2.9s back in third.

Palou started to close to within two car lengths with five laps to go as the lapped traffic started to mix it up and slow the pace of the leaders. Power remained unchallenged despite Palou's advances, coasting to his second win of the season.

A massive multi-car crash happened on the backstretch on the final lap as Sting Ray Robb drove over the rear of Rossi’s slowing car, which appeared to have run out of gas. Ed Carpenter and Kirkwood spun in avoidance but all collected each other and Rossi on the apron.

Robb’s No. 41 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet flipped and rolled until coming to a stop in Turn 3. Robb needed to be assisted by the AMR Safety Crew, as they turned car back upright.

Robb was awake and alert during medical checks but will be airlifted to hospital for further tests.

Carpenter’s left-rear tire landed on top of Kirkwood’s car, partially blocking the top of the aeroscreen, but they were unhurt.

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Laps	Time	Interval	Mph	Pits	Points	Retirement
1	W. Power Team Penske	12		250	-
2	A. Palou Chip Ganassi Racing	10		250	+0.392 0.3915	0.392
3	S. McLaughlin Team Penske	3		250	+2.365 2.3651	1.974
4	S. Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing	9		250	+2.533 2.5326	0.168
5	C. Herta Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian	26		250	+4.436 4.4363	1.904
6	P. O'Ward Arrow McLaren	5		250	+4.679 4.6789	0.243
7	J. Newgarden Team Penske	2		250	+4.859 4.8592	0.180
8	G. Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	15		250	+18.056 18.0556	13.196
9	R. van Kalmthout Ed Carpenter Racing	21		250	+18.765 18.7648	0.709
10	R. Grosjean Juncos Hollinger Racing	77		250	+20.481 20.4808	1.716
11	S. Ferrucci A.J. Foyt Enterprises	14		250	+20.831 20.8311	0.350
12	L. Lundqvist Chip Ganassi Racing	8		250	+25.024 25.0235	4.192
13	D. Malukas Meyer Shank Racing	66		250	+26.477 26.4773	1.454
14	N. Siegel Arrow McLaren	6		250	+28.130 28.1296	1.652
15	K. Kirkwood Andretti Global	27		249	+1 Lap 2.8618	1 Lap				Accident
16	A. Rossi Arrow McLaren	7		249	1 lap					Accident
17	C. Lundgaard Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	45		249	+1 Lap 8.5913	8.591
18	K. Simpson Chip Ganassi Racing	4		249	+1 Lap 10.8627	2.271
19	M. Armstrong Chip Ganassi Racing	11		249	+1 Lap 31.5258	20.663
20	P. Fittipaldi Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	30		249	+1 Lap 33.2334	1.708
21	R. Robb A.J. Foyt Enterprises	41		248	1 lap					Accident
22	E. Carpenter Ed Carpenter Racing	20		248	1 lap					Accident
23	M. Ericsson Andretti Global	28		248	1 lap
24	K. Legge Dale Coyne Racing	51		248	1 lap
25	A. Canapino Juncos Hollinger Racing	78		221	28 laps					Mechanical
26	F. Rosenqvist Meyer Shank Racing	60		184	65 laps					Mechanical
27	C. Daly Dale Coyne Racing	18		140	109 laps					Mechanical
View full results