Category: NTT Indy

SiriusXM’s The Tragically Hip Radio will be featured on David Malukas’ No. 66 SiriusXM Honda

Pataskala, Ohio (16 July 2024) – Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) and SiriusXM continue their collaborative effort to feature and bring artists to NTT INDYCAR SERIES races. With the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto set for this weekend, MSR and SiriusXM Canada are excited to welcome Canadian rock band, The Tragically Hip on the No. 66 SiriusXM Honda this weekend.

The special feature is the fourth collaboration so far this season between MSR and SiriusXM and the team is excited to extend it across borders with SiriusXM Canada for the Toronto INDYCAR weekend.

David Malukas’ No. 66 SiriusXM Honda will have a whole new look for the Toronto INDYCAR weekend. Featuring black, red and white colors, the livery pays homage to The Tragically Hip Radio (SiriusXM channel 757).

The Tragically Hip are a critically acclaimed rock band that has been a fixture in Canadian music for over 30 years and are beloved by fans across the country and the world. They’ve won 17 Juno awards and sold more than 15 million albums worldwide.

Band members Paul Langlois, Rob Baker, Gord Sinclair and Johnny Fay will attend the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto this weekend to see the No. 66 MSR machine up close and personal in addition to meeting several of SiriusXM’s guests attending the race weekend.

“It’s really cool to see how this program has evolved this year and to be able to expand it into Canada and working with SiriusXM Canada has been awesome,” said MSR co-owner Mike Shank. “It will be great to have the band with us both Saturday and Sunday to see the car – which is a totally different look for us!”

The Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto is set for Sunday, July 21st at 1:30pm ET with live broadcast coverage on Peacock TV and SiriusXM INDYCAR Nation (ch. 218).

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
HYVEE ONESTEP 250
HY-VEE DOUBLEHEADER WEEKEND
IOWA SPEEDWAY
NEWTON, IOWA
TEAM CHEVY RACE TWO RECAP
JULY 14, 2024

WILL POWER DELIVERS ANOTHER CHEVROLET VICTORY AT IOWA SPEEDWAY
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN SCORES PODIUM FINISH TO FOLLOW WIN ON SATURDAY

• Will Power scored his second victory of the 2024 INDYCAR season capping off an all-Chevrolet weekend at Iowa Speedway
• It is the 43rd win of Power’s NTT INDYCAR Series career, his second win of the season, his first at Iowa Speedway in 17 races and his first oval since Pocono 2019
• Power’s first win this season was at Road America on June 9, 2024
• Today’s victory is the seventh win of the season for Chevrolet in 11 INDYCAR races; it is the 117th win in 209 races in the V-6 era
• Scott McLaughlin coming off his win in Saturday’s Iowa race finished third to close out the weekend with two podiums including a victory and a pole with a track record qualifying run
• Team Chevy drivers scored six of the top-10 finishers in today’s HyVee One Step 250
• A Chevrolet powered driver led 145 of the 250-lap race
• Next on the 17-race NTT INDYCAR Series schedule for Team Chevy will be the Streets of Toronto, July 19-21, 2024

NEWTON, IOWA (July 14, 2024) – Will Power cured his win drought with his victory at Road America in June. But the Aussie driver who prided himself on learning to win on ovals had not won on that configuration since Pocono, 2019. Today, the two-time NTT

INDYCAR Series champion and the 2018 Indianapolis 500 winner checked that off his list with his win on Sunday at Iowa Speedway.

Power took the lead on a lap 209 in his familiar No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet in an overcut coming off pit lane ahead of then leader Alex Palou, and never looked back to take his 43rd career checkered flag.

The win moved Power to second in the standings with six races remaining on the season.

Scott McLaughlin won the pole for today’s race setting a track record of 17.0966/188.248 mph around the .875-mile oval in the middle of Iowa. McLaughlin brought his No. 3 XPEL Team Penske Chevrolet to the finish line in third to complete the podium.

Chevrolet powered drivers had six drivers in the top-10 finishing positions. It is the seventh win of the season in 11 races. Chevrolet now leads the INDYCAR Manufacturer Championship standings 904 to 845 for our competition,

It was a solid weekend for Chevrolet scoring its 12th and 13th victory in 16 Iowa races for the 2.2 liter twin turbo V6 engine.

As the checkered flag flew for Power, a multi-car crash on the backstretch involving several cars including Ed Carpenter, No. 20 GuyCare Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, and the No. 41 Prayer.com AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet driven by Sting Ray Robb. Carpenter was seen, evaluated and released from the INDYCAR Mobile Medical Unit. Robb was awake, alert and moving but transported to local hospital for further evaluation. Updates will be given by the team.

Next on the 17-race NTT INDYCAR Series schedule for Team Chevy will be the Streets of Toronto, July 19-21, 2024

TEAM CHEVY TOP-10 RACE RESULTS:
Pos. Driver
1st Power
3rd McLaughlin
6th Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet
7th Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Hitachi Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet
9th Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 askROI Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet
10th Romain Grojean, No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (QUOTES)

MARK STIELOW, DIRECTOR MOTORSPORTS COMPETITION PROGRAMS:

“To win both races at Iowa Speedway is an incredible achievement for our Chevrolet INDYCAR engineering team, as well as all of the Chevy-powered teams. Congratulations to Will Power and the No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet team on their victory in Race Two. Will drove a strong race, the strategy was excellent, and the crew delivered perfectly on pit lane. What a weekend for Scott McLaughlin and his No. 3 Chevrolet team on another podium. To deliver these results while adapting to the new hybrid technology for the first time on an oval demonstrates the dedication of the effort needed to get a new component introduced and working well in a very competitive series.

“We are prepared now to move to the Streets of Toronto and try to deliver these results again.”

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON BUSINESS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED RACE WINNER:

“Massive fuel save. Honestly, just sitting in the pack. We had a really good car, a really fast car, so just sat back to use that pace to save fuel. It was getting a massive number, and I knew once all those guys pulled in, I could go hard, and then we caught a yellow, which was sort of the thing we were hoping for. To sort of get those yellows, put us to the front, and then we were able to get better fuel behind (Alex) Palou and go a couple of laps longer than him and jump in. I’ve been trying to win this race for years, years. Over the moon. The guys did a great job. I felt bad for them yesterday when I accidentally buttoned off on the pit speed limiter. Ruined their day, but we’re right in the game. I want to thank Verizon, Chevy, such tremendous support. We’re going to fight this hard to the end.”

You’re 35 points back in the championship now. It’d been five years since you’ve won an oval. Was that starting to weigh on your mind a little?

“It was, actually. I thought coming into this season I was going to win an oval this year. I want to win an oval, and I want to win multiple races. We’re still pushing and getting it done. Thanks Ron, thank you.”

With the heat today, how are you physically?

“It was good. I’m fine, physically. It was a bit heavy at the end there, when we were pushing hard on tires, but yeah, it’s all good.

“We have such a great crew, great strategist, engineer. My group, I’m so lucky. I really am. I’ve got so much confidence in them. I felt so bad that I screwed it up for them yesterday by accidentally buttoning it off there. What a way to come back.”

In terms of the final stint once you blended back out, what was your mind set knowing (Alex) Palou was there?

“I knew that out lap would be okay, because it was such a hot day, it wasn’t at night. I just did everything I could to keep him behind, and I knew we had a good car. I felt like we were a bit better than him, just following him for that whole stint. I felt like we were stronger, and if we got in front, we could stay in front.”

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN, NO. 3 XPEL TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – FINISHED 3RD:

“We probably caught the yellow just a bit at the wrong time there on the first run. A first and a third, I’ll take that. Best thing is I can have a beer now and enjoy the concert, so I’m excited. Got a lot of friends here, have a lot of people out here supporting the Thirsty 3’s. Nice to get the championship back on track and we’re right in the game.”

Championship now. Even a little more in it now after a solid weekend?

“Yeah, don’t sleep on us. I said that many times, don’t sleep on us. We’ll keep coming. We’ve got ovals that we like coming up, and I feel good on Toronto, too. I’m just going to keep driving the way I can, no mistakes, and execute the best I can and hopefully it bodes well. Ultimately, the two out front, Will (Power) and Alex (Palou) have been constantly field all year, so now it’s just to catch them and capitalize when they make mistakes.”

PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN CHEVROLET, FINISHED 6TH :

“Solid points weekend for the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. Obviously Saturday was a lot better than Sunday was, but the NTT INDYCAR SERIES is all about consistency and getting those top-fives or at least as close as you can to those. We did that this weekend.”

JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 HITACHI ASTEMO TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 7TH:

“I really feel like the Astemo Chevy was the best race car in the field today. We just can’t qualify mid-pack on this racetrack right now and expect to be able to drive through the field. I think that will come back in a couple of years when the new pavement wears, or maybe there is something that INDYCAR and Firestone can come up with on a downforce/tire package that will extend the life of the second groove a bit. We were plenty fast today but just couldn’t find a way to finish off any passes. Still, we had two solid finishes after qualifying pretty poorly and that says a lot about this team.”

RINUS VEEKAY, NO. 21 ASKROI ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 9TH:

“Coming into this weekend, P9 was the best result of the year. But then getting a P5 and P9 this weekend here in Iowa is really good. It’s a great points haul. After a few mechanical DNFs, I mean this is a great way to come back. This means a top-10 at every oval race so far this season.”

It’s got to be a good thing that you’re looking at a lot of ovals coming up…

“Oh, definitely. This was kind of the start of oval season I call it, where we’re going into now. It’s also so great for the guys. Having those mechanicals, they feel terrible. Really, also, because of them, we moved forward in the race because of those great sequences. Big shoutout to the whole ECR crew. On to Toronto now.

“It was a crazy one. Started off a little 15th instead of 13th like yesterday. Got pinched on the start and lost a few positions. Just hung in during the race and really tried to maximize the pit sequences when guys started pitting and pushing out hard. Had some great pit stops again, just like yesterday. We had a really good race, and I think Chevy fuel mileage got us to go long and make sure we could push at the end. Happy, also happy that everyone is okay in that last lap crash. I had a front row seat for that and it was crazy, but another good day. Top-10 at every oval race so far this year, so it’s a good start.”

ROMAIN GROJEAN, NO. 77 JUNCOS HOLLINGER CHEVROLET, FINISHED 10TH:

“Very good. Sadly, the track was very hard to pass and it was all about strategy. Low deg. We did everything we could on fuel with the map on the Chevy out there and then pushing when we needed to. We optimized everything we could starting P16, so I’m happy with that. It’s another top-10 for the team, and very proud of all the work from Juncos Hollinger Racing and Chevrolet.”

SANTINO FERRUCCI, NO. 14 SEXTON PROPERTIES AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 11th:

“You know, I like this track a lot. I truly believe in the high side and making it work. We had a really great racecar. Bummed we couldn’t get back inside the top-10. Obviously, just missing out. I had a lot of fun. Honestly, I went wheel-to-wheel with Kyle (Kirkwood) for maybe three laps, just bumping off each other, and it was probably the most fun I’ve had in a racecar this year in this series. It was awesome. Hope everyone at the end of the race is okay. I can’t thank Sexton Properties, Chevrolet, and AJ Foyt Racing enough for a great racecar all weekend. Awesome, so we’ll get to 10th in the championship.”

NOLAN SIEGEL, NO. 6 ARROW MCLAREN CHEVROLET, FINISHED 14TH: “Race 2 was not quite what we’d hoped for. I didn’t get a great launch off the start and kind of got squeezed and lost a few spots and that was pretty much the whole race. I sat in the same position. I think the No. 6 NTT DATA Arrow McLaren Chevrolet was really good. There’s just not a lot you can do when it’s a one-lane race. The team did a good job. Everything was really good except the start, and that was that.”

ALEXANDER ROSSI, NO. 7 ARROW MCLAREN CHEVROLET, FINISHED 15th :

“It was kind of the same race as yesterday where track position was very important. We were pretty much running where we started. I’m not sure what exactly happened with the fuel load, but we had to go into a pretty crazy save mode there at the end. I think we were going to get there, but unfortunately there was an incident when I was beginning to lose fuel out of Turn 2 and it ended our day. It was very unfortunate, and I feel like we let two really good results get away from us. The cars were good, and I am just hoping Sting Ray is okay at this point.”

STING RAY ROBB, NO. 41 GOODHEART VET/PRAY.COM AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 21st:

ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 GUYCARE ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 22nd: “This weekend was such a shame. The No. 20 GuyCare Chevrolet was actually really good last night into today. It’s just a terrible feeling getting two racecars torn up in less than 24 hours through really no fault of our own. We were running just fine, just a weird race, and with 20 laps to go last night and a half a lap to go today, we just get caught up in other peoples’ circumstances. What are you gonna do? The team is performing great. That’s kind of how this year has gone, we have great cars and have nothing to show for it. It’s just a shame what we’ve done to the racing. The asphalt didn’t help, there have been some decisions made that hurt the product. I hope the fans stick it out until we figure it out and come back better.”

AUGUSTIN CANAPINO, NO. 78 JUNCOS HOLLINGER CHEVROLET, FINISHED 25TH:

Will Power

Scott McLaughlin

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We welcome in Will Power, who led 50 of the 250 laps after starting 22nd. Simon Pagenaud-type numbers for you. Second win of the season. 43rd career win. First on an oval since Pocono in 2019. Back to second place in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES points standings.

Your thoughts on the day here.

WILL POWER: Yeah, I had a very good car. My plan from the beginning was to sit back and save a lot of fuel, just get the best possible number using the speed, lifting. In that gap, prayed for a yellow because I knew there would be out-laps. That would be when people would be prone to mistakes. That’s exactly what happened.

Even if it didn’t, we were just going to jump people by staying out. They come in. You’re just faster. Jump a few people to a sequence, as well. Either way we were going to go forward. But that was the big one, getting that yellow.

I felt like we had a better car than Alex. Set back, saved fuel again. Went long. Jumped him over in that sequence. Good in out-laps. Amazing stops as usual by my guys. They’re the best in pit lane. Don’t have to take my word for it. Just look at the times every time. I’m lucky with that.

THE MODERATOR: You knew pit stops were going to be crucial all weekend long.

WILL POWER: Yeah, qualifying, pit stops. I made a mistake in qualifying in the second lap of my run.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. As you said, it was important to get the caution when you did. Even more important I feel it was the overcut on Palou. You have to give credit to the pit crew for that.

WILL POWER: Yep, I definitely give credit to the pit crew all year. In the last three years, actually. In the ’22 championship, last year. They’re something I don’t have to worry about. I know if I hit my marks, it’s going to be an extremely fast stop.

Yeah, the car was great. My engineer did a great job with the car. Doing the overcut, I was pumping out some fast laps while Palou was leading me. Then I knew that we’d probably have a lap on him. We jumped him that way, too.

Fast in-lap, fast out-lap, fast pit stop. Good strategy, good car. That’s how you got to win in this series, and every now and then catch a Scott Dixon yellow (smiling). I need another 15 of them to catch up over the years. Any time I get one… hey, I’m owed about 15 of them from my early days (smiling).

Q. (No microphone.)

WILL POWER: If I hadn’t had the yellows. Colton Herta said to me, Dude, if you didn’t get caught out by yellows early in your career, you would be another 15 wins or something, 10 or 15 wins.

I’ll take them every time and not feel bad. I’ll be like, Yep, I deserve that (smiling).

Q. Do you feel it’s a resurgence, being involved in the championship battle now with only 35 points between you and Palou.

WILL POWER: Yeah, I had a tough year last year personally. My head wasn’t in the game. I was even considering if I should be racing at all because my wife was sick. It was just a throw-away year.

I’m back to the form of ’22, and I’m fighting for the championship. Yeah, got a great group on the car. I feel like we have a great chance here. Going to keep digging.

Q. Ryan Blaney won here a month ago. Scott McLaughlin won last night. Can you talk about what it’s like to be part of the success that Team Penske has had here this year?

WILL POWER: Yeah, we’ve had a very good time here for the last few years actually even though the track has changed significantly for the worse for INDYCAR. Yeah, it’s cool to have Blaney win, then Scott win, then me win.

It’s pretty funny that it played out like that. Yeah, it’s a team that works hard. It’s amazing the results that keep coming, but it’s not when you see how they work. It’s not like they waste money in any area. They run very lean but extremely efficiently.

I feel fortunate and lucky to be a part of that because if you look at it, there’s only two teams that win championships in this series, and Penske is one of them.

To be in one of these teams, but for me to be with Penske, yeah, I’m very fortunate.

Q. At the beginning of your career obviously this track was a little bit of a struggle for you. Can you walk through your process of now you’re a winner here, and does it mean anything extra to you to finally get a win here?

WILL POWER: It’s funny because I was trying to win this for so long. Even last year I finished second. I think I finished second a few times before the repave, trying really hard to win. I didn’t really think I’d win today.

You know how life goes, it just happens like that. Yeah, been trying to win this one for a long time. Stoked to tick that box. I’ve won a lot of races at a lot of tracks. When you tick a box at a track you haven’t won on, it feels pretty good.

Q. Second groove came in for a little while after the restart. What would it take to make that all day? Softer tires? Another notch of downforce?

WILL POWER: I just wonder if we’re just too heavy, the car is simply too heavy now. Then when we add the downforce, it overloads the tire. That’s sort of the predicament.

I feel like if we were 200 pounds lighter, you could run more downforce, run a softer tire. There’s a lot of things that would go toward being able to.

I think that should be and probably is a big focus of the new car coming in a couple years, is to knock a lot of weight. It’s hard to, but I think they really need to focus on that.

Formula 1 is trying to do the same thing, trying to knock a lot of weight out of their car. If you saw the racing at the beginning of this year, which is the lightest we’ve been for a bit, a lighter gearbox casing and bell housing, it was pretty fierce, good, hard racing. It was a lot more moves and closer racing.

I just wonder if that’s what it is. Yeah, even with this package, yeah, maybe just a softer tire might just work with this downforce level. Just a softer tire. If it degrades, people go out. You can roll to the outside.

I don’t know what the answer is, but we certainly got to do something for next year. Yeah, we went from the best oval race we would have all season to potentially the least amount of passing, yeah.

Q. How gratifying or fun is it to win a race? You just kind of did your thing, it fell your way.

WILL POWER: Yeah. Once I saw the yellow come out, I thought that this is very good for us. At last saving a ton of fuel worked for me. I’ve had a few races this year where I’m definitely going longer than anyone and then a yellow falls before anyone pits. You’re like, Oh.

This time it worked out perfectly, which I had that feeling. If there’s going to be a yellow, it’s going to be through those sequences. So if you can go really long, someone is going to make a mistake on the apron, the out-lap, the in-lap, they’re going to have to go yellow.

Yeah, that was the plan. Starting where I was, knowing how hard it was to pass, my plan is I’m going to sit back and save as much fuel as I can.

Q. You mentioned the change in the racing style from last year. This race kind of reminded me of some of the recent races at Gateway. You really don’t try to overtake lap traffic. Can you describe what it’s like to manage the traffic?

WILL POWER: That was a tough balance. Like, I was basically backing the corner up and just getting on the throttle really early. Every time I would come out of the corner, it was a big run. He would close up there, which you couldn’t really do anything. It’s usually when someone gets a big run on you.

Trying to keep backing up. Five to go, a bunch of cars battling and started really to back up. This is going to be interesting, but I did my best. I was keeping an eye on him and just trying to keep that gap to get big exits.

Yeah, it is a pity. Clearly faster than the group in front of us. You just can’t do anything. You can take a bit of a risk. Two cars got by Palou and myself, lappers. You can do it. But if we ran hard, you couldn’t. We were sitting back, saving fuel. You simply need a second lane.

If there’s a coating we can use or something, but a second lane would like this race amazing, as it has been in years past.

I don’t know if you can speed up the degradation process of a track. I heard they’re going to resurface the whole thing in a couple years. Does that make it better for us? Maybe. Maybe you can start high. I don’t know.

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations, Will.

WILL POWER: Thank you.

THE MODERATOR: Our third-place finishing driver as well, Scott McLaughlin. Backing up his win from last night.

Congratulations, Scott. Nice weekend. Track record, pole, couple podiums. Your thoughts on race two here this afternoon?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, as soon as I saw that car on the inside of the apron, I knew we were pretty much screwed. You have to stay long to eliminate risk of a yellow. As soon as the yellow came out, I pretty much knew that, yeah, Alex was going to get me, along with Will, who hadn’t pitted yesterday.

That is what it is. It’s the game. You have them, you lose them. It’s just part of it. Yeah, really proud, man. This weekend was just exactly what we needed. I feel like we built some really nice momentum. Hopefully we can keep carrying this for the rest of the year.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Without that caution, did you think you would have had a better shot?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I was on the undercut. At the end of the day, I mean, I would have come out in front of Alex. Will would have had to pit in a couple laps’ time. That’s just how it rolls, man.

Yeah, it’s part of the deal. You just roll with it. I’ve won a race by a delayed yellow. I’ve lost a race now. It’s just part of the deal. I think everyone will have one or two of those in their career.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: No, you definitely can (laughter). Don’t worry about that.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: That wasn’t a shot at you, by the way. I think you’re an INDYCAR driver.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: You’re like 75. Close.

ALEX PALOU: That’s good. We still have four chances this year, so…

Q. Do you think what’s happened here and what happened at Texas Motor Speedway, you can run the same road courses maybe as NASCAR, but it’s very difficult to run the same ovals because what they try to do to make their cars work on ovals seems to be a detriment for you guys?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: The outside lane can work in the first 5, 10. I saw Ericsson using it to get a pass on Will and a few other things behind these two.

But personally, like, Firestone do an amazing job for us. We need to somehow work a way to get the second lane to work. That’s after 30, 40 laps. Whether that’s a compound that goes on the racetrack or something that acts with our tire and allows us to continue running that second lane.

Like, that thing worked. I passed three cars today on the outside of the restart. Like, it does work. I think it will work through the race if you can just eliminate some of the excess rubber that goes on there.

I think the package could help. I think INDYCAR could go to work with downforce levels, working with Firestone on a few other things. But you just can’t blame the track because at the end of the day they have to repave this at some time. That’s just how it is.

If we can somehow get our cars working when a repave happens and know what we need to do to make it work, we won’t run into these issues.

I feel like we go into it and not do the right amount of study or whatnot to get it done and to get it to work. That’s not a shot at the sport, not a shot at anything. It’s working together with the amazing people and the geniuses we have up and down pit lane. It’s just a matter of making it work.

Q. Scott, tell me about points and championship. You came in 105 points down this weekend. You cut that almost in half. You’re in the game.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, this bloke next to me doesn’t make many mistakes. When he does, you have to capitalize. You’re an INDYCAR driver (smiling).

No, I think we knew we would be there, thereabouts. Qualifying was our first objective. We managed to put ourselves in a good spot. I firmly believe, we probably would have led that race in the second stint as well and be under control as much as we did the first stint.

We could easily have gotten two wins, but we got two podiums and one win. That’s a great day. I come into some tracks now… Gateway, Toronto. Portland I’ve won before. I feel really strong the end of the season. A couple ovals as well. So, yeah, it’s anyone’s game.

Q. About what we could do to make the track better, I understand when you tested here two weeks ago you were really happy with what was happening then. You were using the second lane well. Is that not true?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: No.

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NEWTON, Iowa (July 14, 2024) – Iowa Speedway hasn’t been kind to Meyer Shank Racing’s (MSR) NTT INDYCAR SERIES efforts over the last few years and Sunday’s race was more of the same for the Ohio-based team.

Comprised of two 250-lap races that ran Saturday and Sunday, the Hy-Vee Onestep 250 featured high temperatures and tight racing with long green-flag stints that left passing opportunities hard to find.

David Malukas (No. 66 AutoNation / Arctic Wolf Honda) rebounded after Saturday’s opening-lap spin that ended his day, using a ninth-place starting spot to earn finish 13th in his fourth series race with MSR. The result was the second-best of the season for the #66 car and the best for an MSR machine at Iowa since the 2020 campaign.

Meanwhile a promising day for Felix Rosenqvist (No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda) went by the wayside after 195 of 250 laps, as he retired with a mechanical issue. Rosenqvist, who carried Eric Church’s Outsiders Radio SiriusXM channel on the No. 60 MSR machine for the double-header, started fifth and ran in the top five for the first fuel stint of the race, but a caution saw at the end of the pit cycle saw him drop to ninth.

The schedule provides no immediate relief as MSR will head north of the border next week, wrapping up a three-weekend streak of racing with the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto, which takes place on the streets of the Canadian city. Qualifying takes place on Saturday 2:45 p.m. E.T., with the race broadcast set for 1p.m. on Peacock. The races, along with all other INDYCAR action can be heard live on Sirius XM Radio, Channel 218.

Meyer Shank Racing Driver Quotes:

Felix Rosenqvist: “We started out pretty good, we were sitting P5. On the first sequence we lost a lot, we’ll have to see what happened there. I think we were a little slow in the pits and we lost a few spots and then we lost a few on the restart. Not ideal but pretty encouraging pace.”

David Malukas: “We just finished race 2 and completed a whole race this time. The guys did an incredible job putting the car back together. Of course going into today we knew the car wasn’t going to be exactly what it was. We didn’t really have the set up and everyone had information from race 1 which we didn’t. I struggled to keep up on the restarts. Decent points day for the 66 car and we’ll go on to Toronto.”

NEWTON, Iowa. (July 14, 2024) – The ABEL Motorsports team fought through a myriad of outside issues during Saturday’s INDY NXT by Firestone Iowa 100, with Yuven Sundaramoorthy leading the driver trio with his fourth top 10 finish in the past five races.

Racing on a recently partially repaved circuit, several teams experienced tire blistering during Friday’s practice session, prompting INDYCAR – in consultation with series partner Firestone – to make several updates to Saturday’s race format. The race distance was adjusted from 75 to 55 laps, with a 10-lap competition yellow after the leader completed Lap 15.

Jacob Abel (No. 51 ABEL Construction), second in INDY NXT points, took the green flag in seventh position, with Sundaramoorthy (No. 22 S Team Motorsports) in 14th and Taylor Ferns (No. 55 Bradford Allen) – in her series debut – in 18th.

With track temperatures nearing 120F, the trio knew that tire management would be key. Abel opted for caution at the start, tucking into eighth position, as Sundaramoorthy and Ferns held their ground.

Two cars tangled in Turn 2 on Lap 13, with the field navigating a significant debris field as the yellow came out. Once the debris and resulting oil dry finally cleaned, the race returned to green with 10 laps remaining. As soon as he got back up to speed, Abel knew he had an issue, coming to pit lane to replace a punctured right rear tire. Sundaramoorthy and Taylor continued to battle, but the race went back to yellow with two laps remaining when another car found the wall. At the checkered flag, Sundaramoorthy had come home in 10th, with Abel 15th and Ferns 16th.

“We set up the car for long run pace in qualifying, which ended up starting us in the back,” said Sundaramoorthy. “But we were hoping we would get a long run to work our way forward. It didn’t quite happen that way with the yellows, which was a little unfortunate, but we had pace, so just going to look on the bright side today. There’s a lot of luck that goes into this sport and we didn’t get on the good side of luck today, so maybe next time.”

“We were fine early on, just saving our tires, and obviously the puncture was pretty bad luck,” said Abel. “We were going too slow during the yellow so it wasn’t apparent until we went back to green. Just a really frustrating day.”

“We lost the test day to rain but I had confidence in myself going into the weekend that we’d be alright,” said Ferns. “Unfortunately, the negative circumstances kept tumble-weeding, things that were out of our control. But the team worked with me, they were patient with me – more patient than I am with myself. I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t think I could be competitive, but we knew it was going to be a battle. I’m not out here whipping my sprint car around, and there are so many more variables. I’m really disappointed but we’ll be back.”

ABEL Motorsports thanks partners ABEL Construction Company, Advance Ready Mix, Boyd Cat®, S Team Motorsports, Quest Global and OMP for their continued support.

Next up for ABEL Motorsports and the INDY NXT by Firestone will be the Outfront Showdown at World Wide Technology Raceway near St. Louis, MO., August 17 at 3:55 p.m. ET. The race will be streamed live in the U.S. on Peacock, while international viewers can watch via INDYCARLIVE, with INDYCAR Radio available at indycar.com and on Sirius XM.

About ABEL Motorsports: Team principal Bill Abel began racing motocross in 1972, earning numerous championship titles as he continued the family racing tradition. In 2015, ABEL Motorsports was launched, starting in the USF2000 series and building up the junior open wheel ladder. The team captured the inaugural Formula Regional Americas Championship with driver Kyle Kirkwood in 2018.

ABEL Motorsports currently competes in the INDY NXT by Firestone series, the official development series for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, led by third-generation driver Jacob Abel. The team made its INDYCAR debut in 2023 with driver RC Enerson in the Indianapolis 500. For more information visit the official team website at abelmotorsports.com.

About Abel Construction Company: ABEL Construction is one of the largest general contractors in Kentucky, holding licenses in thirteen states. The company has offices in Lexington, Kentucky and Indianapolis, Indiana, with the corporate office in Louisville. Their expertise spans many areas, including general contracting, construction management, design-build, Integrated Project Delivery (IPD), and facilities maintenance.

Abel Construction has helped build some of the region’s most recognizable landmarks. Their projects cover diverse sectors, including automotive, healthcare, post-secondary education, commercial, food/beverage, tech, and industrial/manufacturing. They prioritize client satisfaction, focusing on efficient project delivery regardless of size or cost. The company’s skilled professionals utilize cutting-edge technology and software to ensure successful outcomes. abelconstruct.com/.

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CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
HYVEE HOMEFRONT 250
HY-VEE DOUBLEHEADER WEEKEND
IOWA SPEEDWAY
NEWTON, IOWA
TEAM CHEVY RACE ONE RECAP
JULY 13, 2024

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN DOMINATES TO TAKE CHEVROLET TO VICTORY LANE IN RACE ONE AT IOWA SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVERS PATO O’WARD AND JOSEF NEWGARDEN COMPLETE PODIUM SWEEP

• Scott McLaughlin started his No. 3 XPEL Team Penske Chevrolet on the outside of the front row, took the lead exiting pit lane on lap 87 of the 250-lap race and never looked back to score his career-first win on an oval track since joining Team Penske in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES in 2021
• Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet and Josef Newarden, No. 2 Hitachi Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet gave Chevrolet a podium sweep finishing second and third respectively
• the win is the sixth win of McLaughlin’s career and the second of the 2024 season
• Team Chevy drivers claimed six of the top-eight finishing positions in tonight’s grueling race with drivers battling excessive heat and humidity in the race that started in the bright sunshine and ended just after dark
• Sunday sees the second of the two races, with the Hy-Vee One Step 250, airing live at 12 p.m. ET Sunday on NBC as well as broadcast on Peacock, INDYCAR Radio, and SiriusXM Channel 218

NEWTON, IOWA (July 13, 2024) – In what only can be described as scorching heat, Scott McLaughlin was a man on a mission. Since moving to America in 2021 and joining Team Penske behind the wheel of a Chevrolet powered INDYCAR after a tremendous career in Australian Super Cars, the Kiwi has always said he would honestly be able to say he was an INDYCAR driver after he won on an oval.

Tonight on the very fast .875 of a mile Iowa Speedway, he checked that goal off of his to-do list. Leading 164 of the 250-lap race, McLaughlin credited his team with getting him out of pit lane first and he never looked back during the race that was slowed six times by caution for a total of 66 laps.

Giving Chevrolet a sweep of the podium for the second time this season were last weekend’s winner from Mid-Ohio, Pato O’Ward followed by Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden.

It was a strong night for Chevrolet scoring six of the top-eight finishers. It is the 12th victory in 15 Iowa races for the 2.2 liter twin turbo V6 engine. It is the sixth win of the season for the Bowtie Brand.

Race Two, the Hy-Vee One Step 250, will air live at 12 p.m. ET Sunday on NBC as well as broadcast on Peacock, INDYCAR Radio, and SiriusXM Channel 218.

TEAM CHEVY TOP-10 RACE RESULTS:
Pos. Driver
1st McLaughlin
2nd O’Ward
3rd Newgarden
5th Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 AskROI Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet
6th Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 Sexton Properties AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet
8th Alexander Rossi, No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (QUOTES)

MARK STIELOW, DIRECTOR MOTORSPORTS COMPETITION PROGRAMS:

“What a tremendous start the Iowa doubleheader weekend! Congratulations to Scott McLaughlin and the entire crew of the No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet on a dominating win in Race One! To capture a Chevrolet podium sweep with Pato in second and Josef in third and six of the top-eight finishing positions just continues to show the hard work that our Chevrolet engineering team in conjunction with all of our Chevrolet powered teams continue to do that is producing strong cars that are capturing race wins and podiums.

“Now we have Race Two tomorrow in the heat of the day. We are ready for another great race on the Iowa short track.”

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN, NO. 3 XPEL TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – RACE WINNER:

THIS ONE IS SPECIAL AND SCOTT IS GOING TO ENJOY IT

“Heck yeah, give me a minute. The Xpel Chevy was unreal and what got it done tonight was the pit stops by the team. Got me out in front of (Brian) 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 that 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.”

WHEN YOU BREAK THROUGH AND DO SOMETHING YOU HAVEN’T DONE BEFORE, WHAT ARE THE POSSIBILITIES NOW?

“I wasn’t going to call myself and INDYCAR driver until I won on an oval, so I am going to call myself an INDYCAR driver now. If you don’t mind. Hopefully the flood gates open now, because we bloody need them to because we are a bit behind in the championship, but we will see how we go. “That was unreal. I’m bloody pumped. It was all them (the No. 3 Team Penske team). That’s a team win. Had a great car, and I’m very lucky as a driver. I’m just the space between the steering wheel and the seat. The team pit stops were unreal. They worked very hard on those, and we’ve been getting better and better. Just super proud of the team. I’m stoked. All the Thirsty 3’s fans out there, we got on the moon, so enjoy it. That’s awesome.”

PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN CHEVROLET, FINISHED SECOND:

IT SEEMED LIKE YOU WERE CLOSING IN ON SCOTT THERE AT THE END, DID YOU HAVE ANYTHING FOR HIM IF YOU COULD HAVE GOTTEN TO HIM?

“The car had more, and I was super, super happy with it all race and you just can’t freaking do anything. With no two lanes. Its just a one lane race track and if you try anything, you are probably going to end up in the wall. So, not worth the risk of it. We just made our moves in the pits and the guys did phenomenal jobs with awesome pit stops and I just kept it clean on the track really. These guys gave me the opportunity to be on the podium today, so just super stoked and yeah, Arrow McLaren, let’s go.”

DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU GUYS HAVE TURNED THE CORNER AND HIT YOUR STRIDE HERE AT THE END OF THE YEAR?

“I have the car and the team to do it, I just don’t know if we have the track position tomorrow to really…..we need that little door to open to get in front of everybody. We just need an opportunity on a restart or something and that is where we can get it done. The car is more than capable, and I have some of the best guys in the business so let’s get it done tomorrow. “Very tricky today. Sadly, it wasn’t a two-lane racetrack like it usually is. It was a bit tough to kind of get by people once we were kind of just in a train. Super pumped about the pit stops. The guys did an amazing job. Our Arrow McLaren No. 5 is really, really quick today. Tomorrow we’re starting seventh which is one position where we started from today, so I think we can get something done.”

JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 HITACHI ASTEMO TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED THIRD:

“It was a good race. I think we ran out of time and a little bit of racetrack tonight. It’s always great being here at Iowa. I absolutely love this track. It’s always been good for us in INDYCAR. We’ve got a great turn out here. We’ve got people from the state. I love coming to Des Moines to visit, and we’ve got people coming from all over to watch this race. I hate that we came up short, but you can’t start 23rd on a night like tonight. I’m disappointed but Scott (McLaughlin) did a great job. Still a Team (Penske) victory. We fought all the way to the end. We got to third, and the good news is tomorrow we start a little bit higher. Hopefully we can get there to the top step tomorrow.”

RINUS VEEKAY, NO. 21 ASKROI ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED FIFTH:

“I felt good. It was a hard race. It was just a matter of managing staying out of the trouble and we had some good restarts, too. There’s not going to be a second lane tomorrow. It’s going to be the same characteristic race, but it’s funny how today ended up being two cautions in the window for everyone. Haven’t done a hard in or out of the pits, so we’ll probably have to do that tomorrow for the first time. The car was great. We were really quick, and I could attack on the restarts. Great, great job by the pit crew, of course. It’s nice to get back into the top-five. Last time, I think, was Mid-Ohio in 2022.”

SANTINO FERRUCCI, NO. 14 SEXTON PROPERTIES AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED SIXTH:

“I think it goes to show the No. 14 is back on the short ovals, baby. We got Parnelli Jones riding on the side of us, and Godspeed for him. Honestly, he was probably driving it more than me tonight, let’s be honest. I was just so fired up. Not in the right headspace. Boss came on the radio, basically yelling at me to get on with it and do my job. Reminded me that I’m one of the best, especially around this track. We made it happen.”

ALEXANDER ROSSI, NO. 7 ARROW MCLAREN CHEVROLET, FINISHED EIGHTH:

“In a race like today, everything comes down to qualifying and track position. We just had a tough stop, which happens in this sport, and we struggled to make ground up from there. I think the No. 7 VELO Arrow McLaren Chevrolet was capable of fighting for the podium, but unfortunately our race got away from us.”

NOLAN SIEGEL, NO. 6 ARROW MCLAREN CHEVROLET, FINISHED 12TH:

“I am overall happy with the way that race went. Lost a little ground on some of the restarts at the end, or we could have been solidly in the top 10. The car was super-fast, so really, really happy with the balance in the car with all the changes that we made and how the race was managed. So, honestly went really well, it was just my first oval race in INDYCAR and there is some stuff to learn from the veterans I was racing against. So, learned a ton, will soak it all in and we will try and go and be in the top 10 or top five tomorrow.”

STING RAY ROBB, NO. 41 GOODHEART VET/PRAY.COM AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 15TH:

“Really good day here. Just really disappointed we couldn’t hold on to those spots at the end of the race. We raced to the front really well, and thought we had a top-10 in our sights, just coudln’t hold on to the rears for some reason on those last few restarts. We’ll go back and look and figure out what we need to do for tomorrow. The beautiful thing about this weekend is we get two chances to go forward. Really good points day for us. Super proud of the Goodheart Chevy team, and I think we’re going to be good in the points by the end of the weekend.”

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON BUSINESS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 18TH:

ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 GUYCARE ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 19TH:

ROMAIN GROJEAN, NO. 77 JUNCOS HOLLINGER CHEVROLET, FINISHED 24TH:

AUGUSTIN CANAPINO, NO. 78 JUNCOS HOLLINGER CHEVROLET, FINISHED 26TH:

PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:

Scott McLaughlin

Pato O’Ward

Josef Newgarden

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Joining us, the champion of tonight’s race, Scott McLaughlin.

Scott, congratulations. Your thoughts?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, just checked off probably one of my biggest goals that I had this year personally. Super proud. At the end of the day I did the job in some ways from my perspective, but it was a team win. They put me out in front and got me the lead. I was able to show how good our car was just controlling the pace at the front.

Yeah, obviously not a race that we’re used to seeing in Iowa, but we’ll move forward and know that we got a good car for tomorrow. I think even better when the sun’s out. Hopefully we can carry it on and win again.

THE MODERATOR: So many restarts. Nerve-wracking.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah. One of them I left it in my caution fuel gauge, too. That’s why Colton got beside me. That was mine. I could have thrown that away. I was very lucky.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You came into this night with five career INDYCAR victories. On the broadcast you said you couldn’t call yourself an INDYCAR driver until you got a win on an oval.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I always felt like that. It’s correct. I felt like an open-wheel driver, but an INDYCAR driver is someone that can win on all three racetracks. Thankfully very proud to say I’ve won on an oval now, along with a road and street course. Proud moment for me.

It’s taken a lot of hard work, work hard behind the scenes to be better. Whether it’s here or with the old surface, Texas, any of the other ovals, I feel like I’ve been really strong, just haven’t quite finished it off.

Yeah, we were able to do that today. Thankful to my team who really got me out in front with some rapid pit stops.

Q. It’s safe to say you feel like a complete driver now and you didn’t before?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: There’s room for improvement all the time. I’m nowhere near a complete driver. I just feel like I’m an INDYCAR driver now, or I’m proud to say that I am. Ultimately everyone wants to win on an oval. It’s exhilarating, most fun racetracks some days.

Those two laps qualifying today, it’s just up there with Indy, exhilaration terms, how fast it is, how quick it is. It’s just a little bit shorter and a little bit less to start.

It’s a lot of fun. You get a lot of enjoyment from oval racing. I think it’s the backbone of the sport.

Q. After so many podiums on ovals, how much was that eating away at you, or was it not in the back of your mind?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Especially after losing Texas in ’22, that hurt for a long time. You sometimes think if you ever get that chance again, you know how hard it is. Ultimately I’m in such a good race car, race team, thankfully we come with a really good oval package as a team.

At the end of the day I have two of the world’s best oval drivers in the same equipment. It’s a matter of beating them, which is tough to do. I feel like we’ve shown up since the start of the weekend with a really good car, a stranglehold on what I want from the car.

Before qualifying today I had confidence I could post some really good laps. In the race I was biding my time, saving fuel when I needed. Thankfully we got out in front of Herta.

Q. What additional work did you do in the off-season to help you get better on ovals?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Just a lot of tape and understanding, listening to spotter’s calls, working with my spotter. My spotter is at Indy, as well. Working with Simon Pagenaud has been a huge help for me and taught me a lot. He’s a huge feather in my cap, in my corner. Very lucky to have him. He’s been an open book.

To get my first oval win, I don’t think that’s by coincidence. It’s because I started working with Simon. He’s been a massive help. Then Benny, my engineer, a guru with car setup. An old IRL guy. He loves this sort of stuff. I really enjoy working with him.

Q. When you’re out in front like that, have a good lead, what do you want in your head at that point from the spotter? Were you frustrated when those yellows started falling towards the end?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, I mean, the first one, I was it kind of splits — looked after my tires a bit. I knew it spaced me out from the back markers as well. Probably most likely wouldn’t catch the back of the pack.

At the end of the day I’ve worked really hard with my spotters, especially Adam. Adam has been in my corner from 2021. From my first ROP at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, he’s been my guy. Along with Rick Mears and everyone, whatnot.

Simon again, he was one of the guys that said you have to work with your spotters, get a language. We have the same language every oval. It’s the same whether it’s 10 to go, a hundred to go, whether it’s tight or whether I got a gap. It’s the same temperament.

Adam, I fully believe he’s one of the best. Don’t ever want to lose him. Make sure we do (indiscernible) our pockets and pay him.

Q. How close did you think it was on pit road? Colton came down the backstretch ahead of you.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I said, I think I got him. You always believe it. Doesn’t matter if you are behind him. You just say that you did. I believe this time I was in front of him. Must have been a whisker. I don’t know what it was. Yeah, it was a bee’s thing.

Q. Scott, you seem to have confidence in your car, know you were strong. I remember something about last year where you sat down with Newgarden and went over video. He gave you some coaching. Has that helped or played out?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yes, that was before last year’s Iowa. I wouldn’t say it’s helped. It probably helped me in ’23 here especially. It gave me an understanding of where I can trust the air and a few things.

I think Josef probably kicks himself because he probably gave me a bit too much information. Ultimately you’ve got to use it every chance you get.

Yeah, I think any bit of advice I get from my of my teammates, whether it’s Will, Josef, Rick, Simon, anyone like that, you take it. I’ve been a sponge ever since I was here in INDYCAR.

Oval racing, I never raced on ovals until I came here to America and raced INDYCAR. It’s a hell of a step up from what I was doing. Never on a dirt track or anything like that. Try to understand it, trust it, it takes a while. This year I’m in a position where it’s really clicked. I’m fully trusting it, regardless of temps or whatever.

Q. You mentioned Pagenaud. Team Penske has been wanting to have multiple drivers winning on ovals. This is a big sign that we know with Penske with all three drivers now can get this done on ovals.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Like I said before, he’s been unreal for me, as you know. Such a good teacher. It’s special to work with someone like that. For him to basically give me everything, it’s crazy.

You should see the notes I get. He sends me notes every morning before I go on track. I don’t even have time to read it sometimes. It’s crazy. It’s like essays, longer than your reporting stories. It’s crazy.

Ultimately I treasure them. I save them. I’ll never give them to anyone else ’cause they’re just that good. Yeah, I’m very proud to do it for him, do it for Benny as well. Benny has been a huge help for me in that regard, Benny Bretzman. Good team.

I’m very thankful to have the people, blessed to have the people in my corner. That goes from the people I work with, but then I’ve got my wife, soon to be dad. All that stuff. It puts into perspective. It’s called winning races, but it’s always good having good people in your corner.

Q. What does it mean to be part of the success that Team Penske has had here also with Ryan Blaney?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Blaney texted me we’re corn brothers now. He was one of the first guys to text me. Great friend of mine. I was picking his brain a lot about the track and whatnot.

Ultimately I got a chance, a lifeline to come over here to America, achieve a dream. But I had to deliver. You’re expected to win on all tracks for Penske. It was getting pretty slim for me on the ovals. It’s just nice to deliver when you need to and have the chance to.

Yeah, we’ll keep rolling. Hopefully we can get another one tomorrow.

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP SpoTHE MODERATOR: Pato O’Ward joins us, second runner-up finish of the season, second straight podium, 24th of his career. Pato will start seventh tomorrow.

Josef Newgarden started 22nd tonight, finishing third. Third podium of the season, 55th of his career.

Pato, your thoughts on this evening?

PATO O’WARD: Yeah, it was a lot less physical race than what I was expecting. I think tomorrow will be hotter, you’ll see a difference in the cars with tire deg and stuff like that.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t bummed about the race and how it raced. Really tough to get that second lane working. Compared to I don’t know how many on-track passes we had last year, probably not even a 10th of that. That was a bit frustrating because I thought we had a very strong car, definitely a car that was capable of winning. Just no way to get around a car.

Yeah, awesome job by the guys in the pits. That’s truly what got us in this position to fight for the podium. We’re starting somewhere around the same place tomorrow, so see what we can make happen.

THE MODERATOR: Josef, you were able to make up a ton of spots. Thoughts on tonight?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, tough night. I think for us on the 2 car, we ran out of time and real estate, so… I wish we had maybe one more fuel stint, would have helped us, at least if you’re looking at tonight specifically and the setup.

It was a great recovery by the team. My goodness, they were really good in the pits, like really, really good. If Pato’s guys were good, mine must have been double as good. I made up probably 80% of my position in the pits tonight.

They’ve been good all year. Tonight they really brought it and we needed it. You can’t start 22nd, especially this year. If it was last year, I would have been okay starting 22nd. This was like almost the kiss of death this year to start that far back. That was the tough part for us.

Tomorrow we’re a little bit higher. I’m excited about that. I think we start 14th tomorrow. Not great by any means, but better than what tonight was.

Everyone did a super job. Really proud of Team Penske. Scott with the win. First and third on the podium. I don’t think we can be too disappointed as a group. A solid night for the team.

THE MODERATOR: Open it up for questions.

Q. Josef, you talked about how the pits helped you. How were you able to get around some guys?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Calculated risk tonight. You were flirting with disaster. It wasn’t a given. There wasn’t the real estate to use, just secondhand. It’s not like a second nature type thing you could use. You were risking the car every time you tried to move offline on somebody.

I did it a couple times. I had to. We had to take a little bit of risk to get forward. Even at the end I thought we could get another spot or two.

Look, our race car was fantastic. That’s always the difference maker. When you have the best car in the field, it’s easier to do what we did tonight. I think we had that. Like I said, we ran out of time and real estate.

The pit stops were the biggest part of it. That’s what got us the most. I think we put ourselves in position to make those pit stops what they were. We got a little bit on the racetrack. Tomorrow we need the same deal.

Q. Pato, at this point do you think they should just repave the entire track or what should be done before next year?

PATO O’WARD: I mean, I don’t think it’s up to me, is it? Probably up to NASCAR. I don’t know who decided to do this change. They ruined a fantastic race.

The track is very enjoyable by yourself. The problem is it’s not very fun when you just can’t get by anybody. You can’t fight. It reminds me a bit of, like, a Texas 2020 I would say where there wasn’t really a second groove. You might get there on the restarts, which is what you saw. I flirted with it a little bit. I know Josef probably did. I saw Santino. I saw a couple cars doing it, especially for the lead.

I know Herta and McLaughlin were going at it a bit. When you’re done with that first lap after the restart, you can’t. Once you get the momentum going, it’s just accepting the wall basically, or at least really crapping your pants.

That’s just how it is.

Q. After qualifying, what really happened that caused you to qualify so poorly?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I think it’s been a timing issue. 50% of this year we have just been off sequence timing-wise. Qualifying was a result of not being in the right place when we rolled off the truck, then kind of running in circles a little bit.

It was productive circles. What we did on Friday was productive, but we were in the wrong spot right before we needed to go into qualifying.

You’re guessing a little bit on what you do then. We just didn’t get it perfect. The balance was way off, way off. It doesn’t take a lot to really lose lap time. I think I was 4/10ths off, which is pretty tiny even at Iowa for a massive imbalance.

I feel like we got ourselves in that situation in Mid-Ohio. It’s disappointing for me because we are a good group. I mean, I’ve got total faith in what we’re doing. The 2 team is strong. We have a good process. We just have had our timing off. That kills this weekend. If you qualify 22nd and 14th, it nearly kills this weekend. It’s tough when the timing is in the wrong place.

Q. When you started picking the cars off in the first laps, is that when you realized you had the best car?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I knew it in practice yesterday I had a really good race car. It’s what do we do for qualifying? The other unfortunate thing, I’m the first guy out. Just circumstantially the way this year has flowed. That is another timing issue. We’re sitting 10th in points.

It is like a cascading thing. It just keeps adding onto the pain. We don’t get anybody to look at. If I’m going second, two teammates to look at… If we’re guessing on the 2 car, at least we have something to guess with. We were the guy helping the other guys guess.

It’s the way it goes. It’s our own problem to deal with that we’re sitting that far back in points. I think that’s a reflection of what happened in qualifying today.

Q. Pato, on a couple of restarts, when you got on the power, the car did a little bit of a fishtail in the back end. Is that a result of the slippery track or the power coming down on this hybrid assist?

PATO O’WARD: No, I wouldn’t say it’s the hybrid. I would just say this race tire that we’re racing this weekend is quite I would say temperature sensitive. When they’re cold, like, they really are like, No, no, no thanks. They really reject anything that is like push, push, push. That’s probably just what it was.

Q. Pato, second in the points. Talk about this momentum and ride you’ve been on since the Indianapolis 500.

PATO O’WARD: After the 500 I just felt like it was a consecutive results of just very frustrating weekends. We kept getting caught up on issues that we weren’t even a part of them in the first place, we just kept getting caught there. There are blockades everywhere. Some people are driving like maniacs. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been that idiot many times in my journey.

For example, this weekend, where it’s so tough to pass, guys that want to make up spots have to take so much risk. That risk usually maybe you look like a hero, barely made it, or it ends up in yellows. That just seems like it’s been the story of the series the last few races.

Like Detroit. The start of Road America to me was very odd to have it at that track. Feels like there’s a lot of frustrated minds out there trying to make up positions. A lot of time you just get stuck so you’re trying to make it up I guess in the most condensed parts of the race.

Yeah, it feels really good to kind of get back into my normal form because I feel like after the 500, those three races were like I was finishing seventh, eighth, and you feel like you’ve done the race of your life, obviously it’s not the race of your life because you’re eighth.

Q. Josef, he said lunacy. What were the restarts like, knowing had you to pounce on that lap or two after the green?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I mean, I think it was difficult for everybody tonight. It’s hard to pin anything on anybody because it was tough for every car to make something happen. I don’t care. I thought our car was great and it was really difficult for us. I would imagine any person up and down the grid was fighting to make something happen on those restarts. That’s tough.

It’s very different to what it was last year. Last year you had a lot to work with. That’s why I think you saw so few cautions, a lot of racing, green flag running, not as many incidents.

It’s tough. Unfortunately I don’t think our car and our formula works super well for this type of track adjustment. We’re different than a Cup car. We’ve developed our car differently than they have. It doesn’t always mesh. It definitely didn’t mesh tonight. I think everybody was working hard and it was tough to make stuff happen.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, guys.

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NEWTON, Iowa (Saturday, July 13, 2024) – Yes, Scott McLaughlin wanted to win Saturday’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES race at Iowa Speedway, but after doing so he acknowledged wanting something much more, something he has been driven to earn since arriving in the U.S. nearly four years ago.

McLaughlin has wanted to belong in this series.

“I didn’t want to call myself an INDYCAR driver until I won on an oval,” he said after winning the Hy-Vee Homefront 250 presented by Instacart. “So, I’m going to call myself an INDYCAR driver now.”

McLaughlin earned that distinction in style, too, dominated the 250-lap race and holding off Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward through a series of late-race restarts. Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden, who had won four of the past five Iowa races and nine of the past 12 oval races, including the past two Indianapolis 500s presented by Gainbridge, finished third with six-time series champion Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing finishing fourth.

Look at those McLaughlin had to fend off: They’re among the best oval racers in this series with a combined 39 such victories. Yes, McLaughlin now belongs.

“That’s a big deal today,” the New Zealand-born Team Penske driver said. “I’ve been working for that for a couple of years. It takes a lot of hard work.”

McLaughlin gets a chance at the Iowa sweep on Sunday when he starts the Hy-Vee One Step 250 presented by Gatorade from the pole. He also will have another chance to climb higher in the standings as Saturday’s win pushed him forward three positions to fifth place with seven races remaining.

McLaughlin praised the crew of the No. 3 XPEL Team Penske Chevrolet for their hand in the victory. It was the team’s quick service on the race’s first stop under caution that helped McLaughlin edge pole sitter and race leader Colton Herta by a foot at the blend line at pit exit. McLaughlin was never headed.

“What got it done tonight was the pit stops by the team,” McLaughlin said. “They got out in front of Herta there and then we showed our pace.”

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. His margin over O’Ward at the finish was .4814 seconds.

Newgarden made a heroic bid for a seventh win at this track. After qualifying 22nd, he used a big jump at the start to gain eight positions, and the benefit was being in front of a cluster of drivers who were involved in a crash in Turn 2.

Meyer Shank Racing’s David Malukas, who has had his best series results on short tracks such as this, lost control of the No. 66 AutoNation/Arctic Wolf Honda and drifted up the track in Turn 2. Unable to escape being collected were Juncos Hollinger Racing teammates Agustin Canapino and Romain Grosjean.

Running several positions behind Malukas, who had qualified 15th, was Christian Lundgaard. The driver of the No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing similarly spun when his left-side tires ran too low on the track, although he did not make contact with another car. Still, he lost 17 laps due to the crew making repairs on pit road.

The second caution came as a result of Graham Rahal’s slow No. 15 One Cure Honda, the result of a cracked wheel. That allowed the field to come to pit road together, and McLaughlin edged Herta on exit by about a foot. For the second consecutive week, series leader Alex Palou had gearing issues with his No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, this time dropping him from third place to 19th.

Palou quickly regained a half-dozen lost positions before trouble found him on Lap 176. In a stunning situation, the two-time and reigning series champion lost control of his car on the front straightaway and slid into the outside wall. His 23rd-place finish was his worst in two-place years, a span of 36 races, when he finished 27th in the 2022 race at Road America.

Palou’s cushy lead in the standings took a bit of 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.

Herta started on the pole on an oval track for the first time in his career, and he led the first 86 laps before McLaughlin edged past him on that pit stop. Later, Herta’s car picked up a tire vibration, costing him second place. He was on pit road for a new set of tires when Palou crashed, forcing him to restart at the end of the lead lap.

On Herta’s charge forward, he did a half-spin in Turn 3 but somehow saved the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda from bigger trouble. He lost only one position in the moment and finished 11th.

Santino Ferrucci had one of the impressive drives of the race. He was in fifth place when he was dealt a stop-and-go penalty for jumping out of line on the first restart. That dropped him to 22nd, but he rallied over the rest of the race to finish sixth.

Just ahead of Ferrucci at the finish was Ed Carpenter Racing’s Ed Carpenter. His boss, Ed Carpenter, had a tougher end to the race, his car suffering significant damage when collected in a restart tangle between Power and Pietro Fittipaldi.

Power, a seven-time pole winner at this track, finished 18th, his race including a mid-race pit road speeding penalty. He, like the rest of the field, gets another chance Sunday.

The Hy-Vee One Step 250 presented by Gatorade takes place tomorrow at noon ET, live on NBC, Peacock and INDYCAR Radio Network.

Hy-Vee Homefront 250 presented by Instacart Race Results

NEWTON, Iowa (Saturday, July 13, 2024) – Results Saturday of the Hy-Vee Homefront 250 presented by Instacart NTT INDYCAR SERIES event on the 0.894-mile Iowa Speedway, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):

1. (2) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 250, Running
2. (6) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 250, Running
3. (22) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 250, Running
4. (5) Scott Dixon, Honda, 250, Running
5. (13) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 250, Running
6. (8) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 250, Running
7. (19) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 250, Running
8. (7) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 250, Running
9. (10) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 250, Running
10. (9) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 250, Running
11. (1) Colton Herta, Honda, 250, Running
12. (15) Nolan Siegel, Chevrolet, 250, Running
13. (11) Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, 250, Running
14. (27) Kyffin Simpson, Honda, 250, Running
15. (24) Sting Ray Robb, Chevrolet, 250, Running
16. (21) Graham Rahal, Honda, 249, Running
17. (26) Katherine Legge, Honda, 249, Running
18. (4) Will Power, Chevrolet, 241, Running
19. (17) Pietro Fittipaldi, Honda, 228, Contact
20. (25) Ed Carpenter, Chevrolet, 228, Contact
21. (12) Linus Lundqvist, Honda, 209, Mechanical
22. (23) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 178, Contact
23. (3) Alex Palou, Honda, 175, Contact
24. (20) Romain Grosjean, Chevrolet, 48, Contact
25. (18) Jack Harvey, Honda, 28, Retired
26. (14) David Malukas, Honda, 0, Contact
27. (16) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, 0, Contact

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

Newton, Iowa (13 July 2024) – Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) continued its consistent NTT INDYCAR SERIES campaign at Saturday’s Hy-Vee Homefront 250 as Felix Rosenqvist (No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda) ran a workman-like 250 laps on his way to a 13th-place finish at Iowa Speedway.

Rosenqvist was in and around the top 10 all evening after starting 11th, climbing as high as ninth on the Lap 190 restart. The Swede, who carries Eric Church’s Outsiders Radio SiriusXM channel on the No. 60 MSR machine for the double-header race weekend, chased a top-10 position for 250 orbits of the .875-mile oval, but settled for a 13th-place result.

The finish was the fifth consecutive in the top-14 for Rosenqvist, who provisionally remains in the top-10 in series points leading to Sunday’s nightcap race at Iowa. Rosenqvist will start fifth in Sunday’s 250-lap event, after earning his fifth top-5 qualifying result of the 2024 season.

David Malukas (No. 66 AutoNation / Arctic Wolf Honda) suffered his first DNF of the season, spinning in Turn 2 on the opening lap and contacting the outside wall. The damage ended his race after just those turns, leaving him to finish 26th after earning the 14th starting spot in Saturday afternoon qualifying. The DNF was just the third of the 2024 season for MSR.

Malukas will start ninth in Sunday’s race, earning his spot on the second lap of Saturday afternoon’s qualifying session. The result set another MSR team standard, marking the first time in team history that two MSR drivers will start in the top 10 on an INDYCAR oval. It is the first time both drivers have top-10 grid spots since Detroit in 2022 (Helio Castroneves, Simon Pagenaud).

The second race of the weekend takes place on Sunday, less than 15 hours after the end of Saturday’s race, with the race broadcast set for Noon E.T. on NBC/Peacock. The races, along with all other INDYCAR action can be heard live on Sirius XM Radio, Channel 218.

Meyer Shank Racing Driver Quotes:

Felix Rosenqvist: “A little disappointed, we had a good car, but we kept losing positions on the restarts. I didn’t really use the high line, I didn’t feel like risking it to be honest, but it seemed to work for quite a lot of people. Really good pace, we just couldn’t really go anywhere. Tomorrow we are starting fifth so I think we can use out pace a bit better.”

David Malukas: “I made a rookie mistake. I had to check up on the start and didn’t anticipate it well, so I got on the curb and spun. We had a good start to the weekend and we were looking forward to a good race.”

NEWTON, Iowa (Saturday, July 13, 2024) – Louis Foster couldn’t have asked for a better ending to Saturday’s INDY NXT by Firestone at Iowa Speedway.

After patiently conserving his Firestone tires early in the 55-lap race, the series points leader swiped the lead from Andretti Global teammate James Roe with six-plus laps remaining and cruised to another victory in the No. 26 Copart/Novara Technologies car.

Foster won for the fifth time in the past seven races, and his other two results in this stretch are second-place finishes. To cap Saturday, the 20-year-old English driver saw his series lead swell to 77 points as his two closest competitors – Jacob Abel and Caio Collet – incurred contact.

Abel was fortunate to keep his No. 51 Abel Construction machine out of further harm’s way, but he lost three laps with the pit stop for repairs. Earlier in the race, Collet spun his No. 18 HMD Motorsports entry in front of fellow rookie Myles Rowe, and their wall contact ended both of their races. Abel finished 15th, Rowe 18th.

Meanwhile, Foster motored on without issue.

“We discussed prior to the race we were going to save tires throughout, so I wasn’t trying to (challenge) James – I was letting him get a gap so I could save my tires,” Foster said. “Towards the end, there was enough laps left where I knew if I killed my tires it wouldn’t be too much of a big deal.

“I just kept (the car) on the outside and he lifted (off the throttle) and I stayed through. He gave me really good racing room.”

The victory was Foster’s first on an oval track. It was his seventh series race win over the past two seasons.

The race was shortened by 20 laps to help the drivers manage their tires on a hot afternoon at a track that recently had its corners repaved. Nearly the entire field eclipsed the series’ two-lap record in qualifying, and the pole was nearly 7 mph quicker than the mark set by Colton Herta in 2017.

Roe, who earned his first series pole, led the first 49 laps of the race in the No. 29 Topcon entry and tied his career best with a second-place finish. Salvador de Alba Jr. finished third in the No. 2 Grupo Indi of Andretti Cape INDY NXT to give Michael Andretti’s organization contingent a sweep of the top-three finishers.

“Cool, sweet,” Foster said of the Andretti sweep. “Obviously, really good car, really good day for Andretti and really good for the championship. Super happy.”

Rowe’s car was struck twice in the race’s first 13 laps. Coming to the green flag to begin the race, his No. 99 HMD Motorsports with Force Indy machine was struck from behind by the No. 40 Patterson Dental Haven Go by SAAM entry of Jack William Miller. Rowe spun to the inside without additional contact.

Rowe mounted a hard charge, advancing from the back of the 18-car field to grab the 10th position. But then, while following Collet, he didn’t have space to maneuver around Collet’s spinning car in Turn 1, and their contact took both cars to the outside wall. The damage to both machines was significant enough to end their days, although neither driver was injured.

With two laps remaining, Miller lost control of his machine in Turn 3 and hit the outside wall, causing the race to finish under caution. He also was not injured.

A pair of rookie drivers for HMD Motorsports rounded out the top five. Callum Hedge finished fourth, Christian Brooks fifth.

Four races remain in the season. Next up is the Aug. 17 race at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois.