Chevrolet drivers have seven consecutive victories at Iowa Speedway, with Team Penske scoring six of them. Pato O’Ward’s win in the second race of the 2022 doubleheader weekend for Arrow McLaren is the team outlier.
With 11 wins in its last 13 short-oval starts, Team Penske drivers land as favorites for the Hy-Vee INDYCAR Race Weekend doubleheader this Saturday and Sunday at Iowa Speedway.
Can anyone stop Penske’s three drivers this weekend?
With a newly repaved .894-mile track surface in the corners waiting, some drivers said the pair of 250-lap races could be a wildcard.
The Hy-Vee Homefront 250 presented by Instacart is at 8 p.m. ET Saturday; the Hy-Vee One Step 250 presented by Gatorade is at noon ET Sunday. NBC, Peacock and the INDYCAR Radio Network will provide live coverage of both races.
Favorites
Josef Newgarden (No. 2 Hitachi Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet)
Newgarden has scored six wins in 14 Iowa Speedway starts, including a sweep of last year’s doubleheader weekend. The Team Penske driver has also led 1,847 laps in those 14 races with at least 111 or more laps led in nine of the last 11 starts. A victor in 11 of the last 20 oval races overall, including the 108th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge on May 26, watch out for Newgarden this weekend.
Scott McLaughlin (No. 3 XPEL Team Penske Chevrolet)
McLaughlin has six top-five finishes in seven short-oval starts, including finishes of 22nd, third, second and fifth, respectively, at Iowa Speedway. With a pair of third-place finishes in the last three races this season, McLaughlin is surging.
Pato O’Ward (No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet)
O’Ward has three podium finishes in his last four Iowa Speedway starts, including a victory in the second race of the 2022 weekend. In 21 oval starts during his young NTT INDYCAR SERIES career, O’Ward has two wins, six runner-up finishes and 16 top-five results. Entering this race on the heels of his win at Mid-Ohio, O’Ward improved from an average finishing spot of 13.25 through the first four races to 5.2 over the last five.
Will Power (No. 12 Verizon Business Team Penske Chevrolet)
Power is 0-for-17 at Iowa Speedway and 1-for-8 at World Wide Technology Raceway. So why is he a favorite? Power has four podium finishes in his last five Iowa Speedway starts, with a worst finish of fifth in Race No. 1 last year.
Alex Palou (No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda)
Palou has never won on an oval, 0-for-21 in his NTT INDYCAR SERIES career. He is a favorite this weekend because he is getting stronger on circle tracks. Palou finished third in Race 2 last year and eighth in Race 1. With three top-eight finishes in his last four Iowa Speedway starts, he is the leading Honda player to beat the Chevrolet drivers. He has eight top-five finishes in nine starts this season.
Sleepers
Scott Dixon (No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda)
Dixon a sleeper? For starters, Iowa Speedway is one of only four active tracks where Dixon has never won. Being 0-for-19 classifies the six-time series champion a sleeper, not a favorite. Where Dixon avoids the dreaded “fade” category is having 16 top-10 finishes with a 6.5 average finishing result in 19 Iowa starts. Can he score his first Iowa victory this weekend? Since 2019 Dixon has finished second, second, fifth, fifth, fourth, sixth and sixth, respectively.
Santino Ferrucci (No. 14 AJ FOYT RACING/SEXTON PROPERTIES Chevrolet)
Ferrucci was only 26th and 22nd, respectively, at Iowa Speedway with this ride last season. That was before the Team Penske alliance. With how strong Team Penske has been at Iowa, Ferrucci could be the biggest beneficiary of that notebook. He has six top-10 finishes in nine races this season. That’s as many as AJ Foyt Racing had from 2021-23.
Colton Herta (No. 26 Gainbridge Honda)
Herta has never led a lap at Iowa Speedway but is confident that changes this weekend. Boasting a strong test last month, Herta hopes his Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian entry has improved its short-oval pace. If so, watch out. Herta has qualified well at Iowa, with four top-six starts in his last six tries. With three consecutive top-six finishes this season entering this weekend, Herta can be a factor Saturday and Sunday.
Marcus Ericsson (No. 28 Delaware Life Honda)
The worst Ericsson has finished at Iowa is 11th. He was fourth and ninth, respectively, last season. The Andretti Global driver gained seven spots in points from 19th entering June to 12th heading into the Iowa Speedway doubleheader. He finished second, ninth, 10th and fifth, respectively, in this stretch with an average finish of 6.5. He had an average finish of 19th in the five races prior.
Romain Grosjean (No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet)
With four Iowa Speedway starts with Andretti Global, Grosjean finished seventh, ninth, 11th and 12th, respectively. Driving Chevrolet power could help push Grosjean further up the grid.