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.
“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.”
SEE: Race Results
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 an early 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.