IndyCar
O’Ward Outduels Newgarden to Win Synk 275 powered by Sukup at Iowa Speedway
By INDYCAR Communications
NEWTON, IA (July 12, 2025) – Pato O’Ward again celebrated a victory in a monumental race at Iowa Speedway, this time at the expense of his NTT INDYCAR SERIES rival.
In the 100th series start of O’Ward’s career, the Arrow McLaren driver overcame Josef Newgarden’s dominating performance in the Synk 275 powered by Sukup with late-race execution featuring a pair of restarts in the final 14 laps.
This story is familiar. O’Ward and Newgarden continue to battle each other for race wins, with Newgarden’s signature win in the rivalry coming in the 2024 Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. He passed O’Ward on the last lap.
This time, it was O’Ward making the winning moves. He had a quicker final pit stop to overtake the driver who led the race’s first 232 laps and seemed on his way to a record-extending seventh race win here. Then, following a red flag to repair the track’s Turn 4 wall, O’Ward kept the Team Penske driver behind him on restarts with 14 and nine laps remaining.
O’Ward’s margin of victory in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet was .2352 of a second, the closest Iowa finish since 2007 when Dario Franchitti edged Marco Andretti by .0861 of a second.
In oval races where these two drivers finished first and second, O’Ward last got the better of Newgarden in 2021 at Texas Motor Speedway. He had finished second to Newgarden in four other oval races since that day in Fort Worth.
“Josef is the master at these races – he rules around here, so I knew that we had to be spot-on,” O’Ward said. “I was so precise on the in lap to beat him at his own game.
“We’ve had so many duels, Josef and I, but he has a percentage that comes out on top more. Today is the day that changes.”
Coincidentally, O’Ward scored his first victory at this short oval in 2022, and it was the 50th series start. Also that day, O’Ward had Team Penske drivers in his mirrors – it was Will Power followed by Scott McLaughlin. This time, O’Ward led a trio of Roger Penske’s men to the to the finish line: Newgarden, Power and McLaughlin, respectively.
While O’Ward won his first race of the season, he denied Team Penske its first win of the year. One of the three of them had won eight of the past nine series races at Iowa, including doubleheader sweeps each of the past two years. McLaughlin had charged from the last starting position – 27th – after crashing in qualifying earlier in the day.
Chevrolet had its best result of the season, finishing 1-2-3-4 and winning the first time this year.
Newgarden led more than 100 laps for the 14th time in his career and the 10th time at this track. He was disappointed to let this one get away.
“O’Ward got track position and that was game over,” he said. “It was as simple as that.”
The dash to the finish was set up by the Turn 4 accident of O’Ward’s teammate, Nolan Siegel. After running in the top 10 most of the race, Siegel spun into the wall, contact that damaged the energy-absorbing SAFER Barrier. INDYCAR issued a red-flag stoppage to preserve the remaining few laps as workers patched the wall.
O’Ward got a noticeable jump on Newgarden on the first restart, but PREMA Racing’s Callum Ilott drifted high on that lap and brushed the Turn 1 wall. As Ilott was able to get to the pits without much trouble, the race restarted with nine laps remaining.
Newgarden got a better run on O’Ward on that try, but on the second time around the No. 2 Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet almost got away from him in Turn 1. O’Ward was able to slip away a bit, eating up laps that would have been valuable to Newgarden’s bid.
Trailing the Penske cars to the finish was Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou, the series points leader who finished fifth. Palou lost seven points off his lead as O’Ward used the victory to jump to second in the standings, but the driver of the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda still holds a 106-point cushion with six races to go.
Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood took a big hit in both the race and in points when his No. 27 Sukup Honda veered hard into the Turn 1 wall on Lap 153. An issue with the right-front corner of the car appeared to cause the excursion. That was the second accident of the day as he crashed at the other end of the track after appearing to get too low in Turn 3.
Kirkwood not only lost a standings position to O’Ward, Palou pulled away by another 27 points, putting the season’s three-time winner 140 points in arrears.
On the race’s 75th lap, series rookie Jacob Abel saw his No. 51 Abel Construction Honda drift high in Turn 2, where he, too, hit the wall. Neither he nor Kirkwood were injured.
The second half of the weekend doubleheader will be staged Sunday with the Farm to Finish 275 powered by Sukup with coverage beginning at 1 p.m. ET on FOX, the FOX Sports app and the INDYCAR Radio Network.
IndyCar
Racing Notebook: IndyCar unveils DC race layout; announces single-car Fast Six qualifying in Texas and more
The NTT IndyCar Series is changing their Fast Six qualifying for the inaugural Grand Prix of Arlington plus the Series unveils the race course for the Freedom 250 in Washington D.C. Blue Envelopes with Indianapolis 500 tickets were mailed on Wednesday to fans around the Country. Conor Daly joins Dreyer and Reinbold Racing for Indy 500.
IndyCar unveils Washington D.C. layout
- The NTT IndyCar Series unveiled the course layout for the Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C. the Freedom 250 Grand Prix street circuit will feature a sweeping .4-mile frontstretch along Pennsylvania Avenue, framed by the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol. The pit lane area of the track will be adjacent to the track, on Pennsylvania Avenue, between Turns 1 and 2 on the circuit design. The IndyCar field will also race by the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, the National Gallery of Art and the National Archives.
Single car Fast Six qualifying in Arlington
- IndyCar also announced plans for single-car Firestone Fast Six qualifying at the inaugural Grand Prix of Arlington. The “knockout” format of Segments 1 and 2 will remain unchanged, the Firestone Fast Six segment will be adjusted to single-car, single-lap qualifying beginning with the sixth-fastest qualifier from Segment 2 and working toward the fastest from the previous round. With the update for the Streets of Arlington event, FOX Sports has agreed to expand its coverage of qualifying to a robust, two-hour window.
Indianapolis 500 tickets mailed
- Race Day tickets for the 110th running of the Indianapolis 500 were mailed Wednesday, March 11 from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Ticket Office. 33,000 Blue Envelopes were mailed to all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia and 32 countries around the world. Tickets for the 110th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge on Sunday, May 24, the Sonsio Grand Prix on Saturday, May 9 and all other Month of May events are available at IMS.com/Tickets or via the IMS Ticket Office at 317-492-6700.
Conor Daly joins DRR for Indy 500
- Conor Daly is joining Dreyer and Reinbold racing for the 110th Indianapolis 500. DRR and Daly made the announcement in partnership with Kingspan, a worldwide leader in high-performance building materials. Daly has 5 Top 10’s in twelve starts in the 500.
AVONDALE, AZ (March 7, 2026) – Josef Newgarden is reminding everyone that he and the No. 2 Chevrolet are the team to beat on short ovals in the NTT IndyCar Series after winning Saturday’s Good Ranchers 250 at Phoenix Raceway.
Newgarden only led 8-laps but charged to victory after taking fresh tires following a late caution when the leaders elected to stay on the track.
“We took tires, and the thing was like a rocket ship when it needed to be, right at the end of the race,” said an elated Newgarden in Victory Lane. “Hats off to the whole crew. I’m pumped.”
Newgarden’s charge was set-up when Andretti Global’s Will Power and Ed Carpenter Racing’s Christian Rasmussen were battling for the lead on lap 207. The front wing of Rasmussen’s No. 21 Splenda Stevia Chevrolet’s made contact with the right rear tire of Power’s No. 26 TWG Ai Honda, cutting Power’s tire and triggering the final caution.
Rasmussen and second place Kyle Kirkwood elected to keep track position and stayed on the track along with pole sitter David Malukas, Meyer Shank Racing’s Marcus Armstrong, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon and others.
Newgarden and crew elected to go for new tires, along with several others racing around him, as the speed difference between new and old tires were significant.
Rasmussen, who was one of the best cars in the field all day, led the restart on lap 218 but his car was damaged in the incident with Power and clearly was not as strong.
Kirkwood passed Rasmussen for the lead on lap 242 as Newgarden and his fresh tires were busy picking off Dixon, Armstrong and Malukas on their older tires.
“In the middle of the race, I don’t know that I was fully believing that we had the capability to win,” explained Newgarden. “We just kept working through it, and I’m like, ‘Look, if we get another opportunity, we’re going to be aggressive, we’re going to be on the offense.’
Newgarden certainly was on offense passing Kirkwood for the lead for good on lap 244 en route to his 33rd career win and first of 2026.
Kirkwood hung on for second and said they considered taking tires.
“We thought about it, but we were talking about it, and the pits opened,” said Kirkwood. “(Staying out) was the right thing to do at the time.”
Newgarden’s victory vaulted him to the top of the Championship standings, thanks in part to Alex Palou crashing out of the event early.
Palou, the defending and four-time series Champion, didn’t know Rinus Veekay had his nose beside the No. 10 DHL Honda and as Palou slid out towards the wall the pair made contact, turning the No. 10 into the wall. Palou finished 24th, his worst finish since he placed 25th last June in Detroit after contact eliminated him from that race. VeeKay suffered damage but was able to continue after losing a few laps in the pits for repairs.
Rasmussen faded to 14th in the end after leading 69-laps.
“We were the class of the field today – best car out there,” said Rasmussen. “It’s so frustrating because we should have won the race today.”
New up for the NTT IndyCar Series is the inaugural Java House Grand Prix of Arlington on Sunday, March 15 in Arlington, Texas. The temporary street circuit travels around AT&T Stadium, the home of the Dallas Cowboys, and Globe Life Field, the home of the Texas Rangers.
AVONDALE, AZ (March 6, 2026) – David Malukas is on the pole position for Saturday’s NTT IndyCar Series Good Ranchers 250 at Phoenix Raceway.
Malukas’ two-lap qualifying average of 175.383 mph in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet was just .1963-seconds quicker than teammate Josef Newgarden in the No. 2 Xpel Chevrolet as Team Penske locked out the front row.
“I think the track got in our favor a little bit,” explained Malukas. “It seemed like it (track conditions) was getting a bit worse. It feels so good. What a way to start our Phoenix race day tomorrow.”
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing is off to a great start after locking out Row 2 with Graham Rahal posting the third fastest average at 173.993 in the No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Honda.
Rahal’s RLL teammate rookie Mick Schumacher – competing in his first-ever oval race – surprised everyone by qualifying fourth at 173.667 in the No. 47 Honda.
“We knew what we had to do, and we managed to put a good couple of laps together,” said Schumacher, who’s first IndyCar race ended early after being the innocent victim of a Lap 1 crash.
“I’m excited to run the race,” said Schumacher. “It’s going to be a whole different situation in the race with traffic and everything, so it’s going to be tough.”
A disappointing qualifying effort for Chip Ganassi Racing as defending series Champion Alex Palou lines up 10th on the grid in the No. 10 DHL Honda with Scott Dixon five spots behind at 15th in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda. Their teammate Kyffin Simpson starts 19th. Surprising for a team that tested at Phoenix.
Andretti Global’s Will Power crashed on his qualifying attempt continuing his early season struggles with his new team.
Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist did not make a qualifying attempt after crashing his SiriusXM Honda during the first practice.
Saturday’s Good Ranchers 250 will be televised by Fox and can be heard on the IndyCar Radio network starting at 3 p.m. ET
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