His margin of victory was 4.28 seconds, which would have been larger without a few caution flags mixed in.
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But the victor of IndyCar’s only previous short oval race this season, on the 1-mile oval at Phoenix International Raceway back in April, could use an encore of that outing to perform his usual second half comeback once more as he’ll start today’s race (5 p.m. ET, NBCSN) 90 points back of points leader Simon Pagenaud.
It also was the first win of the season for Newgarden, who finished second in Iowa in 2014 and 2015 and just missed winning the pole this weekend. We knew all day he was fast, but it wasn’t until the end until I got up to the front of the field (to see firsthand).
In between those events was the rain-delayed oval race at Texas Motor Speedway, which has an August 27 resumption date.
Brown earned his third Chicago win and 57th career victory with a final-round performance of 3.777 seconds at 321.19 miles per hour in his dragster to hold off J.R. Todd, whose Kalitta Motorsports racer trailed with a 3.798.
The 25-year-old took the lead early in the race and did not look back, leading an IndyCar record 282 laps.
“The Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing guys started this morning with a good auto after learning a lot from Max after his test here last week and Scott’s tire test early in the year”, he said.
Hunter-Reay can certainly use the victory; he now sits 11th in championship points without a win after pit lane contact knocked him out of winning the 2016 Indy 500.
Will Power made a strong charge in the final laps to take second place, continuing his charge in the standings. “But what a great outcome for him to have a baby Friday, then a race win on Sunday”. He’s now third overall, 75 points behind Pagenaud.
Frenchman Simon Pagenaud in his No. 22 Penske Chevrolet won the pole for Sunday’s race.
Will Power finished second Sunday and Scott Dixon was third.
Hunter-Reay, in his DHL Honda previous year, gave Andretti Autosport its sixth straight victory at Iowa and seventh of the last nine.
Hunter-Reay said the Newton track is respected by all the IndyCar Series drivers because it is one of the most physically challenging tracks they compete on. Williams went to the outside of Davis Lipscombe out of Turn 4 when Lipscombe opened the door with a bobble. “Great facility, great racing, and we have a pretty impressive record to defend”. Love running Indy cars around this place. Montoya wound up 20th on Sunday.
In other action, Joey Polevoy claimed his second Modified win of the season, taking the lead on Lap 5 and never looking back. Its top starter, Mikhail Aleshin, began in ninth position.
Mikhail Aleshin was the only Honda-powered vehicle to make it into the top 10 following his strong lap as the 17th driver on the rubbered-in track. 2016 Indianapolis 500 Champion Alexander Rossi would finish in sixth, but only after a long, spirited duel with seventh place finisher Tony Kanaan that left both upset.
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NEWTON, Iowa (AP) – Josef Newgarden had made a habit out of finishing second at Iowa Speedway. Will Pagenaud be able to avoid a similar fate, especially with his own technical gremlin from Road America still fresh in his memory?
