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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