Pato O’Ward found his way into the winners’ circle for the first time this season while driving in his 100th career IndyCar race, winning the first of two weekend races at Iowa Speedway on Saturday in Newton, Iowa.
Race 2 will take place on Sunday.
O’Ward held off polesitter Josef Newgarden over a 17-lap restart following a red flag because of damage to the safety barrier on an outside wall.
Will Power was third, followed by Scott McLaughlin, while series leader Alex Palou was fifth. McLaughlin started in the back of the 27-car field.
With 462 points through 11 of 17 races this season, Palou has a 106-point lead on O’Ward, while Kyle Kirkwood is third overall, trailing Palou by 140 points.
O’Ward gave Chevrolet its first victory of the season and again found success at Iowa after winning his first race there in his 50th career start.
Newgarden was denied his first victory of the season despite leading 232 of the 275 laps.
Palou won five of the first six races of the season but has won just once in the past five races. Scott Dixon picked up his first win of the season in the most recent race on July 6 at Mid-Ohio.
–Field Level Media
