By Austin Lawton, Staff Writer
It took 11 races but Chevrolet is now a winner in IndyCar in 2025 with Pato O’Ward giving the bowtie its maiden victory on the season in the Synk 275 at Iowa Speedway, the first race in a double-header weekend.
O’Ward and the No.5 Arrow crew captured his second Iowa win after beating Josef Newgarden on pit strategy, executing an over-cut to come out ahead of the Team Penske driver.
Newgarden pitted on Lap 233 and would run into traffic, seeing O’Ward come out ahead after his pit stop on Lap 234. O’Ward would lead until the end of the race,holding off Newgarden after a late-race restart on Lap 266.
“First time I do a repeat win at a track, so that’s a cool milestone for myself,” O’Ward said after his eighth career win. “Super happy for, first of all, all the guys and gals at Arrow McLaren. We’ve been working really hard. But the guy we’re chasing down keeps winning a bunch of them. Also very happy for Team Chevy. This was important and very deserving for Team Chevy. I’m glad it was an all-Chevy podium. For my race, I started getting creative. They’re just such long races. There’s time to get your car in the window, start getting creative on where you want to place it.
“So yeah, we got moving in that second restart, and as soon as I got to Josef, he’s one of the guys that when you’re behind him, he tries to outsmart you, definitely. He’s been running ovals for more than I’ve been in the series. That experience only comes with laps, and he’s also very strong here, so I knew that we had to be perfect. We capitalized on that in lap. I think I went a little bit over the limit and risked a bit more than I was planning to, but all in all, it actually worked out because he was right on our gearbox on that 3 and 4 when we came out. Yeah, great pit stop, and did my job to secure us that overcut, and that’s pretty much what gave us the win today.”
O’Ward wins on his 100th IndyCar start becoming the first driver since Patrick Carpantier to do so. Saturday’s win is O’Ward’s first since first race of the Milwaukee double-header in August of 2024. O’Ward also moves into second in the points standings, albeit a distant 106 points away from Alex Palou, who still has a two-race command of the series.
While O’Ward stole the show late, Newgarden was the star for 90% of the race. Newgarden, a six-time winner at Iowa, led 232 of a possible 275 laps. Newgarden started on pole and would only be challenged during the five restarts and the pass for the win in the pit sequence from O’Ward with 39 laps to go.
The two-time IndyCar champion bolstered the best race for Team Penske in 2025. Will Power completed a double-podium, ending the day in third. Scott McLaughlin would battle from 27th, last on the grid, to fourth, after wrecking in practice on Saturday morning.
“Our car was really good. Team did an amazing job,” Newgarden said. “Been good all weekend. Really proud of the Astemo car we put out there. Team Chevy did amazing. It was great to see them get a result. They’ve really deserved one all year.”
“I really enjoyed it. It was sort of one and a half lanes,” Power said after his second podium. “Conor Daly kind of showed us the way when he just rolled the outside and showed that he could go there, so then you start going there, and there was grip. Yeah, worked on people a lot. Worked on two Ganassi guys and then can’t even remember the rest. But it was fun.”
Palou ended the day in fifth, playing spoiler to Chevrolet taking positions 1-5. Christian Rasmussen was on the outside looking in, finishing sixth.
After a storm, which included a tornado one-mile from Iowa Speedway, washed out track activity on Friday, drivers took to the track for the first time on Saturday morning. Questions still lingered regarding the ability to pass. Iowa Speedway was re-paved last year, but only in certain sections of the turns. This resulted in last year’s double-header being one-lane, single file, races. There were only 195 combined on-track passes for position at both races last year, compared to a high of 379 in Race 2 of 2023.
Saturday saw only 179 passes for position and only 260 total on-track passes. McLaughlin, O’Ward and Power stood out as the three best drivers, in terms of passing and Power has faith that the high-line came into effect as the race went on and can be used in Sunday’s race.
“Actually probably a true two lanes now,” Power told the media after the race. “You can put your tires just on that black seam, maybe a little higher, which is two lanes. You need just half a car and you can start working someone, especially if they’ve got someone in front of them. That’s how I got past the guys I had to get past. It was good. Much better than last year. It really was.”
Another 275-lap race is on the docket for Sunday, this time early in the afternoon, at 1 p.m.