By David Morgan, Associate Editor
NEWTON, Iowa – What a difference a day makes for Team Penske.
After a 2-3-4 finish in the first race of the Iowa Speedway doubleheader, expectations were high for the organization coming into Sunday’s Farm to Finish 275 with the hopes of at least one of its drivers ending the day on the top step of the podium.
However, almost right out of the gate, things began taking a turn for the worst.
Scott McLaughlin, who made a daring charge to fourth on Saturday and was gearing up to do so again on Sunday, wouldn’t even make it a single lap before running into trouble that would end his day.
Racing his way forward from the back of the pack, McLaughlin would get collected when Devlin DeFrancesco spun in Turn 4. McLaughlin nearly squeaked by on the outside of DeFrancesco’s spinning Honda, but just ran out of room to do so, winding up in the Turn 4 wall with DeFrancesco.
“It sucks. I was really excited for today. The Gallagher Chevy was going to be just as good,” said McLaughlin. “I think I just got caught up in somebody else’s accident. There’s only so much you can do to avoid. I think we nearly got him and then he just sort of…like I would have just got through and we would have got through unscathed, but I couldn’t there.
“Unfortunately, it is what it is. There’s a couple of negatives this weekend, but we’ll take the positive of yesterday and just charge into Toronto.”
DEFRANCESCO AND MCLAUGHLIN COLLIDE 🫣
The Lap 1 incident puts us under yellow flag conditions. pic.twitter.com/FR63XlD1pw
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) July 13, 2025
Will Power was the next Penske driver to fall by the wayside when a terminal mechanical issue brought him to pit road, which was eventually diagnosed as an engine failure of some sort that relegated him to 24th in the final rundown.
“Same as Mid-Ohio, it felt like, some sort of engine failure,” Power said after his retirement from the race.
“We improved upon yesterday. Just felt like we would have had a great race, you never know what would have happened. Obviously something did happen.
“Ugh. Man, pity. Pity we keep giving away days when we have a car to win. Just have those seasons I guess. Not much we can do.”
That left only Josef Newgarden as the lone bullet for Penske and for a while, it looked as if it was going to be his day to finally break through with a win in 2025.
But Lady Luck had other plans for the No. 2 team.
Just after making a green flag pit stop on Lap 128, the caution flag would fly for Marcus Ericsson’s wounded Honda, trapping him a lap down in 13th place.
Slowly, but surely, Newgarden clawed back up the leaderboard, eventually cracking the Top 10 on Lap 153 and powering into third by Lap 223.
He charged back to the lead over Palou with authority on Lap 241, but the leaders still needed to make one final pit stop to be able to make it to the finish.
It was déjà vu again for Newgarden, who lost the lead in the cycle and would find himself buried at the tail end of the top-10 when the final caution flag flew for Colton Herta with 22 laps to go.
On the final restart, Newgarden just couldn’t make up any ground and had to settle for a 10th place finish on the day – a disappointing result at a race and a track in which he has had so much success.
After making a bee line back to the garage immediately after climbing from his car after the race, Newgarden spoke with FOX Sports to give his thoughts on the day and how the team will move forward.
“We’ve just got to keep doing what we are doing. Team Penske is working incredibly hard, the whole group,” Newgarden said, having led 72 laps on the day.
“Yesterday was a good day for everybody, you could see the spirits lift, but they don’t need to change what they’re doing. They’re doing a great job. They brought a fast car here again today. Our partner Astemo, Team Chevy, they’re doing all the right stuff, just got to keep going.”
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