Will Power Strategizes His Way to Win in Iowa

By David Morgan, Associate Editor

NEWTON, Iowa – When the green flag dropped on Sunday’s Hy-Vee One Step 250 at Iowa Speedway, the odds were long for Will Power starting deep in the field, but as we have learned time and time again, the Aussie is never one to be counted out.

Starting from 22^nd place and with track position at a premium, the driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet shifted into strategy mode early, electing to save fuel to run longer in an effort to make up ground on the leaders.

And it worked.

By the first round of pit stops, Power had advanced up to the lead when the caution flag flew for Agustin Canapino’s spin on Lap 101.

Power was able to make his pit stop under caution and stay amongst the leaders, only dropping to third behind current NTT IndyCar Series points leader Alex Palou and winner of the first race of the doubleheader on Saturday night, Scott McLaughlin.

Back under green, Power just had to bide his time to put the same strategy into play when the next round of pit stops came around.

Like clockwork, McLaughlin peeled off first, followed by Palou and then Power.

Once things cycled out, Power returned to the track with the lead and that was all she wrote. Power was able to hold onto the top spot for the final 41 laps en route to his first victory at Iowa and first win on an oval since Pocono in 2019.

Though Palou tried to make a charge late as Power battled in lapped traffic, the inability to pass on the newly repaved surface helped to keep him at bay.

“I had a very good car,” Power said. “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.”

While it was a rebound day for Palou, having crashed out of the first race of the Iowa doubleheader on Saturday night, the two-time IndyCar Series champion was focused on how the Iowa oval had gone from producing some of the best racing in the series to arguably now some of the worst.

“It’s been a weekend where we had a ton of speed compared to what we had before with qualifying third and second. Was a shame yesterday obviously with the pit stall on the first pit, then the crash during the second stint,” Palou said.

“Yeah, happy that today we’re in second. Bit of a shame that couldn’t really do anything to pass or to do anything, so…

“Bit of a boring race for everybody.”

After starting on pole and leading the opening 95 laps, McLaughlin would have to settle for third, watching his chances of the weekend sweep fade when the lap 101 caution flag flew and he simply couldn’t make up the lost ground the remainder of the race.

“As soon as I saw that car on the inside of the apron, I knew we were pretty much screwed,” McLaughlin said. “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.”

Scott Dixon would finish the day in fourth-place, with Colton Herta coming home in fifth.

The remainder of the top-10 went to Pato O’Ward, Josef Newgarden, a season best eighth for Graham Rahal, Rinus VeeKay, and Romain Grosjean.

Next up for the NTT IndyCar Series is a trip north of the border for the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto at 1:00 pm ET next Sunday. The race will be a Peacock only broadcast.