NEWTON, Iowa — Josef Newgarden bought one win on Saturday, however he mentioned it felt like “50% of the battle.”

Newgarden accomplished the doubleheader sweep he wished at a monitor the place he is had loads of success, profitable the IndyCar Sequence race Sunday at Iowa Speedway.

Newgarden, who led 212 of 250 laps, held onto the lead on a restart with three laps to go, beating Workforce Penske teammate Will Energy by lower than a second and barely closing the hole behind collection factors chief Alex Palou with 5 races to go.

“Right now, I really feel like we’re executed now,” Newgarden mentioned. “It is completed.”

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It was the sixth victory of Newgarden’s profession on the 0.875-mile oval and got here a day after he led for 129 laps within the first race of the collection’ lone doubleheader of the season. Newgarden wanted a bit of additional work on this race after beginning seventh — he began third on Saturday — however he was in a position to transfer into the lead by Lap 31 and maintained management the remainder of the best way.

“I felt like as we speak was going to have a distinct twist, and it did,” Newgarden mentioned.

Newgarden mentioned he spent 4 hours finding out video on Saturday evening, searching for one thing that he may use on this race.

Newgarden left the weekend second within the collection standings, 80 factors behind Palou, who completed third. Palou got here into the weekend with a 117-point lead over Scott Dixon, with Newgarden 126 factors again in third place.

“I am going to take it,” Newgarden mentioned. “It is a optimistic end result to the weekend.”

Palou mentioned he was dreading the doubleheader lengthy earlier than he got here to Iowa however was completely satisfied leaving with one podium end.

“We knew it could be a troublesome weekend,” mentioned Palou, who completed eighth on Saturday. “Right now we had no tempo. I used to be struggling to maintain the tires underneath the deck. The workforce bought me again into it.”

Newgarden continued his dominance on ovals this season. He received at Texas Motor Speedway on April 2, then received the Indianapolis 500. It was his fifth consecutive win on ovals courting again to final season, tying him with A.J. Foyt and Al Unser Sr. for the longest oval win streak in IndyCar.

“It is arduous to complain about our automobiles on ovals,” Newgarden mentioned. “They’re very, excellent.”

Energy acknowledged frustration at his teammate’s dominance on ovals.

“Simply ovals generally, he is received each single oval when he is completed, for a very long time,” Energy mentioned.

Energy, on the pole for each weekend races, led the primary 30 laps earlier than Newgarden used a decrease line to go Energy and fellow Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin as they encountered slower site visitors.

Newgarden was amongst a number of drivers concerned in one of many tense moments of the race, when Sting Ray Robb misplaced the left wheel of his automobile on Lap 158, seconds after Robb left pit street.

The wheel rolled into oncoming site visitors between Turns 3 and 4, with Newgarden, Conor Daly and Graham Rahal amongst others having to swerve to keep away from it. Robb was disqualified for not having the wheel tightened earlier than leaving pit street.

Felix Rosenqvist, who began sixteenth, completed fourth. McLaughlin was fifth, the final driver on the lead lap.

RESTART DECISION

The ultimate restart got here after a warning flag that waved with 10 laps left after Ryan Hunter-Reay brushed the wall within the fourth flip.

As a result of there wasn’t sufficient time left for a green-flag end after pit stops and realigning the sector, IndyCar didn’t open the pits, organising the three-lap dash.

“I simply do not suppose they’ve sufficient time with this size of monitor,” Newgarden mentioned. “The one approach they will strategy that is get the lapped automobiles out of the best way on the restart, and never let anybody pit. It is the fairest technique to do it. I did not adore it, I’d have most well-liked to maintain the lapped automobiles in between. However it as a competitor, it is the fairest technique to strategy it.”

Palou mentioned he understood the choice.

“Ten laps is nothing on this monitor,” he mentioned. “They made the proper name.”

A SECOND HOME

Newgarden, who grew up in Tennessee, quipped after the race that he was “going to purchase a cornfield” in Iowa.

“I am right here to take a position,” he mentioned. “I will begin producing for the nation, doing my half. It looks as if the proper factor to do at this level, after all of the years I spent right here. I actually like Iowa, it is an amazing little place. It is not very busy right here.”