Newgarden, Iowa, sizzles in IndyCar practice on Friday

Hy-Vee IndyCar Weekend at Iowa Speedway kicked off Friday with a 90-minute practice session and the 0.875-mile master oval held its ground above the 28-car field. Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden and the No. 2 Chevy lapped the track at 176.428 mph and were shadowed by teammate Scott McLaughlin in the No. 3 Chevy (175.968 mph).

Chip Jansey Racing’s Marcus Ericsson was third in the No. 8 Honda (175.877 mph), Andretti Autosport driver Colton Herta was fourth in the No. 26 Honda (175.531 mph), and Arrow McLaren’s Pato Oward was fifth in the No. 5 Chevy (175.470 mph).

“We have a very good package,” said Newgarden, somewhat satisfied. “He was OK in race trim. It’s tough. I wasn’t 100 percent where I wanted to be, but we have the ability to get where we need to go.”

Under cloudy blue skies and warm temperatures in the low 80s, the late afternoon running was busy, and behind O’Ward, Ganassi’s Takuma Sato was sixth (175.288 mph) and Rahal Letterman Lanegan’s Christian Lundgaard was nearby in seventh (174.364 mph). Ed Carpenter Racing’s Ryan Hunter-Reay was eighth (174.204 mph) and the car’s previous driver, Conor Daly, was ninth for Meyer Shank Racing (174.003 mph). Ganassi’s Scott Dixon rounded out the top ten (173.943 mph).

After 30 minutes, Newgarden was fastest with a lap of 176.428 mph, and behind him, Hertha was second at 175.521 mph. Hunter-Reay finished third at 174.204 mph, ahead of Erickson at 173.811 mph and Dixon at 173.687 mph as the busy Chevy and Honda drivers shared the top five.

With 44 minutes left in the race, the first caution of the session was required when Agustin Canapino left the pit lane and spun backwards onto the racing line at Turn 2 as Alexander Rossi took parrying action. The Juncos Hollinger Racing driver sorted himself out and pulled over in the parking lot as IndyCar’s AMR safety team fired the engine and sent it back to the pits.

The field was back in action with 40 minutes on the clock, and Daly was the first mover as he jumped to fourth with a lap of 174.003 mph. O’Ward shot third right at the 30-minute mark with a lap of 175.470 mph as some drivers were completing long runs to measure loss of grip and others started fresh tires and headed ahead on the pace chart.

Ericsson was next to move, improving from fourth to second with a lap of 175.877 mph, Hertha almost hitting the wall while completing 175.521 mph and reclaiming third. Within 20 minutes of the finish, the leaderboard had Newgarden, Ericsson, Herta, O’Ward and Hunter-Reay in the top five. Sixth through tenth were Daly, Dixon, Scott Power, Hélio Castroneves and Alex Ballou.

Another caution was called by IndyCar with nine minutes remaining when Santino Ferrucci slid inside the balls but did not get close to the Turn 2 wall and was overturned. With the new tires, McLaughlin jumped to second place with a lap of 175.968 mph at the five-minute mark and was camped out for the qualifying simulations.

But with 28 cars on such a short track, finding the free space and fresh air to do it without interruption was impossible. While the others improved behind the top five, the order at the checkered flag did not change with Newgarden leading McLaughlin, Ericsson, Herta and O’Ward.

the next: Playoffs, Saturday, 10:35 a.m. ET, live on Peacock.

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