By Noah Nelson:
NEWTON, Iowa – Josef Newgarden lapped plenty of race cars on his way to Iowa Speedway victory lane on Saturday.
The Team Penske driver, with his fifth Iowa victory, took no prisoners, leading 129 laps and leaving just five cars on the lead lap, including his two teammates Will Power and Scott McLaughlin, who finished P5 and P2, respectively.
Lapped traffic was a factor all day as the Team Penske trio battled their way through each car, driving hard to pass the slower traffic, as well as each other. Both Newgarden and McLaughlin voiced their displeasure with the etiquette post-race.
Newgarden declined to name anyone in particular, only saying that it was “a lot of people” in his post-race press conference.
“It’s one thing if you’re leading the race,” Newgarden said. “If you’re leading the race, you’re really within your right. If you’re fighting with people around you, seventh, eighth, ninth place, you’re all fighting. You’re within your right to fight as hard as possible.”
“I think, the way the rule was written, it’s also legal for them to fight to the death to stay on the lead lap in front of the leader,” Newgarden said. “It is legal. I’m just telling you you’re not making any friends when you do it. There’s 20 laps to go in the race, and I was getting driven like it was literally to the death for the end of the Indy 500. It was just crazy. I couldn’t believe the way people were mirror driving.”
Newgarden’s message for his fellow drivers?
Use common sense, or suffer the consequences.
“Like there’s just a point where you’ve got to understand that that comes back around. If you do that to someone, I’m going to fence you the next time I see you. If you’re the leader the next time, I am going to do you so dirty if you did that to me.
“It’s common sense,” Newgarden said. “Everybody in the paddock knows it, and they’re just — for whatever reason, there’s just people who just can’t get it. You know what, if they can’t learn it by now, they’ll probably never learn. I guess where I’m going with this, you can tell I’m frustrated by it, which a lot of people are. I can’t change people’s behavior. If they’re going to continue to do that, I have to study and figure out how to counteract it because that’s how they’re going to play.”
Newgarden added that he expects the same treatment tomorrow, and plans to run his race with that in mind.
Sharing in the disapproval of their competitors, Scott McLaughlin echoed Newgarden’s thoughts.
“There’s a lot of guys out there that were racing the leader very hard, mirror driving, and just at times it was quite dangerous,” said McLaughlin, who also declined to name anyone in his post-race presser.
McLaughlin and Newgarden each stated that they’d be attempting to talk to other drivers Saturday night, before the weekend finale on Sunday.
Third-place finisher Pato O’Ward referred to the etiquette as “not very gentleman-like” as well.
Hard racing by lapped cars will always generate controversy, and the discussion will be ongoing. The consequences may not be immediate, but the way you race someone in July can certainly have an effect on your season come championship time.
In one of the tightest and most competitive NTT IndyCar Series fields in quite some time, it is yet another obstacle for these drivers to navigate.
The race to the championship continues tomorrow from the Iowa Speedway at 2pm EST/1pm CST.
