Written by Sean McKean
After faltering from the quick Herta, it was Scott McLaughlin who dominated the rest of the event to win the Hy-Vee Homefront 250. It is the Kiwi driver’s first ever win at an oval and second on the season
As it unfolded
From pole, Colton Herta got away well, but the drama unfolded behind him.
In the first corner, David Malukas hit the apron and spun towards the outside wall – collecting the Juncos pair of Romain Grosjean and Agustin Canapino. Trying to avoid the incident was Christian Lundgaard, who also picked up damage. All four cars involved either retired from the event or were put out of contention.
With 19 laps under caution, the complexion of strategy was changed: apart from the usual four-stop, the caution meant they could stretch their fuel out to lap 80 – making it potentially a two-stop race.
Herta retained his lead – despite a challenge from Scott McLaughlin – on the lap 20 restart.
Another driver pulled into the pits on lap 30, this time Jack Harvey. Having publicly suffered with neck and back spasms since the last round at Mid-Ohio, the British driver decided that he could not finish this first race in Iowa.
Only a few laps into the run, Santino Ferrucci – who had been running fifth – was given a stop-and-go penalty for jumping the restart. He fell from the top five to 22nd and one lap down.
After a longer run with Herta leading every lap, the caution flag came back out on lap 79 – just before the pit cycles. Coming off Turn 4, Graham Rahal came to a crawl as he entered the frontstretch, complaining of a suspension issue. Even though he continued on in the event, the five-time IndyCar race winner would suffer with these problems for the rest of the event.
Under the caution, every driver went into the pits to fit into the two-stop scenario. Scott McLaughlin beat the dominant Herta out of the pits, assuming the race lead. However, championship leader Alex Palou stalled in the pits, which now dropped him to the tail end of the field.
Despite an attempt down the inside from Herta on lap 94, McLaughlin kept his cool and defended the lead on the restart.
A few laps later, another issue plagued a title contender. Will Power was forced to serve a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane, relegating him to the back of the field.
This stint, McLaughlin led uncontested until green flag pit stops began on lap 177. However, as Colton Herta made his stop, Alex Palou lost control of his car on the frontstretch – hitting the wall and going out of the race.
With the caution coming out as Herta was mid-stop, he was given the wave-around but would be put to the tail end of the lead lap.
McLaughlin led Pato O’Ward to the green with 63 laps remaining, still reigning supreme up front.
O’Ward would get another chance at fighting for the lead when the caution came out on Lap 211 of 250. It was not for a crash; rather, Linus Lundqvist came to a crawl with a supposed drivetrain failure.
Only ten laps later, the green flag came back out and the Kiwi driver kept his lead. But only a few laps later, drama unfolded.
Marcus Armstrong from seventh position was black-flagged for his caution lights coming on. As he checked up to go into the pits, Colton Herta spun his car but managed to save it – only losing one spot. Race control assumed Herta would lose full control, so they threw the caution flag.
Subsequently, this caution saved Armstrong’s race. Had the race remained green, the Kiwi would have had to retire from the event with a mechanical issue. However, Chip Ganassi Racing troubleshooted the problem and fixed it prior to the restart.
Before they even took the green flag with 21 laps remaining, the caution immediately came back out for a crash between Pietro Fittipaldi, Ed Carpenter, and Will Power. Coming to the green, Power clipped the back of Fittipaldi, which sent the Brazilian into a spin into the path of Carpenter. This sent Carpenter and Fittipaldi out of the race and Power four laps down.
Yet again McLaughlin kept his lead up front, all the while Santino Ferrucci and Josef Newgarden continued their recovery drives – sitting sixth and third respectively.
He led the way for the rest of the race to take victory number two on the season, his first at an oval. Pato O’Ward continues his run of good results in second. From the back of the grid, Josef Newgarden rounded out the podium
Provisional Results:
McLaughlin
O’Ward
Newgarden
Dixon
Veekay
Ferrucci
Kirkwood
Rossi
Ericsson
Armstrong
Herta
Siegel
Rosenqvist
Simpson
Robb
Rahal +1 lap
Legge +1 lap
Power +8 laps
Carpenter [DNF]
Fittipaldi [DNF]
Lundqvist [DNF]
Lundgaard [DNF]
Palou [DNF]
Grosjean [DNF]
Harvey [DNF]
Canapino [DNF]
Malukas [DNF]
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