Coming into the Iowa double-header, sponsored by Hyvee, it had the feel of an oval that the NTT IndyCar series had been crying out for. The fastest shortest oval usually provides loads of drama both on and off track and this year that had never changed even with its year out, so when the green flag was thrown all the drivers let their driving do the talking.
When the race went green after several pace laps, championship leader Marcus Ericsson made a brave double overtake on the outside of turns 1&2 to move from his qualifying position of 12th to be P9 within the first 10 laps overtaking fellow countryman Felix Rosenqvist, Romain Grosjean and Takuma Sato by using the higher second lane which compared to other ovals was very effective to help the closer racing around the track.
By lap 15, race leader Will Power started coming up to lapped traffic and Power was struggling to get by and meant that Penske team-mate Josef Newgarden was able to chew into the two second lead. Two laps later the caution flag came out for a spin in the 48 Carvana Chip Ganassi Racing car of Jimmie Johnson but the amazing thing about the spin was that he didn’t hit any of the exit barriers.
Once the pits were opened, there were a dozen of early takers for a top up on fuel and fresh Firestone tyres. Scott Dixon and Colton Herta being amongst those early stoppers alongside with Iowa rookies and previous winner Helio Castroneves.
Three laps after the pits were open, we went back to green and instantly Josef Newgarden took the lead from Power. Marcus Ericsson was a man on a mission, completing another double overtake this time on Rinus Veekay and David Malukas. Two laps later and Ericsson was now moving into the top 5 with a move on Scott McLaughlin. Around this time the drivers who gambled on an early stop started to gain all the time and positions that they had lost from stopping early.
One of the biggest beneficiaries of the early stop was Andretti Autosport’s Colton Herta who had made a pass to make it into the top 5 after overtaking Marcus Ericsson. Jimmie Johnson, another one who stopped during the caution period, entered the top 10 with a superb high line overtake of Scott Dixon and Conor Daly. Ten laps later Jimmie was making more progress with the fresher tyres, this time making another move on another team this time being Marcus Ericsson.
The leaders started to do their first pit stop of the race with Josef Newgarden with an outstanding 5.9 second stop of four fresh new Firestones and a top up of fuel. Then Jimmie Johnson would take the lead of the race until his second pitstop, leading a total of 19 laps before stopping on lap 80.
Once the pit cycle was done and the order had sorted itself out, Newgarden led from Pato O’Ward, Power and Ericsson who were about to do battle over 2nd place. Four laps later and Ericsson put himself on the step of the podium after overtaking Power. Then Ericsson went on a charge and with the pace that he was showing, he was a candidate to be a factor for the win at the end of the race. There was just something with ovals and Johnson, having fallen back in the pack due to the early pit stop, he chased down and passed Dixon for 6th place.
Lap 111 a second caution was out this time for the race ending crash of Swede Rosenqvist after losing the rear end on the exit of turn 2. When the pits were opened on lap 116, there were high pressure pit-stops were in order as all of the leaders. Disaster struck the 26 Gainbridge Honda of Herta as he was stranded on pit-lane with a clutch issue which prevented Herta from going into neutral. When the 26 crew finally found a fix for the issue, he rejoined the race six laps down.
The green flag was being waved when Ericsson made the most of a poor restart from O’Ward to get himself into second place behind Josef Newgarden when another caution came out this time for debris on the main straight. The restart went cleanly until the two leaders and title contenders started battling and the pair made slight contact at the exit of turn 4 on lap 135. Power made the most of the contact by swooping around Ericsson for 2nd place.
Ericsson then had a second moment of the race when he tried to get around lapped cars and went high in the marbles and almost hit the wall, which then led to him losing the positions that he gained at the start.
A fourth caution of the race was out when Ed Carpenter lost the rear end at the exit of turn 2. Two laps later, high pressure pit-stops were out in force again when everyone came in for fresh Firestones and fuel to make 82 laps. Lap 174, the green flag was out again and racing resumed with Alex Palou making a move to get on the podium when he overtook O’Ward.
For several laps, a battle was starting to form between Newgarden, Power and Palou for the ultimate lead of the race. It was abruptly ended due to the tyre wear that all the teams had thought was going to be a factor in the race in the hotter track conditions. Jimmie Johnson once again found himself in the top 5 and looked like he was on course to score a top 10 result.
Iowa rookie Grosjean was locked in battle with Dixon and the rookie was putting his car in positions that meant he could get air on the front wing. At this point Ericsson was falling back through the field and was borderline being sent a lap down by race leader Newgarden.
The O’Ward/Palou battle was going to get tasty when they locked horns again. This time it was O’Ward who came out on top for a place on the podium with enough laps left to chase down Power and Newgarden. 10 laps later O’Ward has chased down Power and for the next couple of laps the pair of them started to have a battle which let Newgarden get a safe gap. O’Ward came out on top with his battle with Power, slotting himself into 2nd place.
2020 was a weird year for all of us but more so for motorsport fans, Grosjean was racing in Formula 1 with Haas and Jimmie Johnson was racing in NASCAR and the pair, who were fighting for Rookie Of The Year in 2021, would find themselves racing each other for position and what a battle it was between the two of them.
When the twin chequereds came out, it was Newgarden who would see them first with O’Ward in second and Power coming home in third. It was a good day for the championship contenders as they all gained points on Ericsson who finished in 8th place after what on paper looked like it was going to be a good race for the 8 Huski Chocolate Honda.
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