Maybe it was a good thing that fans did not have to suffer the heat at the Iowa Speedway in Newton, IA. As it was, Team Penske dominated the double header. On Friday night Conor Daly won his first career pole in IndyCar racing. Once the green flag dropped, however, it was Penske that took control as Josef Newgarden and Simon Pagenaud combined to lead 151 of the 250 laps run. Takuma Sato led 49 laps and finished 10th. Conor Daly led 13 laps and finished 5th. Patricio O’Ward led 30 and finished 4th. Pagenaud led that all-important final lap for the victory, however. Scott Dixon finished second to maintain his lead in the championship point race. Rookie Oliver Askew drove an exemplary race and finished 3rd, Newgarden finished 5th. Alexander Rossi drove to 6th. Jack Harvey finally finished a race and picked up a 7th. Marcus Ericsson finished 9th.
On Lap 156 Colton Herta made airborne contact with rookie Rinus VeeKay in a horrific looking crash that saw him land on top of VeeKay’s cockpit. The new enclosed cockpit proved its worth by protecting VeeKay from serious injury. Both drivers were ready to race on Saturday evening.
On Saturday, it was all about the defending series champion Josef Newgarden. Newgarden won the pole and when the green flag dropped he took off and hid from the rest of the field. Teammate Will Power finished 2nd. Graham Rahal was 3rd. Simon Pagenaud was 4th. Scott Dixon maintained his point lead with a fifth. Rookie Oliver Askew was 6th. Jack Harvey took yet another 7th. Alexander Rossi was 8th. Marcus Ericsson was once again 9th and shockingly Marco Andretti scored a top 10 finish with a 10th place.
Scott Dixon leads the series with 245 points and Simon Pagenaud is 2nd with 194. Josef Newgarden has moved into 3rd place with 195.There are eight events left in the 2020 series including the Indy 500 on August 23. The next race will be on August 9 for the Honda Indy 200 at the Mid Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio.
Oh, BTW— in case you haven’t noticed, Conor Daly is racing for two different teams. He drives for Ed Carpenter Racing on the ovals and Carlin Racing on the road courses. Both teams use Chevy engines. His best finish was 6th at Texas for Carlin and he won his first pole in the second Iowa race for Ed Carpenter. He will drive the complete series.
Washington Whatever
The Washington NFL team still has not made a decision about what the new team’s name will be. Majority owner Dan Snyder has hired a lawyer to investigate all the possible choices and select the least offensive. His report will determine the new name.
In the meantime, the team has been named in 15 sexual harassment and workplace discrimination suits by former employees. The Washington front office has been named to be one of the poorest run organizations in professional sports. Minority owners are said to be running for cover and trying desperately to unload their shares. The whole Washington situation is a complete mess. Mr. Trump has castigated Snyder and the team for bowing to “liberal” pressure in changing the team’s name. Trump claims that forcing sports teams to change their names is a violation of their rights of free speech.
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