"It was shocking": Pato O'Ward sympathizes with Josef Newgarden's horrible luck at IndyCar Iowa race

Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward sympathized with Josef Newgarden for his terrible luck during last week's Race 2 at the Iowa Speedway. Newgarden could have won the 275-lap race, but ultimately, he ended his outing way down in P10.

Josef Newgarden overtook race winner Alex Palou twice during the Iowa Race 2 for first place. The former's second overtake came on lap 239 when he breezed past Palou in his #2 challenger. However, luck was just not on the Team Penske driver's side as amid the cautions and a botched final pit/fuel stop, he lost several places.

The final dash to the chequered flag started with only 12 laps remaining after a caution. But by this point, Newgarden was down in P10 and was simply unable to muster a last-ditch effort to make up places.

In line with the two-time champion's tough outing, Pato O'Ward recently said the following on an episode of the Speed Street podcast:

"It was shocking how bad, well how perfectly timed, but how badly timed Josef's pits were on Race 2, that like man, that was horrible for him, because he was definitely, he was dominating for the first third of the race." (1:19:20 onwards)

The 2025 IndyCar season has not proved very fruitful for the Team Penske drivers. After the first 12 races, Will Power, Scott McLaughlin, and Josef Newgarden are currently in eighth, 12th, and 14th position in the drivers' standings. Moreover, none of these three have even managed to secure a single Grand Prix win.

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"We fought our way back": Pato O'Ward's take on his outing in Iowa Race 2

NTT INDYCAR Series Sukup Race Weekend - Source: Getty

While Pato O'Ward has expressed sympathy for what happened with Josef Newgarden during the 275-lap Iowa Race 2, on his end, he had a decent outing. O'Ward started the race from P9 to eventually end his outing with an impressive P5 finish.

In line with this, he felt that he and his #5 Arrow McLaren racing crew fought their way back in the oval race. During a post-race interaction, he had the following to say:

"We fought our way back in this race. The last restart cost us a good top-five finish after an unlucky yellow. We're happy with the win yesterday, and we'll take the points for today. I would have loved to have been on the podium again." (via Arrow McLaren)

Pato O'Ward was one of the most successful drivers during the Iowa double-header. While he secured a P5 finish in Race 2, he triumphed in Saturday's Race 1 at the track. In that race, he started his outing from P5 behind Alex Palou, and by the end of the 275-lap event, found himself crossing the chequered flag in P1.