Josef Newgarden makes IndyCar history in Iowa despite coming up short against Pato O’Ward

Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden recently took part in the race at Iowa. Despite finishing the race in second place, he made history by leading the most laps at the Iowa track.

The 34-year-old drives the #2 Team Penske car powered by Chevrolet. During the Synk 275 powered by Sukup race at Iowa, he led 232 laps of the 275 lap race. He broke the record for most laps led at Iowa as he surpassed 2000+ laps at the track and went on to become the only driver in IndyCar history to lead that many laps at a single track.

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Josef Newgarden has previously won six times at the track and was on his way to his seventh win. However, he was denied by Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward, and the Nashville native had to settle in for a second place finish. This podium finish ended his spell of DNF's. Notably, the Team Penske driver had led 100+ laps for the 14th time at the track.

Josef Newgarden talks about his crash with Louis Foster at Bommarito Automotive Group 500

Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden opened up about his race at the Bommarito Automotive Group 500. He also spoke about his crash with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's driver Louis Foster.

During the race held at World Wide Technology Raceway, Foster made contact with the barrier and spun onto the track and halted. The 34-year-old was unable to avoid Foster's car, and Newgarden ended up colliding with him. This sent the #2 car airborne before it eventually came to a halt on the track.

While talking to the media before the race, Josef Newgarden was questioned by Bob Pockrass about how he felt. He replied by saying,

"Feel even better Bob"(0.20 onwards)

He was also questioned regarding whether he spoke to Foster about the incident. Newgarden responded by saying:

"I didn't, but you know it's just bad timing. This is wrong place at the wrong time, so it happens. Yeah, I didn't see him. I didn't see him come across the track. You know, I saw Louis up against the wall, as I was exiting turn 4 and didn't think, you know in the quick, like, you know, this is happening in, like, a couple seconds. Right? Wasn't really focused on him. As I went through 3, and then kinda as we're getting out of 4, I was trying to make a move on Palou. I was actually going to try and go underneath him."

"And so then, right when I was making that move off before, I could see that Louis was sort of there, and but it was still green, and then I didn't see Louis until in until Palou went right, and as soon as he went right then I saw him coming across the track, and I thought. No, this is it was just there wasn't much else to do if I go, right. I was gonna go into Palou I don't have enough time to recognize a big jump of speed on him. And then he had the advantage of seeing and before, I did, so yeah, it's just bad timing, really bad time," he added.