O’Ward Uses Strategy to Steal Race 1 at Iowa

Pato O’Ward Celebrates after winning the Synk 275 powered by Sukup at Iowa Speedway (Photo: Wayne Riegle | The Podium Finish).

NEWTON, Iowa – Finally—that was the word used by one driver, namely Pato O’Ward, when Chevrolet earned its first victory of the 2025 season on Saturday afternoon, after the first 10 races of the year being dominated by Team Honda.

Time after time, O’Ward saw this play out many times before, battling his fiercest rival in the closing laps of a race only to come up short. In his 100^th career start, O’Ward and his No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet team looked to flip the script in a monumental race for the popular native of Monterrey, Mexico.

O’Ward made the winning move on the final pit sequence by pitting a lap earlier than Josef Newgarden on Lap 234 and having a faster out-lap to pull slightly ahead of Newgarden. The job wasn’t finished as O’Ward had the tall task to keep Newgarden in the rear-view mirror on two late-race restarts in the Synk 275 powered by Sukup, to win by .2352 of a second.

“This is great,” said O’Ward. “We’ve been waiting for this one all year. It’s crazy, my 50^th race was also a win here in Iowa, and that’s the only other win I have here. Great job by my Arrow McLaren guys and gals, this chevy powered machine.”

Since Texas Motor Speedway of 2001, O’Ward has finished second to Newgarden on ovals a staggering four times.

“Josef (Newgarden) is the master at these races, he rules around here,” said O’Ward. “I knew that we had to be spot on to beat him at his own game.”

Josef Newgarden leads the field to a restart during his dominate performance in the Synk 275 powered by Sukup at Iowa Speedway (Photo: Wayne Riegle | The Podium Finish).

In a race that saw nearly a quarter of its laps ran under caution, Newgarden set the tone for the race in the early stages by maintaining a consistent one-second lead over Conor Daly in time for the first round of pit stops on Lap 78 during the races second caution for Jacob Abel hitting the turn two wall in the No. 51 Abel Construction Dale Coyne Racing Honda.

Newgarden continued to pace the field, on his way to lead a race-high 232 laps, making him the first driver in series history to lead over 2,000 laps at one track.

“O’Ward got track position there, and that was game over; simple as that,” said Newgarden. “Astemo car was quick, Team Chevy did a great job. Finally got a win for Team Chevy was a big deal.”

The second to last caution was brought out by O’Ward’s teammate Nolan Siegel, when he made contact with the Turn 4 SAFER Barrier. The incident caused significant damage to the outside wall, bringing out the red flag to make extensive repairs. O’Ward had one more restart to execute, after Callum Ilott made contact with the Turn 2 wall in his No. 90 Prema Racing Chevrolet.

Newgarden made a valiant run at O’Ward in his No. 2 Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet but just fell short. Newgarden’s teammate Will Power rounded out the podium to give Chevrolet a 1-2-3 podium for the first time this season. O’Ward becomes the sixth driver all-time to win on their 100^th career start, first time since Patrick Carpentier in 2002.

“Oh man, we’ve always had the speed,” said Power. “A very smooth day, I would say. Good racing out there with the second lane that came in. Solid day, really happy with third. I just wanted a smooth day with no problems, and that’s what I got. Hopefully tomorrow we go for the win.”

Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood suffered the biggest blow of the day when he suffered a right-front tire failure that put him into the Turn 1 wall on Lap 153, ultimately providing a bigger blow in the championship standings where he now sees a 140-point deficit behind championship points leader Alex Palou.

Race 1 of the weekend at the 7/8-mile oval saw five lead changes among five drivers, with 260 total passes and a total of 47 caution flag laps.

Coverage for tomorrow’s Farm To Finish 275 Powered by Sukup Race 2 at Iowa Speedway gets underway at 1 p.m. ET on FOX, the INDYCAR Radio Network and INDYCAR Nation SiriusXM channel 218.

Synk 275 powered by Sukup at Iowa Speedway Race Results