Iowa master Newgarden tops ‘tricky’ Friday IndyCar practice

The Hy-Vee IndyCar Weekend at Iowa Speedway got under way on Friday with a 90-minute practice session and the 0.875-mile oval’s master maintained his place atop the field of 28 cars. Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden and the No. 2 Chevy lapped the circuit at 176.428mph and was shadowed by his teammate Scott McLaughlin in the No. 3 Chevy (175.968mph).

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Ericsson was third in the No. 8 Honda (175.877mph), Andretti Autosport’s Colton Herta was fourth in the No. 26 Honda (175.531mph), and Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward was fifth in the No. 5 Chevy (175.470mph).

“We’ve got a pretty good package,” said a somewhat satisfied Newgarden. “It was just OK in race trim. It’s tricky. I wasn’t 100 percent where I wanted to be, but we have the potential to get where we need to.”

Under cloudy blue skies and warm temperatures in the low 80s, the late afternoon run was busy, and behind O’Ward, Ganassi’s Takuma Sato was sixth (175.2

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