INDYCAR: Driver Ratings for HyVee One Step 250 at Iowa, Won by Josef Newgarden

Crash INDYCAR journalist Chad Smith goes through the field to hand out driver ratings for the HyVee One Step 250 at Iowa.
Josef Newgarden, Team Penske at Iowa
Josef Newgarden, Team Penske at Iowa

Josef Newgarden: 10

Newgarden owns Iowa Speedway, and proved it again by sweeping both races this weekend, lea🌳ding 341 of the 500 laps.

Will Power: 10

He still hasn't won at Io꧂wa, but he has now won the last four poles at the track, and finished runner-up to his teammate today.

Alex Palou: 9

The 🍃championship leader continues🎃 to impress, finishing 8th and 3rd on a short oval, which had been viewed as his only weakness.

Felix Rosenqvist: 8

A late caution flag presented an op💫portunity, but he simply didn't have 🥃the pace (or the tires) to compete for the win.

Scott McLaughlin: 8

He lꦦed lap🌸s and battled with his two teammates for the lead all weekend, but couldn't seal the deal for his first oval win.

Scott Dixon: 7

Two 6th place finishes made for a typi♋cal slow-and-steady weekend for Dixon.

Colton Herta: 6

Afteജr a horrendous Saturday, Herta and his team reboun𓆉ded for a solid 7th place finish on Sunday.

David Malukas: 7

Like Herta, Malukas performe🐲🅺d much better today to salvage the overall weekend.

Marcus Ericsson: 8

Ericsson seemed to have the pace to keep up with the Penske cars꧃ at times, but he couldn't capitalize at the end of the races.

Pato O'Ward: 7

A podium finish and a top-ten result made for a decent weekend for O'Ward, but he and the McLaren 💧team remain winless with just five races to go.

Pato O'Ward
Pato O'Ward

Kyle Kirkwood: 7

It wasn't a great weekend for Kirkwood, but the bad luck at least🅷 stayed away from his No. 27 t꧒eam.

Romain Grosjean: 6

A pair ♋of top-12 finishes didn't impress anyone, but Grosjean at least stayed out of trouble and was able to finish both races, which is a major positive 𒐪for his future.

Christian Lundgaard: 5

The race winner from last weekend was nowhere 🔥to be found this weekend, in either race.

Callum Ilott: 6

It was an average day for Ilott and his Juncos Holl✅inger Racing team, as they try to turn their season𒉰 around.

Alexander Rossi: 6

Expectations were much highe🐽r for Rossi than his 10th aꦓnd 15th place results.

Helio Castroneves: 6

Overall it was a decent weekend fo🌳r the four-time Indy 500 winner, in what is likely his final full season.

Conor Daly: 6

Daly wa🦩s a solid fill-in for Simon Pagenaud this weekend, but he didn't tur𝔍n any heads this weekend.

Rinus VeeKay: 5

Another poor weekend for VeeKay and the Ed Carpenter Raꦛcing team🤡.

Jack Harvey: 5

This may have been Harvey's last rac✤e weekend, as his miserable tenure at RLL Racing continued💜.

Graham Rahal: 5

Crashing yesterday was noꦫt great, and finishing 20th after starti🏅ng 5th today was almost as bad.

Devlin DeFrancesco: 5

He was never a factor in either ra𓆉ce this weekend.

Santino Ferrucci: 4

Considering his tale🏅nt on o🐎vals, it was a disappointing weekend for Ferrucci and the AJ Foyt Racing team.

Ed Carpenter: 3

Neither r༺ace went well for Carpenter, wh💖o will make one more start this season.

Ryan Hunter-Reay: 4

His late-race brush with the w🥀all was a great metaphor for how his weekend went.

Takuma Sato: 3

After a solid Saturday, Sato went the other direction today, making contact with♍ the wall and ending his day early.

Agustin Canapino: 3

Canapino also brushed the wall toda🌠y as he was making his Iowa debut.

Benjamin Pedersen: 2

This was 𒅌a horrendou🌳s weekend for Pedersen, who was never a factor.

Sting Ray Robb: 2

The only time he was mentioned was when his wheel came of𒅌f.

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