The second IndyCar race in as many days took place at Iowa Speedway on Sunday afternoon, with an exciting battle on the banking.
It was a battle between Josef Newgarden and Alex Palou through much of the event, with the two juggernauts trading advantages as the laps ticked by.
Near the end of the race, it appeared that Newgarden was going to have the upper hand and finally secure his first win of the season.
READ MORE: IndyCar Iowa – Full Race 2 Results
For the second day in a row, however, a late caution unraveled his chance at getting a victory.
The six-time winner of the Iowa event came to the pits for his final stop of the day and the tire change and fuel-up took a few seconds longer than planned.
The real problem, however, was the caution that came out immediately after while he was a lap down. He lost his good position and finished the day in tenth.
Palou did not need a second invitation, and he took the advantage all the way to victory lane.
It was Palou’s seventh win of the season, and continues his historic run of results one race further down the road.
His Ganassi team-mate Scott Dixon crossed the line in second and was quite pleased with how the end of the race played out.
Marcus Armstrong was third in the race, giving Honda a 1-2-3 finish just one day after Chevy did the same and earned their first win of the season.
Sunday’s Honda success was all down to the manufacturer’s better fuel mileage, which allowed drivers using their power plants to stay out just long enough to take advantage of the late caution.
Chevy close behind
Just off the podium, a string of Chevy-powered drivers filled out the remainder of the top six.
David Malukas was first in that category, scoring a fourth place result in his AJ Foyt Racing entry.
The young driver was on a tear all race, and even spent time embroiled in a tight battle with Palou at one point. He ran side by side for multiple laps over, providing entertainment to fans watching on.
Saturday’s winner Pato O’Ward finished fifth after running near the front all day. Sixth place was taken by his Arrow McLaren team-mate Christian Lundgaard.
Christian Rasmussen and Robert Shwartzman finished eighth and ninth respectively, slotting in just ahead of Newgarden to give Chevy six of the top ten positions.
Felix Rosenqvist finished seventh, placing his Honda-powered Meyer Shank Racing entry between a sea of bowties.
The Chevy drivers appeared to have more outright pace and likely could have taken another win if not for the timing of the caution periods.
Incidents galore
All throughout the 275-lap race, there were incidents that took drivers out of the event early.
The first crash was between Scott McLaughlin and Devlin DeFrancesco, who were battling near the rear of the pack on the very first lap.
Both drivers spun into the wall and were forced to retire on the spot, ending McLaughlin’s chances of a second drive through the field in as many days.
There were single-car crashes by Sting Ray Robb and Callum Ilott, with both drivers hitting the wall hard after their cars snapped loose in the corners.
Marcus Ericsson also hit the wall, although his issue was understeer which meant he smacked the wall flat with the right side of his car.
Regardless, the damage to his suspension was enough that he could not even drive back to the pits.
Colton Herta suffered practically the same issue as his Andretti team-mate, with his tires giving up and washing him up to the wall.
The only other retirement was Will Power, who suffered a mechanical issue that forced him to retire after only 21 laps.
Following the double-header, the paddock will pack up and head across borders to Toronto for a race next weekend on the city streets.
