By David Morgan, Associate Editor
NEWTON, Iowa – The Hy-Vee IndyCar Weekend at Iowa Speedway is officially underway.
In the lone practice session of the weekend leading into the Saturday/Sunday doubleheader on the 0.894-mile oval in Central Iowa saw drivers get their first look at the partially repaved surface to try and dial their cars in for the remainder of the weekend.
Scott McLaughlin, who ran second in the first race of the weekend in Iowa last season, struck the first blow of the 2024 Iowa weekend by putting his No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet at the top of the board at 185.891 mph.
Alex Palou finished the session second fastest, followed by the most recent winner in the NTT IndyCar Series in Pato O’Ward in third. David Malukas and Alexander Rossi would round out the top-five fastest drivers.
The remainder of the top-10 went to Scott Dixon, Agustin Canapino, Linus Lundqvist, Colton Herta, and Will Power.
Defending Iowa winner, Josef Newgarden, who swept both races last season and has won five of the last seven races here finished practice in 15th place.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing for McLaughlin though as he spun in the last two minutes of practice when he lost control of his car in the high line off Turn 4, but was able to come away unscathed, keeping his car off the wall.
“That just proves to kids growing up, don’t give up if you’re spinning,” McLaughlin said of the incident with a laugh. “I thought I could let it go, but I was going into the wall and tried to drive it off the fence a little but and just kept going.
“The XPEL Chevy feels good, but I just needed to try that outside line. There’s a lot of marbles up there, man. It’s a shame. I think we’ll put on a good show, but as the run gets on, it’s like glass up there. It’s nice to find out today instead of tomorrow.”
Aside from McLaughlin’s spin, the session was stopped on three other occasions for caution.
The first of which came when when Marcus Ericsson crashed within the first 10 minutes of practice. The driver of the No. 28 Andretti Global Honda Lost control entering Turn 3 and slid up the track into the outside wall, causing significant damage to his car.
Prior to the crash, he was fifth fastest on the board at 179.694 mph. Given the damage, it will be a long night ahead of getting car turned around for qualifying and race on Saturday.
“As soon as I turned in, the rear came around,” Ericsson said….
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