Chevrolet Has Finally Won An IndyCar Race This Year With Pato O'Ward's Victory In Iowa

It's crazy to think that it's July and until Saturday, Chevrolet — one of just two engine manufacturers in IndyCar — had not won a race, with all the glory going to their lone competitor, Honda.

That is, until the series rolled into Iowa, because the Bowties had themselves a day.

There was a school of thought that a short oval like Iowa Speedway would suit the Chevrolets. If you think back to the only other short oval so far this season — World Wide Technology Raceway — Team Penske's Josef Newgarden seemed to be in control of that race until he was involved in a giant crash, and that race was eventually won by Kyle Kirkwood and the Honda-powered No.27 for Andretti Global.

Speaking of Newgarden, he started the race on pole and led most of it, until the final round of pit stops, at which point McLaren's Pato O'Ward managed to get past him.

Ahead of the final restart of the night following a crash for PREMA Racing's Callum Ilott, O'Ward led all three Team Penske entries with Newgarden in second, Will Power third, and Scott McLaughlin (who was the driver of the day in my book after starting dead last) in fourth.

O'Ward managed to hang on to the lead as he and Newgarden broke away from the field and battled it out like they have quite a few times before.

The Mexican crossed the stripe first for his, McLaren's, and Chevrolet's first win of the season.

He's only the fourth driver to win a race this season, alongside Alex Palou, Kyle Kirkwood, and Scott Dixon.

That's a big one for Chevrolet, and with seven out of the top 10 finishers having Chevy engines in the back of their cars, they'll be keen to snag another win in the second race of the doubleheader on Sunday.

Championship leader Palou will start that one from pole alongside Meyer Shank Racing's Felix Rosenqvist for an all-Honda front row.

Newgarden will start Race 2 in fourth place while O'Ward will try to sweep the weekend starting from ninth.