Josef Newgarden kept his oval winning percentage at 100% after taking the win in the Hy-Vee Homefront 250.

The 2023 Indianapolis 500 winner was largely uncontested for the top spot after wrestling the lead from Team Penske teammate Will Power near the halfway mark.

Power the early pacesetter

Will Power lead the Team Penske steam train with ahead of outside polesitter Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden. Newgarden held off a slight challenge from Scott Dixon before Dixon fell into the clutches of last year’s race winner Pato O’Ward.

Power’s blistering pace led him to catch the tail end of the field on Lap 17 while McLaughlin chased him through traffic. The Penske parade continued as Dixon descended through the field to eighth by Lap 34. Colton Herta suffered a similar fate after briefly moving into the top five early.

Herta’s day turned sour on his first pitstop on Lap 41 as his crewman had difficulty changing his left front tire before his No. 26 Gainbridge Honda stalled on pit lane.

Power ducked any challenge and held the lead until his Lap 62 pitstop. McLaughlin and Newgarden followed suit onto pitlane. Points leader Alex Palou stretched his tires by two laps before surrendering the lead back to power on Lap 64.

Newgarden rises to the fore over Power

Power emerged as the leader of the Team Penske brigade with nearly 1.9 seconds in the bank ahead of McLaughlin. Newgarden was a distant 5.5 seconds behind while O’Ward hung onto fourth with Marcus Ericsson completing the top five.

McLaughlin closed the gap and took several swings for the lead but never could complete the pass for the lead. The battle of the Aussies opened the door for Newgarden to join the party and take over second place by Lap 95.

Newgarden took several shots at Power but never completed a pass as the race crested the Lap 100 mark and Power put all but the top six a lap down.

Power’s lead stagnated until he slipped in Turn 3 in Lap 121 when Newgarden seized the opportunity and took the head.

The leaders pitted at the halfway mark on Lap 125 and with Newgarden emerging as the race leader at the end of the cycle.

Newgarden sustains lead as Power brushes the wall, Rahal crashes

Newgarden continued his ferocious pace over following the stop as McLaughlin snuck by Power to take over the runner up spot.

Power’s grappled with an ill handling racecar during the stint and slightly grazed the wall on Lap 145 and dropped to fourth behind O’Ward.

The pace slowed a few laps later as Graham Rahal crashed in Turn 4 and brought the field to pit lane.

Newgarden’s crew executed a flawless pitstop to keep the lead over McLaughlin.

The final stint saw Newgarden’s lead balloon in clean air and shrink in traffic and clear McLaughlin by 3.37s at the checkered flag.

McLaughlin claimed his second podium after finishing second while O’ Ward rounded out the podium.

Marcus Ericsson finished fourth while Will Power rounded out the top five.