An eventful night kicked off a doubleheader weekend around Iowa Speedway. The Andretti Autosport stable fared with mixed results around the 7/8-mile oval and looks to round up again for Iowa INDYCAR 250 – Race 2 tomorrow night with broadcast again on NBCSN.

No. 27 AUTONATION / NAPA AUTO PARTS HONDA

• STARTED 5th // FINISHED 6th
• CHAMPIONSHIP: 13th (94 pts.)
• OF NOTE: Ran as high as second through the 250-lap event // Tied career-best finish at Iowa with a sixth-place result [2016, 2019]

“I think our car was alright, I think we went on the strategy to win the race but we didn’t have the car to do that amount of laps. Ultimately, it was the right strategy but the wrong car for that strategy. Our strength was the first 30-40 laps of the stint, but then we couldn’t look after the tires like the people that beat us. It’s disappointing because I thought that the AutoNation / NAPA team was looking good for at least a podium, but it slipped away from us with tire degradation.”

No. 28 DHL HONDA

• STARTED 12th // FINISHED 16th
• CHAMPIONSHIP: 12th (95 pts.)
• OF NOTE: Was showing promising speeds in the opening stint before making contact with the pit exit wall on his first pit stop, driving the remainder of the race with a hindered front wing // Will look to rebound Saturday, starting from P4

“We had a good start, moved up a few spots around the outside. On the first stop, I just lit the rears up in first gear trying to get a good run out, but lost the rear and smacked the left front into the pit exit wall, continued on but lost some front wing downforce and some front wing pressure that we had to work at getting back all night. We had the pace at the end of the night, it was just too little too late. Hopefully we can capitalize on starting P4 tomorrow night in Race 2.”

No. 88 CAPSTONE TURBINE HONDA
Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport

• STARTED 4th // FINISHED 19th
• CHAMPIONSHIP: 5th (130 pts.)
• OF NOTE: Ran as high as third before making contact with the back of Veekay during a waved-off restart on Lap 156, sending the Capstone machine airborne and ending his day in 19th place; Herta was unharmed

“I’m not positive where things went wrong on that restart. [INDYCAR] waved-off and didn’t throw the green, but I was never told that it didn’t go — that it was still yellow. I’m glad Rinus [Veekay] is okay, I’m glad I’m okay. I know the Capstone Honda was fast  tonight and hopefully we can show it again tomorrow. Thanks to the 88 crew, and the whole team, for all the hard work they’re putting in to get the car ready for Race 2.”

No. U.S. CONCRETE / CURB HONDA
Andretti Herta Autosport w/ Marco Andretti & Curb-Agajanian

• STARTED 20th // FINISHED 22nd
• CHAMPIONSHIP: 21st (51 pts.)
• OF NOTE: A mechanical issue left the 98 in the pits for a prolonged period, leading to a push-start from the 98-crew after trouble shifting into gear // The issue returned the next round of stops, ultimately ending the night early for Andretti

“We attempted the undercut, which was powerful as you saw with Askew today… But we burnt a clutch line and couldn’t get out of the [pit]box. The guys were able to push start me and we saved another stint, but then the next stop it gave way and our day was done. Really not the way we’ve wanted the Iowa doubleheader – or the season – to start, and we’ll keep fighting to turn it around.”

No. 26 GAINBRIDGE HONDA

• STARTED 22nd // FINISHED 23rd
• CHAMPIONSHIP: 17th (85 pts.)
• OF NOTE: The 26 car suffered a mechanical issue resulting in a damaged clutch line, retiring Veach after just 95 laps complete. 

“This was one of the hardest nights of my career. We had a huge moment in qualifying with the car not being right and per the rules we couldn’t change the car between qualifying and the race. We tried to make the best of what we could, but the car was just too far out of the window to be as competitive as we usually are here. At the second pitstop, we had a clutch fail which turned into a small fire which ended my night. Glad everyone is okay. Just a tough night.”