Double Top Ten for Dale Coyne Racing in Iowa Race 2, David Malukas Scores Best Finish of the Season

Newton, Iowa – (Sunday, July 24, 2022) – Dale Coyne Racing, with drivers Takuma Sato (#51 Dale Coyne Racing with RWR) and David Malukas (#18 Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports), gave the team its first double top ten finish of the season on Sunday at Iowa Speedway with Malukas placing 8th and Sato 10th. Details for both drivers’ races are below.

Newton, Iowa – (Sunday, July 24, 2022) – Rookie David Malukas (#18 HMD Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports) registered his best result of the season on Sunday with an eighth-place finish in the final round of the doubleheader at Iowa Speedway.

• Malukas who was starting 14th, ran an impressive 300-lap race at Iowa Speedway moving up the field throughout the race.
• The rookie even ran as high as first before making his way down pit lane for his first stop on Lap 69.
• In his second stint, the driver of the #18 HMD car moved up from 18th all the way to 9th before making his second stop under caution on Lap 129.
• Malukas entered pit lane from eighth on Lap 195 for his third stop of the race. 
• With a full course caution coming out on Lap 236, the entire field headed to pit lane. 
• He was running ninth when the race returned to green on Lap 250 and after exchanging positions with his teammate a few times, he went on to cross the finish line in eighth.
• Today’s result was Malukas’ best finish of the season. 

David Malukas, #18 Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports Honda
“I wasn’t really a fan of Iowa Speedway before today’s race but now I am a massive fan. What a joy of a race that was. Although today’s race was 300 laps, it felt much shorter than yesterday. Every lap was either making a pass or setting up for a pass. It was chaos from start to finish but I kept moving up. The only cars that got by us were the McLarens and Penskes. Other than that, no one else could pass us, we were the ones going forward. At the end, I had an amazing battle with my teammate Takuma (Sato). Neither of us made it easy but in the end, I won that little battle, but it was a lot of fun and he pushed me to the end. Thank you to Hy-Vee for putting on such an amazing race weekend.”

Newton, Iowa – (Sunday, July 24, 2022) – Dale Coyne Racing with RWR’s Takuma Sato scored his best oval finish of the season on Sunday in Race 2 of the Iowa Speedway doubleheader with a 10th place finish. 

• Starting from fourth, Sato ran in the top 4 for his entire first stint and led a couple of laps before making his first trip down pit lane on Lap 68.
• Unfortunately for Sato, he ended up falling to 17th following his stop but made his way back to 12th before taking advantage of a full course caution to make his second stop on Lap 129.
• Sato then led another three laps before making what the team hoped would be his final stop on Lap 199.
• The team opted for a fuel saving strategy but decided to pit with the rest of the field during a caution on Lap 245 so they could run hard to the end of the 300-lap race with the rest of the field.
• Sato went on to battle with his teammate David Malukas, exchanging their 9th and 10th places a few times, before taking the checkered flag in 10th place.
• In 12 races this season, Sato has a best finish of seventh at the GMR Grand Prix and a best start of second in Detroit. 

Takuma Sato #51 Nurtec ODT Honda – Dale Coyne Racing with RWR
“We started from the second row for the second race of the weekend here in Iowa, so that was much better. The first part of the race was pretty much ‘follow the leader’ and we left the pack behind, which was good as I ran in the top five that whole time. Then we tried to stretch the fuel window because it’s a 300-lap race and that was our plan, and we were the last to pit with about 100 laps to go. We tried to save fuel to make it until the end because we were confident the rest of the field had to stop again for fuel. In the end the yellow came out and our strategy didn’t work out. Finishing 10th after starting 4th isn’t great but it’s great for the team to have both cars finish in the top 10.”

Next Up:
Gallagher Grand Prix
July 30, 2022
Race Broadcast: Noon ET on NBC