Arrow McLaren 2023 Hy-Vee Homefront 250 Race 1 Report

Iowa Speedway

Race date: Saturday, July 22

Round: 11/17

Total laps: 250 Laps

Total race distance: 223.5 miles/359.69 km

Length: 0.88 miles/1.41 km

Number of turns: 4

Session start times:

• Warm-Up: Sunday, 10:05 a.m. CT
• Race 2: Sunday, 1:30 p.m. CT

TUNE IN: Sunday, 1:00 p.m. CT on NBC

Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet

Starting Position: 5th

Finishing Position: P3

Championship Position: 4th, 309 points

“Solid podium for us today, but we didn’t have anything for the Penskes. We need to take a solid step forward if we want to make them sweat tomorrow. I think they were specifically strong in getting through traffic, and I would get stuck. I wasn’t able to really place the car where I needed to in order to get by some of the slow cars. I’m obviously happy with it, but considering how much pace we had here last year, it was a bit of like, ‘Where is it?'”

Alexander Rossi, No. 7 VELO Arrow McLaren Chevrolet 

Starting Position: 20th

Finishing Position: P10

Championship Position: T-9th, 250 points

”We fought hard to get where we ended today in 10th. We made the most of it from where we started, but there’s still more in the car that we need to find overnight before we get on track again tomorrow. The team did a great job; this is the best car over a long run that I’ve had. We’ll take a look at the data with the team and get back on track tomorrow.”

Felix Rosenqvist, No. 6 NTT DATA Arrow McLaren Chevrolet 

Starting Position: 21st

Finishing Position: P13

Championship Position: 12th, 200 points

”It wasn’t our best race. We had a few mechanical issues that we need to take a look at before Race 2 tomorrow. We had a good first stint, but then we lost momentum after that. All in all, to gain eight spots to finish 13th, we’ll take it, but I’m ready to get back out tomorrow to race again.”

Gavin Ward, Race Director, Arrow McLaren

“Pato and the No. 5 crew did a great job to get on the podium today. We found a mechanical issue on Felix’s car that affected the handling, so we’ll work on that before the race tomorrow. Alexander had stages of the race where he had really strong pace, but we still have to find a little bit more there. We as a team didn’t have anything for those top two Penskes, but we’ve got some ideas to come back stronger tomorrow.”

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Arrow McLaren 2023 Hy-Vee One Step 250 Race 2 Report

Iowa Speedway

Race date: Sunday, July 23

Round: 12/17

Total laps: 250 Laps

Total race distance: 223.5 miles/359.69 km

Length: 0.88 miles/1.41 km

Number of turns: 4

Felix Rosenqvist, No. 6 NTT DATA Arrow McLaren Chevrolet 

Starting Position: 16th

Finishing Position: P4

Championship Position: 12th, 233 points

“Big thanks to Arrow McLaren and NTT DATA, just a phenomenal car, and congrats to Team Chevy on the win. We had a lot of speed here this weekend and a few mega stints to push from P16 to finishing P4.  We got through traffic pretty smoothly until we’d get held up by some lapped traffic. The restart didn’t go that well, and then I was on the outside of Will Power and he pushed me up into the marbles. Anyways, big shout out to the team. We were scratching our heads a bit after yesterday’s race, so it was a hell of a turnaround.”

Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet

Starting Position: 11th

Finishing Position: P10

Championship Position: T-5th, 329 points

”I don’t have an explanation for what happened today. We obviously went the wrong way, at least that’s what it seems like. The team is going to sit down and see what we missed in that transfer from yesterday. The pure fact that we didn’t end up in an accident with ourselves or someone else feels like a win. I don’t know. You come into these weekends knowing where you usually have been in the past and with a chance to be able to kind of bounce back, and obviously today it feels like we threw that away. I don’t have an explanation for that, and I don’t think any of us really know why. It felt like it was the right direction, and I’m just confused.”

Alexander Rossi, No. 7 VELO Arrow McLaren Chevrolet 

Starting Position: 18th

Finishing Position: P15

Championship Position: 10th, 265 points

”This was pretty much a lost weekend for us. With it being a doubleheader, double points, we needed to capitalize here, and it just didn’t happen. We were outside the window and just didn’t have the pace we needed to compete. We have a lot to look into before Nashville. We’re all hungry for more than what it showed this weekend.”

Gavin Ward, Race Director, Arrow McLaren

“Felix showed some speed here today, and he was right in the fight there until the end for the win. He got a little unlucky with the restart, and it didn’t quite go our way, but it was a great result for the whole No. 6 NTT DATA Arrow McLaren Chevrolet crew. Pato was right up there for the first half of the race. Then, all of a sudden, seemed to struggle with the rear. We’ll have to look into why. It seemed like Alexander’s car went the same way, too–loose with the balance. Around here, that’s pretty tough to handle, so he did a good job bringing it home in one piece.”