Josef Newgarden at Iowa: Fifth verse, same as the first

Yup, he did it again.

For the fifth time in his career, Josef Newgarden was victorious at Iowa Speedway, the ⅞-mile bullring 30 miles east of Des Moines, winning Saturday's Hy-Vee Homefront 250 over teammate Scott McLaughlin.

Newgarden also is batting 1.000 in all of the oval races contested so far in the 2023 IndyCar season, having won at Texas in April and finally getting that elusive Indianapolis 500 victory in May.

In fact, he's won all but one of the oval races contested in the last 12 months (with the lone exception being the second race of last year's doubleheader at Iowa, where he crashed while leading).

Newgarden could easily win Round 2 of this weekend's doubleheader on Sunday, as well. And next month, the series heads to World Wide Technology Raceway - where he has won the last three races.

As a two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion, Newgarden is a real threat to win any given race weekend, regardless of course. His No. 2 Chevy has reached Victory Lane many times at the road and street courses as well.

But it's become pretty obvious that Newgarden is the man to beat on the ovals. Perhaps fittingly, IndyCar's American superstar has completely mastered the craft of the uniquely American style of oval racing.

But despite his success on ovals, Newgarden doesn't treat any type of track more special than the others.

"My goal is to be strong everywhere," Newgarden said. "It doesn't matter the discipline or the track type. I want to be good everywhere we show up.

"If there's a place we're not good, it's number one on my list to figure out. Why aren't we good here? Why can't we win this race?

"Anything is possible for us and our team, and we need to approach it that way. So just in short, it doesn't feel different to me, whether it's Iowa or it's Toronto or it's Detroit or Road America. They all matter. You take great pride in being able to work with the team and put a victory together. They're all difficult.

"It's not easy to win a race in this series, so they all feel the same."

While it may not be easy to win, having a competitive car certainly helps - and no organization fields more competitive cars than Team Penske. With teammate Will Power having swept the pole positions for both weekends, Newgarden has the opportunity to pull off back-to-back wins.

However, he knows he'll still have to work for it.

"When we walk in here, they just assume, oh, we're going to be quick," Newgarden said. "It's not the attitude that you can have. You just can't feel like there's anything given. I think we did a good job today recovering. I was really proud of the team.

"To feel disappointed with qualifying and then to just really improve the race car and do a great job today, I'm proud of that, but that doesn't guarantee tomorrow either.

"I think Scott's (McLaughlin) going to be really good. Pato (O'Ward), he's going to come back better. I think Will (Power) is going to be strong. You never know who else is going to improve overnight.

"I'm focused on being better tomorrow because I'm going to assume that everyone else is going to pick up their game."

Newgarden starts seventh in tomorrow's Hy-Vee One Step 250.