Add Simon Pagenaud’s name to the “worst to first” category after his incredible win Friday night in Race 1 of the Iowa INDYCAR 250s Doubleheader at Iowa Speedway. From there, he kept passing cars, one-by-one, until he got a surprising message from his race strategist, Team Penske INDYCAR General Manager Kyle Moyer. “We needed that yellow to help us out because a lot of guys bailed and went to the three-stop strategy,” Ben Bretzman said. Pagenaud took the lead on Lap 178 and nursed his final tank of fuel to the end of the 250-lap contest.

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