Newton, Iowa – (Saturday, July 23, 2022) – Rookie David Malukas (#18 HMD Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports) completed his first NTT INDYCAR SERIES short oval race on Saturday with a 14th place finish.
- Malukas continued to impress in qualifying earlier in the day by registering his best oval start of the season with a sixth place on the starting grid.
- The rookie had a good start to the race maintaining his position in the top 6 through the first race restart on Lap 23.
- Malukas fell out of the Top 10 on Lap 37 and was running 13th when he entered pit lane for his first stop on Lap 52.
- Following the pit stop sequence, Malukas was once again running 13th.
- He took advantage of a full course caution on lap 117 to make his second pit stop.
- The driver of the #18 HMD machine was 19th when the race returned to green conditions on Lap 134.
- He then made his final trip down pit lane on Lap 171 and with a long stint ahead of him, Malukas managed his tires and climbed his way back up in the final laps to take the checkered flag in 14th place.
- In 11 races this season, the rookie has a best finish of ninth registered at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and a best start of fifth (Toronto).
David Malukas, #18 Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports Honda
“We just completed Race 1 in Iowa. 250 laps and we ended up 14th at the end. We struggled with the car on the first and second stint. It was kind of on ice skates. I was gripping on to the steering wheel so hard, and I was so focused that I don’t think I blinked! I was just so focused to not spin out. We managed to survive those stints. The last stint was the longest, about 80 laps. I wasn’t sure which way the car was going to go so I ended up taking it easy and the last 10 laps I pushed and managed to move up from 19th to 14th. It was quite fun at the end to make some passes. Overall, I think it was a lot of lessons learned that will be useful for tomorrow’s race.”