NEWTON, Iowa — When Myles Rowe exited his car in victory lane Saturday at Iowa Speedway, it marked another milestone on the road to IndyCar and a historic win.
Rowe, the only Black driver in IndyCar or its developmental series IndyNXT, became the first Black driver to win an IndyCar or NASCAR race at Iowa Speedway. And Rowe is the first Black driver to win an IndyNXT race.
Pato O’Ward, a native of Monterrey, Mexico, who moved to San Antonio at age 11, won the first IndyCar race at Iowa Speedway in 2022.
“I’m super proud to be able to represent and be winning now and be up front,” Rowe said. “It’s super crucial to be able to see somebody that looks like you doing well, someone to look up to, especially when you’re younger.”
Willie T. Ribbs was the first Black driver to race in the Indianapolis 500 in 1991. Rowe’s 2021 victory in the developmental USF Pro 2000 series was the first win by a Black driver in an IndyCar-sanctioned event. He was the centerpiece of IndyCar’s Race for Equality & Change program, announced in 2020 to diversify its pool of drivers with more women and people from historically marginalized races.
Rowe, 25, raced last year at Iowa Speedway in his rookie IndyNXT season, and was in Iowa in June for a tire test. On Thursday, he said Iowa Speedway was the “perfect” track for the smaller IndyNXT cars.
To get his first win, Rowe had to ride out a tornado Friday in the Iowa Speedway Media Center after severe weather cut IndyNXT practice short.
“The first time I had a tornado drill in racing,” Rowe joked. “So that was quite fun. But it will definitely be memorable for multiple reasons.”
Rowe passed pole sitter Dennis Hauger between turns three and four for the win. The pass came on the outside with about 10 laps left.
“In practice we were doing a good bit of high-line running,” Rowe said. “That was actually working. The question was, was it going to work in the race. It was pretty tough doing that, but I knew once we slowed down to minimum speeds that it may be a little bit more feasible.”
Hauger said he got stuck on the bottom and Rowe was faster.
“I was able to stay really close the whole race,” Hauger said. “Once we sort of roughed up a bit in the second half of the race, he was able to get runs.”
Iowa Speedway has long been a proving ground for IndyCar and NASCAR prospects.
Brad Keselowski won the 2009 NASCAR Xfinity Series race, the first for NASCAR’s top developmental series at Iowa Speedway. He later won the 2012 NASCAR Cup Series championship. In 2024, Keselowski said that winning the 2009 Xfinity Series race was “one of the highlights of my career” and added, “I felt like I had really made it that weekend. So it was really special.”
Now Rowe wants to race in IndyCar. His historic win made it clear that he’s on that path.
“I’m looking for more,” Rowe said. “Racing drivers, we’re never satisfied. I just want more of this. That’s what I’ll be doing and chasing.”
Philip Joens covers retail, real estate and motorsports for the Des Moines Register. He can be reached at 515-284-8184 or pjoens@registermedia.com.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Myles Rowe becomes first Black driver to win IndyCar or NASCAR race at Iowa Speedway
Reporting by Philip Joens, Des Moines Register / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
