Alex Palou was back on top in Race 2 of IndyCar weekend at Iowa, ahead of teammate Scott Dixon, with Marcus Armstrong in third.
Alex Palou hasn’t needed much luck in this historically strong NTT INDYCAR SERIES season, but he got some in a big way at Iowa Speedway. Palou was in third place late in the Farm to Finish 275 powered by Sukup when it came time for the final round of pit stops. Josef Newgarden and David Malukas brought their Chevrolet-powered cars in for fuel ahead of Palou, but Palou’s Honda was able to stay out longer.
Before the series points leader came for service, a caution flag waved for Colton Herta’s wall contact on the backstretch. That gave the advantage to Palou, who was able to stop under yellow as the other frontrunners did so under green. The race resumed with 11 laps remaining, and the driver of the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda kept the lead and held on for his seventh race win of the season.
Palou became the first driver since Al Unser Jr. in 1994 to win seven of the first 12 races of the season. Unser Jr. won only one more race that season; Palou has five more opportunities, which means he is within striking distance of the all-time record. In 1964, A.J. Foyt won 10 races. Six years later, Al Unser finished the 1970 season with the same number. Mario Andretti won nine races in 1969, and Unser Jr. is one of five drivers to end a season with eight race wins.
Still to come this season are two venues where Palou has won series races previously. He has won one race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca (site of the July 27 race) and two at Portland International Raceway (Aug. 10). Two years ago, Palou finished second in Toronto, site of next weekend’s Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto. It wasn’t as if Palou wasn’t a deserving winner on this day. He led 194 of the 275 laps, the second-highest total of the weekend. Newgarden, a six-time winner at the track, led 232 laps in Saturday’s Synk 275 powered by Sukup despite finishing second to Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward.
The win completed the INDYCAR cycle for Palou, this year’s Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge champion. He has now won races on street circuits, road courses, superspeedways and now short ovals. And in doing so, he pushed his series lead to a seemingly insurmountable 129 points over O’Ward. Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood is third, 173 points in arrears.
Scott Dixon finished second in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda to give Chip Ganassi’s organization its second consecutive 1-2 finish and third of the season, although the recent race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course went in Dixon’s favor. Palou edged his teammate in the season-opening race on the Streets of St. Petersburg. Marcus Armstrong finished third in the No. 66 SiriiusXM/Root Insurance Honda. Armstrong drives for Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian, which has a technical alliance with Chip Ganassi Racing.
Thus, it was a podium sweep for the combined group. Malukas finished fourth in the No. 4 Clarience Technologies Chevrolet of AJ Foyt Racing while O’Ward came home fifth in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. Newgarden left disappointed for the second consecutive. On this day, he twice had to restart deep in the field due to the unfortunate timing of caution flags. It happened the first time on Lap 130 when Andretti Global’s Marcus Ericsson hit the Turn 4 wall as Newgarden headed to pit road.
Newgarden restarted 13th but fought back to take the lead on Lap 241. Then, the caution on Lap 254 was again bad for Newgarden and Malukas. Newgarden’s No. 2 Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet faded in the late going, finishing 10th. Palou didn’t, which is why he remains solidly on his way to a third consecutive series championship and fourth in five years, a run of titles not seen since Dario Franchitti won three in a row in 2009, 2010 and 2011 after previously winning in 2007.
Again in this Sukup INDYCAR Race Weekend, trouble found the field on the first lap. This time, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Devlin DeFrancesco spun his No. 30 Luther Automotive Honda entering Turn 4, and it collected Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin and his No. 3 Gallagher Insurance Team Penske Chevrolet. Both cars hit the outside wall and needed to be removed from the event on the hook of a tow truck.
McLaughlin had hoped to deliver a repeat of Saturday’s performance, when he advanced from the 27th starting position to finish fourth. But he was on the high side as DeFrancesco slid up in his path. Team Penske had more trouble soon thereafter. On Lap 21, Will Power and his No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet began fading from the fourth position, and he retreated to pit road. The third-place finisher in Saturday’s race was done with a mechanical failure.
On Lap 50, Sting Ray Robb crashed in Turn 2, hitting the outside wall with the rear of the No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet. The race featured 26 car-and-driver combinations, one fewer than normal as Arrow McLaren’s Nolan Siegel was not cleared to drive following wall contact late in Saturday’s race. INDYCAR did not change the grid order, leaving vacant the spot in Row 3 where Siegel’s car would have been.
Result: https://x.com/MsportXtra/status/1944474386163269854
Here’s how Race 1 in IndyCar Iowa weekend panned out
[The story is as per press release]
