Alex Palou wins in stunning style in Race 2 at the Iowa Speedway. Scott Dixon finishes second for a CGR 1-2, and Marcus Armstrong returns to the podium in third.
IndyCar returns to the Iowa Speedway for the second race of the double feature with the Farm to Finish 275. In breaking pre-race news, Nolan Siegel was not cleared to race following his crash late in the SYNK 250 on Saturday night. The Arrow Mclaren team will only run with the No. 5 and No. 7 entries.
The action begins
As the green flag waved, series leader Alex Palou started from pole. Quickly after the green flag flew the first caution of the race was called. Devlin Defrancesco lost control on the middle part of the track, and made contact with Scott McLaughlin on the higher racing line. Both cars are out of the race before the end of Lap 1.
With clear running resumed, the Top 3 sat at Palou, Rosenqvist, and Iowa specialist Josef Newgarden. Unfortunate luck struck again, as Will Power peeled into the pit lane with an undiagnosed issue. This left Team Penske with just one car left in the race in the form of Newgarden.
Into traffic and penalties
The race tipped into Lap 45 and the lead cars started to hit traffic. David Malukas in his No. 4 AJ Foyt car used the traffic to his advantage, finding himself in third. Sting Ray Robb made hard impact with the barriers on the high side of the track, bringing out another caution. In addition to a yellow flag, Robb’s impact brought out the first round of stops. Race leader Palou and P2 Newgarden continue to race in the pit lane before returning to track in the same order.
David Malukas and Josef Newgarden were both under investigation on Lap 50 for unsafe releases in pit lane, during the yellow flag pit cycles. Robert Shwartzman also accrued and penalty for speeding in the pitlane, once again finding bad luck luck in the pits. He was relegated to the rear of the field.
On Lap 65, the “King of corn country” Josef Newgarden gained the lead of the race over Palou as green flag running began again. The Prema cars of Shwartzman and Illot seems to be running on rails, as they gained 3 and 6 positions respectively on the restart.
100 laps down, 150 to go
100 laps counted and 150 to go saw the Top 3 as Newgarden, Palou, and Malukas. In a stunning show of racing, David Malukas attempted an over take on Alex Palou. They two drivers ran side by side and wheel to wheel, but Palou refused to give up the position. 120 laps saw Josef Newgarden 6 time Iowa Speedway winner, with a 3.73 second lead over series leader Palou.
The third caution of the race is brought out by Marcus Ericsson at Turn 4 as Newgarden exited the pits. Ericsson’s right front tire failed, and sent him into the barriers. Newgarden made a gamble on his pit strategy, but due to Ericsson’s crash he came out of the pits a lap down. He sat in 13th on Lap 137.
Brief contact was made between Colton Herta and Alexander Rossi, as Herta went into the back of the No. 20 of Rossi.
With a massive impact from a glancing blow to the wall, Callum Ilott brought out the yellow once again. The No.90 car brushed the wall and lost control in front of race leader Palou. The impact sending debris all the way into the pit entrance. This caused the race leader Palou, in addition to David Malukas to make a gamble and pit during the yellow flag.
The Top 3 on Lap 190 as green running resumed again: Kirkwood, Palou, Malukas. David Malukas continued in his attempt to pass Alex Palou, sitting less than a second behind the race leader. Additionally, Josef Newgarden fought his way back up into the Top 3 on with 50 laps remaining in the race, making great use of clean air to easily pass the lapped cars.
The closing run
With the race closing down, challengers appeared for both Alex Palou and the race win. Josef Newgarden made quick work of David Malukas, using clean air and the highline to pass the No.4. Saturday winner of Pato O’Ward also sat close behind the front runner, still very much a threat for the win. In a stunning wheel to wheel show of racing, both Newgarden and Malukas passed Palou, with Newgarden taking the lead of the race.
However, the lead quickly returned to Palou as Newgarden made what would be his final stop of the race, and had a slow get away from the pit lane.
Turn 3 sees more trouble on track as Colton Herta smashed the front right of his car into the barrier, and brought out yet another yellow flag. The would spell trouble for those who had just pit, namely the Chevy of Newgarden.
The Top 3 with 10 to go: Palou, Armstrong, Dixon.
As the Farm to Finish 275 closed, Alex Palou won his second career oval win in stunning style. He continues his run of wins in 2025, with wins at every type of track on the calendar. His CGR teammate Scott Dixon finishes in second and Marcus Armstrong returned to the podium in third.
Final Race Classification:
- Palou
- Dixon
- Armstrog
- Malukas
- O’Ward
- Lundgaard
- Rosenqvist
- Rasmussen
- Shwartzman
- Newgarden
- Abel
- VeeKay
- Simpson
- Foster
- Ferrucci
- Daly
- Rossi
- Kirkwood
- Rahal
- Herta
- Ilott
- Ericsson
- Robb
- Power
- Defrancesco
- Mclaughlin
- Siegel
