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Motorsport

Alex Palou wins a strategic IndyCar Iowa Speedway Farm to Finish 275

Alex Palou IndyCar Josef Newgarden David Malukas Iowa Speedway Penske Entertainment Chip Ganassi Racing Team Penske Christian Lundgaard Christian Rasmussen

On a year when everything seems to be going right for Alex Palou, he caught every break needed to leave Iowa Speedway with a weekend-ending win.

Palou benefitted from a pair of timely cautions to deny Josef Newgarden and David Malukas and claim Sunday’s Farm to Finish 275. The Spaniard had started from pole after a strong second lap in Saturday’s qualifying, but was overtaken twice by Newgarden during Sunday’s race.

Josef Newgarden, Team Penske (Photo by: Penske Entertainment)

But in the end, Honda’s fuel mileage and some misfortune for Andretti Global made the difference. Andretti’s misfortune was to watch as Marcus Ericsson and Colton Herta suffered separate right-front tire failures, both times after Newgarden had come to pit road, trapping the Tennessean a lap down.

After the first one, on lap 130, Newgarden took the wavearound marched from 13th back to the front. He passed Palou with 35 to go, taking Malukas with him, and figured to contend for the win. But the caution flew again with 22 laps remaining, after Newgarden and Malukas had stopped.

Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing (Photo by: Penske Entertainment)

That gave Palou the advantage he needed. The Indianapolis 500 winner stopped for fresh tires, emerged with the lead and marched off over the final 11-lap run for his seventh win of 2025.

“(I’m) speechless, honestly,” Palou said. “It’s been an unbelievable day, and unbelievable weekend. But more than anything any incredible year for us.

“I cannot really believe it, honestly. Winning here is super special. I struggled on short ovals for so long. Today, although the strategy helped us a little bit there at the end when we were P3, we were still trying everything that we could. That worked for us.”

Final finishing order

David Malukas, A. J. Foyt Enterprises (Photo by: Penske Entertainment)

The late caution significantly shifted the final running order. Mid-Ohio winner Scott Dixon followed Palou for second to give Chip Ganassi Racing another 1-2 result, with Meyer Shank Racing’s Marcus Armstrong completing an all-Honda podium.

Malukas rallied over the late stint to rise from eighth to fourth, with Pato O'Ward completing the top five. Christian Lundgaard, Felix Rosenqvist, Christian Rasmussen, Robert Shwartzman and Newgarden completed the top 10.

Devlin Defrancesco, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (Photo by: Penske Entertainment)

Just as it had on Saturday, the first caution came out on the opening lap. Devlin DeFrancesco lost control of his No. 30 Honda in the pack and spun around, clipping Scott McLaughlin in the process. Both drivers were knocked out of the race.

A second caution followed on lap 50, when Sting Ray Robb backed hard into the wall between turns 1 and 2. Nolan Siegel had suffered a similar crash on Saturday and missed Sunday’s race with a mild concussion, but Robb was released from the infield care center and appeared okay.

Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global (Photo by: Penske Entertainment)

More drivers wound up in the wall as the race went on; Andretti Global suffered its race-changing tire failures. Callum Ilott backed into the outside wall on lap 176.

Will Power didn’t suffer any contact, but saw his day undone by an engine failure in the early stages. All three Team Penske cars had finished in the top-four on Saturday, but endured a day to forget on Sunday.

Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing, Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing, Marcus Armstrong, Meyer Shank Racing (Photo by: Penske Entertainment)

Only 19 of the 26 drivers that took the green flag made to the checkered in the end. Of them, 18 ended up following Palou past the checkered flag. Such is the story of the season.

The IndyCar field will be back in action next Sunday in Toronto.

Photos from IOWA - Race 2

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	Mph	Pits	Points	Retirement
1	A. Palou Chip Ganassi Racing	10	275			172.424	4
2	S. Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing	9	275			173.178	4
3	M. Armstrong Meyer Shank Racing	66	275			171.874	4
4	D. Malukas A.J. Foyt Enterprises	4	275			179.962	4
5	P. O'Ward Arrow McLaren	5	275			178.414	4
6	C. Lundgaard Arrow McLaren	7	275			177.002	4
7	F. Rosenqvist Meyer Shank Racing	60	275			178.683	4
8	C. Rasmussen Ed Carpenter Racing	21	275			176.013	4
9	R. Shwartzman Prema Racing	83	275			173.055	4
10	J. Newgarden Team Penske	2	275			169.067	5
11	J. Abel Dale Coyne Racing	51	275			170.684	5
12	R. van Kalmthout Dale Coyne Racing	18	275			168.670	4
13	K. Simpson Chip Ganassi Racing	8	275			171.026	3
14	L. Foster Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	45	275			169.274	4
15	S. Ferrucci A.J. Foyt Enterprises	14	274			166.488	5
16	C. Daly Juncos Hollinger Racing	76	274			172.418	5
17	A. Rossi Ed Carpenter Racing	20	274			168.613	5
18	K. Kirkwood Andretti Global	27	274			169.229	4
19	G. Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	15	272			158.022	6
20	C. Herta Andretti Global	26	252			173.382	3		Accident
21	C. Ilott Prema Racing	90	173			172.541	3		Accident
22	M. Ericsson Andretti Global	28	127			168.173	1		Accident
23	R. Robb Sting Juncos Hollinger Racing	77	48			171.285	1		Accident
24	W. Power Team Penske	12	21			10.209			Mechanical
25	D. DeFrancesco Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	30	0			.000			Accident
26	S. McLaughlin Team Penske	3	0			.000			Accident
27	N. Siegel Arrow McLaren	6	0			.000
View full results