Palou Plays Strategy Game; Wins in Iowa

Alex Palou crosses the line for his second oval victory of the season at the Farm to Finish 275 powered by Sukup at Iowa Speedway. (Photo: Wayne Riegle | The Podium Finish)

NEWTON, Iowa – Coming into Sunday’s Farm to Finish 275 powered by Sukup, championship points leader Alex Palou had never gone more than two races without a victory this season.

That streak continued.

Palou was riding in third place as the final pit window quickly approached. David Malukas hit pit road under green on Lap 247, attempting the undercut and a stellar out-lap. Josef Newgarden and Pato O’Ward made their stops on Lap 249 in reaction to Malukas, hoping to build a gap large enough to still come out ahead.

An untimely yellow flag on Lap 254 robbed Newgarden, O’Ward and Malukas of any chances of winning Sunday’s race.

That yellow allowed Palou, his teammate Scott Dixon and a handful of others to make their final pit stops as it forced the drivers who pitted under green conditions to restart from the rear-end of the lead lap with 11 laps to go.

When the green flag waved, Palou set sail in his No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda and pulled away from his teammate for his seventh victory of the year.

“Speechless, honestly speechless,” said Palou. “It’s been an unbelievable day, unbelievable weekend. Winning here is super special. I’ve 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 trying everything that we could and (delaying the pit stop) worked for us.”

Dixon finished second in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda to give Chip Ganassi’s organization its third 1-2 finish of the season, and second in the last three races.

“Definitely a lot of changes,” said Dixon. “We weren’t really too sure how it was going to go. Yesterday we were all kind of frustrated about not being able to use the high line. I think another stint would’ve been kind of fun.”

Newgarden once again felt disappointment for the second time this weekend. On Saturday, the two-time back-to-back Indianapolis 500 champion led 232 laps and was well on his way to victory but was caught by a slow pit stop that allowed O’Ward to walk away victorious.

During Race 2 of the Iowa doubleheader weekend, Newgarden overcame two restarts near the rear of the field due to the unfortunate timing of caution flags by two Andretti Global drivers. On Lap 130, Marcus Ericsson hit the Turn 4 wall in his No. 28 Delaware Life Andretti Global Honda as Newgarden entered pit lane. Newgarden rebounded from a 13^th-place position to take the lead on Lap 241 and looked like he was well on his way to his first win of the year.

Then, the second untimely yellow on Lap 254 occurred when Ericsson’s teammate Colton Herta hit the wall exiting Turn 2 in his No. 26 Gainbridge Andretti Global Honda. Newgarden stalled out during the final 10 laps and finished 10^th. The Nashville native still found himself leading 72-laps of the 275-lap event and a total of 304 of the 550 laps over the weekend to come up empty-handed.

Josef Newgarden leading the field at the Farm to Finish 275 powered by Sukup at Iowa Speedway, en route to a 10th place finish. (Photo: Wayne Riegle | The Podium Finish)

Both races this weekend saw opening-lap cautions. Today’s race saw Devlin DeFrancesco spinning his No. 30 Luther Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda entering Turn 4 and collecting Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin in the No. 3 Gallagher Insurance Chevrolet.

After making up an impressive 23 positions in Saturday’s Synk 275 powered by Sukup, McLaughlin’s hope for a similar performance was very short-lived.

“There’s only so much you can do to avoid it,” said McLaughlin.

Team Penske’s woes continued on Lap 21, when McLaughlin’s teammate Will Power was running fourth when he began slowing on track. Power entered pit lane and was forced to retire from the race with an engine failure.

Palou led a race-high 194 of the 275 laps and earned his 18^th career victory in just his 93^rd start, tying Power for fifth on the all-time wins list.

Sunday’s race on the .894-mile short oval saw six lead changes among three drivers, with five cautions for 58 laps. The biggest mover of the race was Christian Lundgaard in the No. 7 Velo Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, who picked up 16 positions from his 22^nd starting position.

Equally as impressive, after crashing out in Saturday’s Synk 275 powered by Sukup and having a rookie season to forget, Jacob Abel scored his best career finish in the 11^th position from his 25^th starting spot.

Next week, the NTT INDYCAR Series takes us north of the border to the 11-turn, 1.786-mile Exhibition Place street circuit for the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto. Coverage kicks off on Friday, July 18 at 3:00 p.m. ET for practice on FS2, and Sunday’s race airing at 12:00 p.m. ET on FOX, INDYCAR Radio Network and INDYCAR Nation SiriusXM channel 218.

Farm to Finish 275 powered by Sukup Race Results