NEWTON, Iowa — The most successful IndyCar driver in Iowa Speedway history and the best IndyCar Series driver this season will start on the pole for the two races of the Sukup IndyCar Race Weekend at Iowa Speedway.
Six-time Iowa Speedway winner Josef Newgarden of Team Penske will start on the pole for Saturday’s Synk 275.
IndyCar Series points leader Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing will start on the pole of Sunday’s Farm to Finish 275.
Newgarden claimed the 19th pole of his IndyCar career, tying him with Danny Sullivan for 16th on the all-time list, with the fastest first lap of a two-lap qualification effort.
Newgarden’s first-lap speed was 183.999 miles per hour around the .894-mile Iowa Speedway oval in the No. 2 Astemo Chevrolet for Team Penske.
Palou had the fastest second lap of any driver in the two-lap format at 184.014 miles per hour in the No. 10 DHL Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing. Palou enters the weekend with a 113-point lead over Kyle Kirkwood in the battle for the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series Championship.
This is perhaps the most unique IndyCar qualifying format outside of the Indianapolis 500 as each driver complete two laps at speed with the first lap filling the field for the first race of the doubleheader. The second lap completes the starting field for the second end of the doubleheader.
Each qualifying attempt started on the second time past the flag stand.
The top five starters for the Saturday’s Synk 275 include Newgarden on the pole, Conor Daly’s No. 76 Chevrolet for Juncos Hollinger Racing with a fast lap at 183.714 mph, Felix Rosenqvist’s No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda at 183.645 mph, Palou’s No. 28 Honda at 183.596 mph, and Pato O’Ward’s No 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet at 183.096 mph.
“Unfortunately, the cars are just so close,” Newgarden said. “Very close today. I don’t want to say it was easy, but they’re kind of easy to drive in this state. That’s why you saw the lap times so very, very, very close, and you sort of prioritize lap one, lap two.
“Definitely with the hybrid usage, depending how you use it throughout the run, it’s going to favor lap one or lap two, and then each one is important because it dictates the grid for each race.
“I think our lap one was really solid. I don’t know that we could have done much better except being riskier and putting something more aggressive on the car.
“Then lap two was good as well. So, we’re in the mix. It’s certainly a tough qualifying session because you got to get it just right.”
The top five for Sunday’s Farm to Finish 275 include Palou’s 184.014 mph, Rosenqvist’s 183.975 mph, David Malukas No. 4 A.J. Foyt Racing Chevrolet at 183.369 mph, Newgarden’s No. 2 Chevrolet at 183.316 mph and Nolan Siegel’s No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet at 183.194 mph.
“I prefer if it’s not a doubleheader,” Palou said. “Like today I’m happy, but I’m not over the moon because we’re starting fourth. We wanted to celebrate, but the 2 car (Newgarden) were celebrating and taking the pictures.
“We’re, like, ‘Oh, this feels weird.’
“Yeah, it’s good. At least we got pole in one of those.”
Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin crashed on his first qualification lap when he lost control in Turn 1 and backed into the wall. He will start last in the 27-car field in both races.
Because track owner NASCAR repaved the lower lane in the turns with a different surface for the NASCAR Cup Series race, it created a tremendous challenge for the IndyCar race. Two different track surfaces wreak havoc on the grip level for the Indy cars.
IndyCar had a high-lane session in Saturday morning’s practice session and forced the drivers to run in that area. Although it helped with the grip level, the race may be a different scenario.
“It’s not an exact science,” Newgarden said. “They’re in a tough spot right now with this formula. I think the only way to get people to go up top is to take downforce off right now.
“One thing doesn’t work at every track are. The formula that’s currently in place here, if you want people to go find different grip and to use the second lane, I think you have to take downforce off.
“I said I don’t want to talk too early because you never know. This could be a great race. It’s one thing to say a prediction in here and then all of a sudden, we have an amazing race. That’s why I say it’s not an exact science.
“You almost have to run the race to see that the package and formula work. I don’t think it’s probably exactly where it needs to be, but let’s give it some time. We’ll find out here in a couple of hours.”
Newgarden also believes any future races at Iowa Speedway should be a one-race format, instead of a doubleheader.
“I don’t know we need doubleheaders anywhere,” Newgarden said. “We just need enough tracks and enough different track types. I think that’s the correct formula for us.
“Doubleheaders really got introduced at times through necessity on the schedule, but I think ideally you shouldn’t need them.”
