IndyCar Series returns for another weekend doubleheader

Team Penske has won eight of the past nine IndyCar Series races at Iowa Speedway.

But 2025 has not gone well for Will Power, Scott McLaughlin or Josef Newgarden.

Can another racing team take advantage this weekend during the Synk 275 or Farm to Finish 275 on the 7/8-mile track?

“They’ve been amazing,” Alex Palou said. “We made some progress last year, but they still won with two different drivers. We think we know what we’re looking for.”

Palou may have the best chance to dethrone Team Penske at Iowa this weekend. He leads the points race by 113 points and has won six of the 10 races this season.

Chip Ganassi is headlined by Palou, but future Hall of Famer Scott Dixon won the most recent race and sits fourth in the point standings.

Four Honda drivers were in the top five before this weekend’s race, but Christian Lundgaard’s third-place finish at Mid-Ohio vaulted him into fifth.

Still, Team Penske enters another Iowa weekend as the team with the best chance to win based solely on previous seasons.

“The race car over the duration of stints is what matters here,” said Newgarden, who has won five times at Iowa since 2019 and six times total. “The way the tires wear and how you can get in and out of traffic is what makes the difference. The car has to have great race ability and great tire life.”

Newgarden, driver of the No. 2 Chevrolet, is well outside the top 10 in points heading into Iowa. He and teammates Power and McLaughlin combined for only 17 points at the most recent race.

Power, driver of the No. 12 Chevrolet, leads Team Penske but is only ninth in the team standings. McLaughlin fell out of the top 10 after a lower-end finish this past weekend.

“It’s been a rough first half of the season for all of us really,” Power said. “But we still have great cars, great pit crews and great people with us. It’s crazy that only two people have won this year. It blows my mind.”

Only Palou and Kyle Kirkwood had won a race before Dixon passed his teammate late in Sunday’s race to win for the first time this season.

It was Dixon’s 59th career win. The six-time series champion and driver of the No. 9 Honda, has at least one win now in 21 straight seasons.

Kirkwood is 113 points behind Palou entering the Iowa weekend despite celebrating a victory three time this summer.

“Nothing new has happened to make it be just two race winners,” Kirkwood said at a testing session at Iowa a few weeks back. “Others have had chances and opportunities to win but things haven’t materialized in their favor.

“We’re having a good season, and it’s a been a good championship run. Unfortunately, Palou has been even better and he’s got a big lead. They are Honda wins, which is good for us, but we do want to win a championship. It’s been a cat and mouse game with him. Hopefully we can catch up a little bit.”

Every driver in the series has to catch up to the new package IndyCar has come up with to improve upon last year’s less-than-thrilling product.

NASCAR’s decision to re-pave parts of the Iowa Speedway track had a negative impact on the IndyCar Series races last summer.

The changes this time around involve a more than 400-pound decrease in downforce. Drivers are hoping the adjustment opens up a second lane to race on.

“It wasn’t a great product last year. Anyone who says it was is just being optimistic on it,” Connor Daly said. “We are not quite as sure about how to do it here, but IndyCar has a very creative package for this race that we hope is good. I obviously love racing at Iowa anyway.”

Daly, a Chevrolet driver for the Juncos Hollinger Racing team, has been close a win this summer. He feels like his team has had a great package and car.

Daly has raced at Iowa 12 times and drove into Victory Lane in 2010. He didn’t get much race time at Iowa last summer though.

“I didn’t really get to race here last year so I don’t know much about the recent track changes,” Daly said. “I love short oval racing, but I don’t know how to improve the racing here. This test is super important for us and we should be able to tell a lot after this day.”

Free Family Friday is back this year. Gates open at 1 p.m. and practices for IndyNXT and IndyCar start at 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m., respectively.

There will be autograph sessions for both series at 3:45 p.m. (IndyNXT) and 6:15 p.m. (IndyCar Series) and qualifying for Saturday’s IndyNXT race starts at 5:30 p.m.

Gates open Saturday at 10 a.m. and qualifying for the IndyCar Series race begins at 11 a.m. The IndyNXT by Firestone race kicks off at 12:30 p.m. and the IndyCar Series Synk 275 begins at 4 p.m.

Sunday’s gates open at 9 a.m. and the second IndyCar Series race — the Farm to Finish 275 — starts at 12 p.m.

It’s the only IndyCar Series doubleheader weekend this summer. Both IndyCar Series races will be aired on Fox.

“I love short oval racing. This is one of the more exciting tracks we go to,” Newgarden said. “It’s good for the fans. There’s so much action and you can see it from anywhere.

“It’s been a tough year. We haven’t had much good so far, but we’re focused on the next event. There’s a lot of races left. We’re learning a lot with this new package.”

Palou leads the point standings with 430 points. The rest of the top five includes Kirkwood (317), Pato O’Ward (305), Dixon (282) and Lundgaard (263).

The remaining top 10 features Felix Rosenqvist (259), Colton Herta (217), Marcus Armstrong (209), Power (203) and Santino Ferucci (198).

“All of the races have been tough and super entertaining,” Palou said. “The results show that we’ve dominated, but I think each race has been competitive.”

The only non-Team Penske IndyCar Series driver to win at Iowa Speedway since 2019 was O’Ward, who won one of the two races in 2022.

Power was one of the Team Penske drivers to win at last year’s doubleheader.

“We have great cars and great packages,” Power said. “Last year’s win was a strategy thing. We probably didn’t have the best car necessarily.

We’re going through a lot of changes this year so the test was important.”

Kirkwood, who drives the No. 27 Honda for Andretti Global, is one of many drivers who are frustrated with the changes made to the track last season.

“This placed used to be one of the best of oval racing because of the tire grip,” Kirkwood said. “It looks a lot different now. It’s frustrating because the racing doesn’t feel as fun, but it changes the dynamic and the strategy of how we race. It’s something we have to figure out. It was necessary for NASCAR, but it wasn’t necessary for us.”