2025 IndyCar Synk 275 at Iowa Speedway - Race Results

Pato O’Ward wins the Synk 275 in his 100th IndyCar start after sustaining pressure from Josef Newgarden in the final few laps following a red flag and Cautions which created a dog fight to the line.

Starting from fifth, O’Ward worked his way early through the grid to put himself in a race-winning position before a slow pitstop for Newgarden allowed the Mexican through when he pitted a lap later.

A red flag was then brought out when O’Ward's teammate, Nolan Siegel, smashed into the wall in a heavy impact that meant that repairs were required. 

Leading 232 out of 275 laps, Newgarden was aggressive on Palou in the last five laps but couldn’t find any way through despite his reputation at Iowa.

On Victory Lane, O’Ward said: “We’ve been waiting for this one all year. It’s crazy, my 50th race was also a win here in Iowa, that’s the only other win I have here. It’s a cool story.

“It’s a Chevy 1-2-3 podium so I’d say it was about time. I’m super happy [that] I’m the Chevy guy that gave them their first win this year.”

Speaking on the pressure of keeping Newgarden behind him, O’Ward spoke kindly on his fellow driver who is nicknamed ‘The King of Corn’ due to his success around Iowa.

O’Ward complimented: “Josef is the master at these races. He rules around here so I knew that we had to be spot on and I had to be so precise on the in-laps to beat him at his own game.

“We’ve had so many duels Josef and I but he usually has a percentage that comes out on top more and today I was like ‘you what, today that changes’”.

Starting on pole, Newgarden led the field away off the line before Colton Herta spun moments into the race and ended up on the grass by the start/finish line.

Able to get going again, it brought out the first Caution.

Newgarden made a great second start while Nolan Siegel made a bold move on Will Power. 

Pato O’Ward looked to have an opportunity on Palou but the Spanish driver was quick to get away and overtake Rosenqvist to put himself into third and in a good position to get after Daly.

After his crash in qualifying, McLaughlin managed to get onto the grid and was quick to make positions off the line from the back of the grid. 

Across the race, McLaughlin would weave his way through the grid to take an eventual fourth place finish.

A second Caution was brought out after Jacob Abel was carried out into the wall after getting onto the marbles. 

This caused Rasmussen to have his second great save of the day as he managed to thread the needle between Rasmussen and the wall to keep going.

Earlier in the race Rasmussen had been very close to spinning out into the wall which saw him enter a drift around one of the turns.

Having a few messy moments throughout the race, Rasmussen had a similar race to McLaughlin as he cut his way through the field and eventually finished sixth after starting 19th.

Brought out at the perfect moment for the first round of pit stops, the Caution created a pitlane frenzy as almost every single car darted in to refuel and change tyres.

The biggest loser of the first round of pit stops was Daly who came out of pit lane in fifth while Pato moved to fourth, Dixon to third and Palou to second.

On restart, O’Ward surprised both Dixon and Palou and quickly overtook both with Daly also sniffing the opportunity and following the McLaren driver through which dropped the Chip Ganassi duo down to fourth and fifth.

Dixon continued to lose another position after Will Power tore past the Mid-Ohio race winner and chased after Palou.

Another Caution was brought out after Kyle Kirkwood had his second crash of the weekend. Heading into a turn, Kirkwood seemed to suffer from a tyre failure which sent him into the wall at high speed.

The retirement is another guttural blow to Kirkwood’s championship hopes with the gap widening by every weekend.

Not the strongest race for Palou who finished fifth, it is still more points lost at the top end.

Aggrieved, Kirkwood said: “I’m fine [and] I feel good, [it’s] just unfortunate. I thought we were making big improvements in the race and we’re starting to get into the group and setting up our strategy quite well and something out of our control just ruined it here for us today.

“It just goes away. Can’t do anything about it. Unfortunate but not much else to say.”

On restart Newgarden and O’Ward began to escape the crowd behind who had begun to fight amongst themselves thanks to Palou acting as a blockade for faster drivers behind.

Will Power, despite falling behind slightly on the third restart, began harassing Palou before he eventually passed him to take third with around 50 laps to go.

Although Power showed good pace alongside his Penske teammates, he seemed unable to stay with the two cars in front of him and became more involved with defending off McLaughlin in the closing stages.

As the first green flag pitstops began to happen, Newgarden pitted before O’Ward and then had a slow pitstop as the front left tyre wouldn’t come off.

O’Ward pitted a lap later and managed to steal the lead from Newgarden.

Pressuring O’Ward aggressively, Newgarden would have to wait to have another opportunity after the race was red flagged following Siegel’s crash into the wall.

Siegel had been running a good race in the top 10 before the incident with the crash at an incredibly lucky time as all the front runners had also pitted and therefore did not risk O’Ward losing the lead.

Sitting in the car during the red flag, O’Ward told FS1: “It’s going to be a shootout to the end. I’ve got a fast car, I’ve got fast cars behind me so it’ll be flat out to the end.

“The guy [Newgarden] is the master, you have to go the extra mile to try and beat him at his own game. The race isn’t over and I’m sure he’s going to be right on us”.

Asked in jest how one says the king of corn in Spanish, O’Ward was feisty that it’s time to “turn the tables and give him a little bit of a headache”.

Once back on track, O’Ward led the grid away moments before another Caution was brought out as Callum Ilott found himself too high and hitting the wall.

Ilott’s rear wing came loose but thanks to a tether it was brought back into the pitlane by the Prema driver.

Restarted with only laps to go, O’Ward and Newgarden became enveloped in a sprint to the end with O’Ward finding just enough in the tank to dethrone the king of Iowa.

At the end of the race, Newgarden commented: “Once O’Ward got track position there, that was game over, just as simple as that.

“My car is quick and Team Chevy did a great job; finally getting a win for Team Chevy is a big deal and they should have had way more in the year so good to finally get one.”

Despite the loss, both Newgarden and Penske will leave feeling more optimistic about future races with the team seeing a return of competitive pace across all three drivers.

Newgarden, Power, and McLaughlin came home line astern behind O’Ward and, with another race tomorrow, the team will feel that they have a very good chance of at least one win this weekend.