2025 Indycar Farm to Finish 275 at Iowa Speedway - Race Results

Alex Palou took his seventh win of the 2025 indyCar season after a decision to stay out under green flag while his competitors pitted allowed him take the lead after Colton Herta brought out a Caution.

Sat in third behind Josef Newgarden and David Malukas, both pitted after Newgarden was baited into a pit stop when Malukas decided to pull the trigger and try the undercut.

Newgarden lost the lead to Malukas in doing so but it was ultimately inconsequential as the Caution brought out by Herta dropped the two drivers into eighth and ninth with neither able to recover which allowed Palou to breeze to the flag.

Ecstatic when jumping out the car, Palou spoke to FS1 and said: “It's been an unbelievable day, unbelievable weekend, but more than anything, an incredible year for us.

“ I cannot really believe it honestly, and winning here, it's 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're still trying everything that we could and that worked for us.

“Super happy getting another win, seven wins in one year, it's insane.”

On restart, Malukas fought his way back to fourth but Newgarden couldn't seem to find the lightning pace that he seemed to have earlier that had helped him at two different points be in the lead. 

Alex Palou led the field after qualifying on pole but it was quickly cautioned after Scott McLaughlin got caught up in a crash with Devlin Defrancesaco after he lost the rear out of a turn on lap one.

Defrancesco clipped McLaughlin on the left rear which robbed him trying to copy his spectacular recovery drive that he did in yesterday’s Synk 275.

On pit lane, McLaughlin said to FS1: “Yeah, it sucks. I was really excited for today. I think I got caught up in someone else's accident, so there's only so much you can do to avoid it.

"I would have just gone through [and] probably would have gone through unscathed, but I clipped there and. unfortunately it is what it is.

"There's a couple of negatives this weekend but we'll take it positively yesterday and this charge in Toronto."

McLaughlin wasn’t the only early retirement however with his Penske teammate, Will Power also out after suffering an engine issue.

Power had been very racy moments before the engine problem and had overtaken Malukas for third.

Dropping to the low line, that left Newgarden as the only running Penske driver which made the race all or nothing for the struggling outfit.

Power seemed deflated when speaking to FS1 and said: “We’ve improved upon yesterday, [I] felt like we would have a great race. Obviously you never know what can happen but, man, [it’s a] pity.

“We keep giving away days where we have the car to win. Just have those seasons I guess. Not much we can do”.

The third caution was brought out after Sting Ray Robb also crashed into the wall which opened the door for the first pitstop window as everyone dropped into the pit lane.

Once restarted, Newgarden made his intentions to win clear as he went aggressive against Palou and overtook the championship leader on lap 66.

Palou stuck with Newgarden as they weaved through traffic but David Malukas began to reel in the championship leader and began to challenge him for second.

A fierce scrap, Malukas managed to get by Palou who then retook the position on the outside on the Highline.

Despite Newgarden building a big lead, his decision to pit moments before a caution was brought out by Marcus Ericsson who hit the wall meant that the race leader dropped to the 13th while his competitors were able to pit under Caution.

Newgarden began to chase his way back to the front up to tenth laps after racing restarted with Callum Ilott then bringing out another Caution making it two-for-two at Iowa after he crashed out in the closing stages of the Synk 275 yesterday.

While pit crews prepared for another round of stops in the pit lane, Ilott’s front nose blocked the pit entry which meant no one could enter.

Once cleared, the leaders came into the pit road but Kyle Kirkwood was the only driver who decided to stay out during the Caution to take the lead.

Newgarden was able to climb up to eighth and continued once the track went green to fifth passing yesterday’s winner O’Ward.

O’Ward lost positions in the third round of pitstops dropping off the podium into fifth which allowed Daly onto the podium.

Also pitting alongside Newgarden and Malukas under green in the final stages of the race, O'Ward was unable to make it a double win in Iowa and finished fifth behind Malukas.

On restart, Alex Palou almost lost position to Malukas before he went wheel-to-wheel with Kirkwood who held the inside line across a whole lap while Palou tried to get by.

Kirkwood reluctantly gave up the lead eventually with Malukas and Daly quick to follow suit.

With 50 laps to go, Newgarden put himself back onto the podium after overtaking Daly before Daly began to struggle on his tyres which allowed O’Ward to also swing by and put himself into fourth.

5 seconds behind Palou, Newgarden was able to push hard with clear track and began to scythe the time away and within laps was ahead of Malukas and on the back of Palou.

Struggling through traffic, Newgarden sped past Palou for the lead with Palou dropping to third behind Malukas after taking to the Highline during the Newgarden’s overtake.

Sat in second, Malukas changed the race after he decided to pit for a fourth time which tempted both Newgarden and O’Ward to follow him in.

However, Palou's decision to stay out proved to be crucial as, much like his teammate, Colton Herta also suffered tire failure on his front right which brought out  the final Caution of the race.

This was the third Andretti car to suffer a tire blow out this weekend with Kirkwood suffering the same fault in yesterday’s race.

The decision to pit under green put Malukas, Newgarden, and O’Ward in ninth, 10th and 11th while Marcus Armstrong and Scott Dixon were promoted into second and third.

While Dixon was poised to take the lead should Palou make a mistake like in Mid-Ohio, no such opportunity appeared meaning Dixon had to settle to finish behind his teammate.

Speaking to FS1, Dixon said: “Yesterday we were all kind of frustrated about not being able to use the Highline, so we tried to fix that and obviously today it took us a little bit to work it out.

“Once we did, you know, the car was super fast. I think another stint you know, it would have been kind of fun.

“We needed a longer race today, but kudos to everybody on the PNC Bank number nine and to get a one-two for [Chip] Ganassi.

The third place was Marcus Armstrong’s first podium of the season.

After the race said he was “confident we were going to have a good day” after he believed he and team had begun to find their feet throughout the end of yesterday’s race.

“We've been saving fuel for two races now waiting for a situation like that there at the end” , Armstrong explained, “I was very happy when I saw that yellow at the end.

“Overall we've done an amazing job. I think that the number 66 Meyer Shank crew have done an amazing job in the pit lane as well. I think we were among the bench marks down here so I'm really happy.”