David Malukas calls IndyCar Iowa race two 'hardest I've had to work for P4'

David Malukas has called his P4 finish at Iowa speedway in the Farm to Finish 275 "the hardest P4 I've had to work for" after a late Caution robbed him of a chance at the win.

Starting third on the grid, Malukas had been look to set to finish on the podium after showing strong pace throughout race and consistently challenging Alex Palou and Josef Newgarden for the lead across the majority of the 275 lap race.

While Newgarden seemed to the best quickest of the bunch, Malukas rarely dropped off the front two and at one point benefited from an overtake on Palou by Newgarden which saw the Spaniard go onto the Highline which allowed Malukas to swing through into second.

Under a second to Newgarden, Malukas decided to pit first to try and undercut Newgarden which he achieved after the Penske driver had a slow stop.

However, a Caution was brought out after Colton Herta suffered from a atire failure which saw hm career into the wall.

Palou, who was yet to stop, used the Caution to his advantage and pitted under it which allowed him to keep the lead.

Malukas came out in ninth and in the last remaining laps tried his hardest to return to the top three but just fell short behind Marcus Armstrong.

Despite his disappointment, Malukas was able to view the race with clarity post-race and said to FS1: "that's just the way IndyCar is. It's part of the game. We decided to do the undercut [as] it tends to be a lot quicker. They waited out for a yellow and unfortunately the yellow came out for them.

"So that's just how it is. We keep pushing. It's good for us. We've been on a consistent run ever since the 500.

"We've been on the upper trajectory and the races, they're just tough. But that's what makes IndyCar fun. We're always trying to play the guessing game and try to be up there.

"We'll take this P4. Hardest P4 I've had to work for and we'll take it to the next one."

Malukas finished 12th in Saturday's Synk 275 race and have proven his skills on ovals in the past. However his first race win still remains to be elusive to the A. J. Foyt driver.

Despite his annoyance to not make the podium, this is best finish since the Indy 500 where he finished second overall.