Alex Palou scored his seventh NTT IndyCar Series victory of the season by winning the Farm to Finish 275 powered by Sukup on Sunday at Iowa Speedway. – Photo by Aaron Skillman

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio

Alex Palou hit for the cycle, INDYCAR-style, not far from the storied cornfields of Iowa on Sunday with his victory in the Farm to Finish 275 powered by Sukup.

Newton, IA- Alex Palou – 2025 Farm to Finish 275 Powered by SUKUP in Newton, IA (Photo by Travis Hinkle | IMS Photo)

The mercurial, 28-year-old Spaniard now has won races on street circuits, road courses, superspeedways and short ovals. Actually, “bull-ring” more accurately describes Iowa Speedway’s 0.894-mile layout in bucolic Newton, where Palou paced a staggering 194 of 275-laps/240.625-miles en route to his seventh NTT IndyCar Series victory in 12 events this season.

“I’m an INDYCAR driver now, finally,” Palou declared during his post-race presser, echoing remarks made by series rival Scott McLaughlin of Team Penske. “He (Scotty Mac) told me as well as soon as I jumped out of the car. It feels amazing.”

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Barry Wanser, Palou’s team manager/strategist, added, “He’s young. You’ve got to tell him what’s going on.”

Alex Palou – Farm to Finish 275 powered by Sukup -Photo by Joe Skibinski

Palou knows that barring an epic collapse, he is on-pace for a third consecutive championship and fourth in five years as a master of the series’ various disciplines. That mirrors a run of titles not seen since Scotsman Dario Franchitti, also of Chip Ganassi Racing, won three in a row in 2009, 2010 and 2011 after previously winning in 2007.

Palou has pushed his series lead to a seemingly insurmountable 129 points over Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren, winner of Saturday’s Synk 275 powered by Sukup. Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood is third, 173 points in arrears, despite scoring three wins this season.

Palou joined native Texan A.J. Foyt Jr., Alex Zanardi of Italy, Juan Pablo Montoya of Colombia, Cristiano da Matta of Brazil, Canadian Paul Tracy and Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais as a seven-time winner within one season.

Alex Palou – Farm to Finish 275 powered by Sukup – Photo by Joe Skibinski

“Honestly, it’s tough. It’s tough,” said Palou, driver of the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. “That’s why it’s so fun to race in INDYCAR with these teams, with these different tracks. It’s different challenges that you have. You go to a street course and you need different techniques than on a road course, and then you go to an oval and you have superspeedways, and then you come here and it’s completely different to IMS.” Recall that Palou scored his first series oval-track victory in the 109^th edition of the Indianapolis 500 in May on the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“I was passing so many cars (Sunday) I felt like I was Lightning McQueen or something,” Palou joked. “It’s the first time that I’m not getting overtaken every single lap on a short oval. It was fun. It was very fun. It keeps you awake, keeps you having to push every single weekend. And honestly, I was already super-happy yesterday with our first pole here. But to be able to get our first win here and fighting on-track, it’s been a good day. It’s been super-fun.”

Alex Palou – Farm to Finish 275 powered by Sukup – Photo by Joe Skibinski

Actually, Palou was racing in third place when it came time for the final round of pit stops. Josef Newgarden of Team Penske and David Malukas of A.J. Foyt Racing brought their Chevrolet-powered cars in for fuel ahead of Palou _ a classic undercut strategy. However, Palou’s Honda was producing better mileage, allowing Alex to remain on-track longer.

SEE: Race Results

Before Palou hit pit road for service, a caution flag waved for Colton Herta’s wall contact on the backstretch in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda fielded by Andretti Global. That gave the advantage to Palou, who was able to stop under yellow as the other frontrunners did under green. When the race resumed with 11 laps remaining, Palou maintained the lead for a truly lucky seventh race win.

Alex Palou – Farm to Finish 275 powered by Sukup – Photo by Chris Owens

“Speechless, honestly speechless,” Palou said in Victory Lane. “It’s been an unbelievable day, an unbelievable weekend. More than anything, what an incredible year for us. I really cannot believe it, honestly.”

Palou is the first driver since Al Unser Jr. in 1994 to win seven of the first 12 races in a season. “Little Al” won only one more race that season; Palou has five more opportunities, easily placing him within striking distance of the all-time record. That belongs to open-wheel icon Foyt, the native of Houston who won 10 races in 1964.

“We’re not going to look at that goal,” Wanser said. “We’re going to look at the next race. We take it race- by-race, session-by-session. Today was probably Alex’s hardest race. We asked him to continue to push.”

Alex Palou and David Malukas – Farm to Finish 275 powered by Sukup – Photo by Aaron Skillman

Six years later, Al Unser finished the 1970 season with the same number of wins. Mario Andretti won nine races in 1969, including what turned out to be his lone Indy 500 victory. Unser Jr. is one of five drivers to end a season with eight race wins.

Still on the 2025 schedule are two venues where Palou previously has won series races. Palou has one victory at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, Calif. (site of the July 27 race) and two at Portland (Ore.) International Raceway (Aug. 10). Two years ago, Palou finished second in Toronto, site of next weekend’s Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto.

Palou certainly was a deserving winner after leading 194 of 275 laps, second-highest total of the weekend. Newgarden, a six-time Iowa Speedway winner, led 232 laps during Saturday’s Synk 275 powered by Sukup despite finishing second to O’Ward.

“Winning here is super-special,” said Palou, who scored his 18^th career victory. “I’ve 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 were trying everything that we could and (delaying the pit stop) worked for us. Yeah, super-happy.”

Newton, IA- Scott Dixon – 2025 Farm to Finish 275 Powered by SUKUP in Newton, IA (Photo by Travis Hinkle | IMS Photo)

Six-time series champion Scott Dixon of New Zealand finished second in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda to give that organization its third 1-2 finish of the season. Dixon won last Sunday’s race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, after a rare miscue by Palou, who edged his teammate in the season-opener on the Streets of St. Petersburg in Florida.

“Today was really difficult,” Wanser said. “I can tell you that all the teams and drivers yesterday were trying to do their best and not crash, but Race 2 is always more aggressive and we saw that today. The pace was stronger, faster, but it was hard. It’s hard to win on a short oval, especially at Iowa. I think we saw better racing today from keeping momentum up, a lot more passes, side-by-side racing.”

Newton, IA- Marcus Armstrong – 2025 Farm to Finish 275 Powered by SUKUP in Newton, IA (Photo by Travis Hinkle | IMS Photo)

Marcus Armstrong of New Zealand finished third in the No. 66 SiriusXM/Root Insurance Honda fielded by Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian. MSR has a technical alliance with Chip Ganassi Racing, which scored a podium sweep for the combined group.

“Yeah, we made it happen,” Armstrong said. “I was confident we were going to have a good day because yesterday, we were finding our feet towards the end of the race. We’d been saving fuel for two races now, waiting for a situation like what happened there at the end. So I was very happy when I saw that yellow.

“Overall, Meyer Shank Racing has done an amazing job and the No. 66 Spectrum Honda crew has done a great job in pit lane. We’re just getting better every single race. I’m gelling with my crew better and better every race. But this championship is so, so competitive. You need to be on it every single session, every single lap. And we’re getting there…slowly, but we’re getting there.”

David Malukas – Farm to Finish 275 powered by Sukup – Photo by Joe Skibinski

Malukas finished fourth in the No. 4 Clarience Technologies Chevrolet fielded by Waller, Texas-based A.J. Foyt Racing. “Well, a good day for us,” the Chicago native said. “We had a lot of speed. A lot of good racing out there. Unfortunately, the yellows didn’t come out to play for us and we ended up with the P4 result. But we worked our butts off, guys did great stops and these guys did an insane job getting the car where it needed to be after everything we learned from Race 1. So, big kudos to them; we capitalize on this and move forward.”

Asked about the undercut decision only to have the yellow come out, Malukas said, “It’s just the way INDYCAR is. It’s part of the game.  We decided to do the undercut. It tends to be a lot quicker.  They waited it out for a yellow, and unfortunately it came out for them.  It’s just how it is.

“We just keep pushing. This is good for us. Consistent run. Ever since the 500, we’ve been on the upward 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. So, we’ll take this P4. Hardest P4 I had to work for, and we’ll take it.”

Pato O’Ward – Farm to Finish 275 powered by Sukup – Photo by Joe Skibinski

O’Ward, meanwhile, finished fifth in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, despite failing to lead a single lap Sunday. “We fought our way back in this race,” said O’Ward, a native of Mexico with family ties to San Antonio, Texas. “The last restart cost us a good top-five finish after an unlucky yellow. We’re happy with the win yesterday, and we’ll take the points for today. I would have loved to have been on the podium again.”

Christian Lundgaard of Denmark, O’Ward’s teammate, finished sixth in the No. 7 VELO Arrow McLaren Chevy. “Fifth and sixth today,” said Tony Kanaan, Arrow McLaren Team Principal and former series champion from Brazil. “Pato got unlucky with the yellow, but Christian got lucky. I think the team did what we could. Pato was pretty strong. Palou keeps extending the lead, and he got lucky. I think you have to be in a position to do that, and it worked out for him today.

“Positive weekend for us. P2 and P5 in the NTT IndyCar Series championship. We have to keep digging. That’s nine podiums including a win this season so far. Not too shabby. We have to keep winning if we want to go fight for the championship. Big props to the team; they had great pit stops today. The program that Kyle Sagan ran with Christian on the pit stops helped him gain a lot of spots. On a track like this, it’s very important.”

Josef Newgarden – Farm to Finish 275 powered by Sukup – Photo by Joe Skibinski

Newgarden exited the No. 2 Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet disappointed for the second consecutive race. The two-time series champion twice had to restart deep in the field due to the unfortunate timing of caution flags. It happened the first time on Lap 130 when Andretti Global’s Marcus Ericsson of Sweden hit the Turn 4 wall as Newgarden headed to pit road. Newgarden restarted 13th but fought back to take the lead on Lap 241.

Later, the caution that flew on Lap 254 derailed Newgarden and Malukas. Newgarden faded in the late going, finishing 10th.

“We all got (disadvantaged) by the caution,” O’Ward said.

Newton, IA- Santino Ferrucci – 2025 SYNK 275 Powered by SUKUP in Newton, IA (Photo by Travis Hinkle | IMS Photo)

Dallas resident Santino Ferrucci finished 15^th, one lap down, in the No. 14 Sexton Properties Chevrolet fielded by Foyt Racing. Like teammate Malukas, Ferrucci also pitted on lap 247 but fell back to 17th. Santino did not have the track position that Malukas enjoyed, so he remained a lap in arrears even with the wave around.

“Honestly, really tough day to start,” Ferrucci said. “But then the car was actually coming to us as the race was going on, which was great. We were deep inside the top-10 at the end there (seventh) and opted to go on a different strategy instead of staying out. It was just a mistake the way the yellows played-out. We would have made it on fuel to the yellow and then made it to the finish. We would have finished in the top-five. It is what it is.”

Newton, IA- Devlin DeFrancesco – 2025 Farm to Finish 275 Powered by SUKUP in Newton, IA (Photo by Travis Hinkle | IMS Photo)

Sunday’s race was marred by a first-lap mishap. Canadian Devlin DeFrancesco of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing spun his No. 30 Luther Automotive Honda entering Turn 4, collecting New Zealander McLaughlin and his No. 3 Gallagher Insurance Team Penske Chevrolet. Both cars hit the outside wall and needed to be removed on the hook of a tow truck.

McLaughlin had hoped to deliver a repeat of Saturday’s performance, when he advanced from the 27th starting position to finish fourth. But he was on the high side as DeFrancesco slid up into his path. “There’s only so much you can do to avoid it,” McLaughlin lamented.

Team Penske experienced more trouble soon after. On Lap 21, Will Power of Australia and his No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet began fading from the fourth position, and he retreated to pit road. The two-time series champion and third-place finisher in Saturday’s race was done with a mechanical failure.

Sting Ray Robb – Farm to Finish 275 powered by Sukup – Photo by Chris Owens

On Lap 50, Sting Ray Robb crashed in Turn 2, hitting the outside wall with the rear of the No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet.

The race featured 26 car-and-driver combinations, one fewer than normal as Arrow McLaren’s Nolan Siegel was not cleared by INDYCAR’s medical team following wall contact late in Saturday’s race.

The jammed July schedule will continue next weekend in Toronto, host to the fourth of five races this month. On-track action for the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto will begin Friday at 3 p.m. (EDT) on FS2. The season’s 13th race is Sunday at noon with broadcast coverage by FOX, FOX Sports app and the INDYCAR Radio Network.

Results of Sunday’s Farm to Finish 275 powered by Sukup NTT IndyCar Series event on the 0.894-mile Iowa Speedway in Newton, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):

1. (1) Alex Palou, Honda, 275, Running
   2. (8) Scott Dixon, Honda, 275, Running
   3. (12) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 275, Running
   4. (3) David Malukas, Chevrolet, 275, Running
   5. (9) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 275, Running
   6. (22) Christian Lundgaard, Chevrolet, 275, Running
   7. (2) Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, 275, Running
   8. (17) Christian Rasmussen, Chevrolet, 275, Running
   9. (11) Robert Shwartzman, Chevrolet, 275, Running
   10. (4) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 275, Running
   11. (25) Jacob Abel, Honda, 275, Running
   12. (26) Rinus VeeKay, Honda, 275, Running
   13. (18) Kyffin Simpson, Honda, 275, Running
   14. (16) Louis Foster, Honda, 275, Running
   15. (20) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 274, Running
   16. (7) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 274, Running
   17. (15) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 274, Running
   18. (21) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 274, Running
   19. (10) Graham Rahal, Honda, 272, Running
   20. (19) Colton Herta, Honda, 252, Contact
   21. (13) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 173, Contact
   22. (14) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 127, Contact
   23. (24) Sting Ray Robb, Chevrolet, 48, Contact
   24. (6) Will Power, Chevrolet, 21, Mechanical
   25. (23) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 0, Contact
   26. (27) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 0, Contact
   27. (5) Nolan Siegel, Chevrolet, 0, Did Not Start

Race Statistics
Winner’s average speed: 135.761 mph
Time of Race: 01:48:39.2641
Margin of victory: 0.5280-seconds
Cautions: 5 for 58 laps
Lead changes: 6 among 3 drivers

Lap Leaders

Palou, Alex 1 – 64
Newgarden, Josef 65 – 128
Palou, Alex 129 – 182
Kirkwood, Kyle 183 – 191
Palou, Alex 192 – 240
Newgarden, Josef 241 – 248
Palou, Alex 249 – 275

NTT IndyCar Series Point Standings _ 1, Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing, 515; 2, Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren, 386; 3, Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing, 342; 4, Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global, 335; 5, Christian Lundgaard, Arrow McLaren, 300; 6, Felix Rosenqvist, Meyer Shank Racing, 298; 7, Marcus Armstrong, Meyer Shank Racing, 267; 8, Will Power, Team Penske, 244; 9, Colton Herta, Andretti Global, 244; 10, Santino Ferrucci, A.J. Foyt Racing, 237;

11, David Malukas, A.J. Foyt Racing, 237; 12, Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske, 234; 13, Rinus VeeKay, Dale Coyne Racing, 211; 14, Josef Newgarden, Team Penske, 207; 15, Christian Rasmussen, Ed Carpenter Racing, 207; 16, Alexander Rossi, Ed Carpenter Racing, 194; 17, Kyffin Simpson, Chip Ganassi Racing, 191; 18, Conor Daly, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 184; 19, Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 169; 20, Marcus Ericsson, Andretti Global, 164;

21, Nolan Siegel, Arrow McLaren, 156; 22, Louis Foster, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 150; 23, Robert Shwartzman, PREMA Racing, 145; 24, Sting Ray Robb, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 120; 25, Devlin DeFrancesco, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 115; 26, Callum Ilott, PREMA Racing, 111; 27, Jacob Abel, Dale Coyne Racing, 88; 28, Takuma Sato, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 36; 29, Helio Castroneves, Meyer Shank Racing, 20; 30, Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing, 16;

31, Jack Harvey, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports, 12; 32, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports, 10; 33, Kyle Larson, Arrow McLaren with Henrick Motorsports, 6; 34, Marco Andretti, Andretti Herta with Marco & Curb-Agajanian, 5.

FOX SPORTS’ 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES BROADCAST COVERAGE SCHEDULE

Sunday, March 2 _ Streets of St. Petersburg, Fla. (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, March 23 _The Thermal Club, Thermal, Calif.  (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, April 13 _ Streets of Long Beach, Calif. (Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global)

Sunday, May 4 _ Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Ala. (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Saturday, May 10 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, May 25 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Oval (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, June 1 _ Streets of Detroit (Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global)

Sunday, June 15 _ World Wide Technology Raceway, Madison, Ill. (Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global)

Sunday, June 22 _ Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis. (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, July 6 _ Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington (Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Saturday, July 12 _ Iowa Speedway, Newton, Race 1 (Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren)

Sunday, July 13 _ Iowa Speedway, Newton, Race 2 (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, July 20 _ Streets of Toronto, Canada (FOX, noon)

Sunday, July 27 _ WeatherTech Raceway, Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif. (FOX, 3 p.m.)

Sunday, Aug. 10 _ Portland (Ore.) International Raceway (FOX, 3 p.m.)

Sunday, Aug. 24 _ The Milwaukee Mile, West Allis, Wis. (FOX, 2 p.m.)

Sunday, Aug. 31 _ Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon, Tenn. (2:30 p.m.)

NOTE _ All times Eastern. Dates and times subject to change.