The NTT IndyCar Series will roll into Iowa once again this weekend for the 11th and 12th rounds of the 2025 season.
For the fifth time in six years Iowa Speedway will hold two IndyCar races in one weekend. It is the only track on this year’s NTT IndyCar Series schedule with a “doubleheader” in 2025. With two races, more points will be up for grabs this weekend than at any other track on the schedule.
Here are three things to watch July 12-13:
Can Alex Palou win again on an oval?
Chip Gannassi Racing’s Alex Palou has won three of the last four IndyCar championships and is on track to win his fourth title this season. In May Palou won the Indianapolis 500, his first oval win of his career. Palou has 29 starts in oval races and 16 top-10 finishes.
Palou has eight career starts at Iowa Speedway. His best and worst finishes at Iowa Speedway happened during last year’s doubleheader. In the first 2024 race Palou spun at the exit of turn four and the back of his car hit the front-stretch wall. He finished 23rd. Less than 24 hours later Palou rallied to finish second in the second race.
Will Palou or Kyle Kirkwood be stopped?
Palou and Kyle Kirkwood, driver of the No. 27 Andretti Global Honda, won nine of the first 10 IndyCar races to start the season with Palou winning six races and Kirkwood winning three. Kirkwood earned his his first oval victory when he won at World Wide Technology Raceway near St. Louis on June 15.
Palou nearly won again July 6 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. On Lap 85 Palou held a four-second lead over Scott Dixon. But a bobble caused him to leave the track and his teammate Dixon passed him for the win.
Palou holds a 113-point lead over Kirkwood and is in position to win another series championship.
Will Team Penske’s Iowa dominance continue?
Team Penske — owned by IndyCar owner Roger Penske — has dominated both IndyCar and NASCAR at Iowa Speedway. In June 2024 Penske driver Ryan Blaney won the first NASCAR Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway. IndyCar teammates Scott McLaughlin and Will Power followed that up by winning the two IndyCar races there in July. Their teammate Josef Newgarden has won six of the 12 IndyCar races at Iowa Speedway since 2016.
But this year Team Penske has not won a race and has been plagued by scandal for the second straight year. Newgarden won the 2023 and 2024 Indianapolis 500 races. In May Newgarden and Power’s cars failed technical inspections before the second round of qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 when IndyCar officials found unapproved adjustments to the rear attenuator of both cars.
Newgarden and Power were moved to starting spots No. 32 and 33 and finished 22nd and 16th respectively. Team Penske fired three executives in the wake of the violations. McLaughlin crashed on a pace lap of the Indy 500 and never took the green flag.
Each week seems to bring new struggles for Team Penske. On June 15 Newgarden appeared to be cruising to a win near St. Louis when he was t-boned by Louis Foster’s car after Foster clipped the Turn 4 wall, causing Newgarden’s car to flip on the front stretch. On July 6 at Mid-Ohio an engine fire forced Power out in 26th place. Newgarden spun on Lap 1 and finished last in 27th.
Newgarden sits 19th in the IndyCar standings and his car may fail to make IndyCar’s Leaders Circle, which gives bonuses of more than $1 million to the top 22 entries. But with the team’s long history of success in Iowa, Team Penske could use it to turn around their season.
Philip Joens covers retail, real estate and motorsports for the Des Moines Register. He can be reached at 515-284-8184 or pjoens@registermedia.com.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Three things to watch during IndyCar races at Iowa Speedway on Saturday and Sunday
Reporting by Philip Joens, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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