With Iowa being a doubleheader weekend for IndyCar, we enter Saturday with the grid for the first race yet to be determined. Qualifying will take place ahead of race one at 10:30 a.m. ET this morning. The qualifying format will be the same as what was used for the oval doubleheaders in 2020.
Each driver will make a two-lap run. The first lap will determine the starting position for race one on Saturday while the second lap will determine the starting position for Sunday's race.
Will Power led the only practice session from Iowa Speedway on Friday afternoon with a lap at 18.5729 seconds. The two pole positions for the 2020 Iowa races were times of 18.3711 and 18.3559 seconds. After opening the season with five consecutive top five finishes, Will Power has only two top five finishes in the last five races. However, Power has either finished inside the top five or finished 15th or worse in every race this season. He has only four top five finishes in 13 Iowa starts with two runner-up finishes, including in the most recent Iowa race.
Conor Daly won pole position for the first Iowa race in 2020 and Daly was second in practice, 0.0049 seconds off Power. Daly has led laps in the last two Iowa races, and he started in the top five of both Iowa races in 2020. He started outside the top fifteen in his first three Iowa appearance. The last five times Daly has led in an IndyCar race have all been oval events. He hasn't led on a road/street course since the 2017 Sonoma season finale. The first seven races Daly led in his career were road/street course events.
Scott McLaughlin had the #3 Chevrolet third in practice, 0.0217 seconds behind his Team Penske teammate Power. McLaughlin enters Iowa with three consecutive top ten finishes and he is looking for four consecutive top ten finishes for the first time in his IndyCar career. McLaughlin has been the top Penske finisher in the last two races and has been the top finisher in three races. Last year, he was the top Penske finisher in only one race.
Álex Palou was the top Honda in practice, fourth and 0.0560 seconds off the top time. Palou will be making his third and fourth Iowa starts this weekend. Palou finished a lap down in both races in 2020, but he was 11th in race one and 14th in race two. In each race, he was the second car one lap down, finishing behind Takuma Sato in race one and behind Conor Daly in race two. Palou had three top ten finishes in four oval races last year.
Patricio O'Ward put the #5 Chevrolet fifth in practice, 0.0643 seconds off Power. O'Ward was the final driver with a tenth of the second of the fast time. He has finished outside the top ten in three consecutive races, a first since he ended 2020 with a 27th at Long Beach and opened this season with finishes of 12th and 15th at St. Petersburg and Texas respectively. He has not had four consecutive finishes outside the top ten since a seven-race stretch over his final six starts of the 2019 season with Carlin and the 2020 season opener at Texas with Arrow McLaren SP. He has one victory, six podium finishes, eight top five finishes and nine top ten finishes in 12 oval starts in his IndyCar career.
Marcus Ericsson was sixth in practice at 18.7313 seconds. Ericsson looks to maintain his championship leader through the Iowa doubleheader. Ericsson has led the championship after four of the last five races, the exception being after Belle Isle when he dropped to second, three points behind Will Power. Ericsson's championship lead has gone from 27 points, down to 20 points and back up to 35 points over the last three races. His 35-point lead is the largest championship lead we have seen this season.
Three-time Iowa winner Josef Newgarden was seventh, 0.1870 seconds behind Power. Newgarden is statistically one of the best drivers ever at Iowa. Newgarden is level for most victories with Ryan Hunter-Reay and Newgarden is the only driver with multiple Iowa victories entered in this year's race. He has eight consecutive top ten finishes at Iowa, seven of which are top five finishes. His worst finish in this seven-race span is sixth. His 1,150 laps led are 506 laps more than second most, Hélio Castroneves at 644 laps. Newgarden's victory in the second Iowa race two years ago was the first time the pole-sitter has won at Iowa.
Graham Rahal was just over a quarter-second off the fastest practice time in eighth Rahal scored Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's best finish of the season with a tenth-place finish at Toronto. It was Rahal's best Toronto finish and his first top five finish at the track since 2011. Despite having only starting in the top ten four times in 14 Iowa starts, Rahal has ten top ten finishes at the track. He has finished outside the top ten in the last four oval races.
Jimmie Johnson was ninth in practice, 0.2707 seconds back of Power. Johnson has completed 1,050 laps this season, the ninth most this season and more than Patricio O'Ward, Scott McLaughlin, Colton Herta and Felix Rosenqvist, four drivers that are in the top ten of the championship. Toronto was Johnson's third retirement of the season.
Scott Dixon made it four Chip Ganassi Racing entries in the top ten of practice. Dixon's fastest lap was 18.8476 seconds. Dixon heads to Iowa fresh off his 52nd career victory at Toronto. Dixon has not had consecutive victories since he opened the 2020 season with three consecutive victories. The last two times he has consecutive victories they have been three-race streak. Prior to his 2020 run, Dixon's last winning streak was three races over Pocono and the Toronto doubleheader in 2013.
Rinus VeeKay was 11th in practice. VeeKay has competed in six doubleheaders in his IndyCar career. The only time VeeKay has finished in the top ten of both races in a doubleheader was Gateway in 2020 when he was sixth and fourth. He has had at least one top five finish in four of those six doubleheaders, but he was 20th and 17th in the Iowa doubleheader two years ago.
Felix Rosenqvist found himself 12th in practice. Rosenqvist is coming off his first podium finish in 35 races with his third-place result at Toronto. His previous podium finish was his first career victory at Road America in July 2020. Rosenqvist has not had consecutive top five finishes since the final two races of the 2019 season when he was second at Portland and fifth at Laguna Seca. That is the only time he has had consecutive top five finishes in his IndyCar career.
Jack Harvey put the #45 HyVee Honda 13th in practice for the HyVee Iowa IndyCar weekend. Harvey is the top driver in the championship without a top ten finish this season sitting in 20th. Harvey was seventh in both Iowa races in 2020, his only two IndyCar starts at this track. Despite not having a top ten finish this season, Harvey has completed 839 of a possible 840 laps. He was a lap down at the Indianapolis 500.
Colton Herta was the top Andretti Autosport driver in practice, 14th, 0.3342 seconds off the top spot. Herta is back up to eighth in the championship after his runner-up finish at Toronto. Herta's championship position has improved after the last two races, the first time it has improved after consecutive races this season. He has not had consecutive top five finishes this season. The last time he had consecutive top five finishes were when he won the final two races of 2021 and was fourth in the St. Petersburg season opener this February.
Takuma Sato rounded out the top fifteen. Sato has finished outside the top ten in five consecutive races, his longest slump since a seven-race stretch that spanned the final four races of the 2017 season and the first three races of the 2018 season. He has two top ten finishes in 12 Iowa starts with eight finishes outside the top fifteen.
Christian Lundgaard was the top rookie in practice, 16th. Lundgaard is the top driver in the championship without a top five finish this season sitting in 18th. Three drivers have had their first career top five finish come at Iowa and all three finished on the podium. The first was Hideki Mutoh, who was second in 2008. Spencer Pigot was third in 2018. Oliver Askew's only top five finish in IndyCar was a third in the first race in 2020.
Winner of the first Iowa race in 2020, Simon Pagenaud, was 17th in practice. Pagenaud has not led a lap this season, the top driver in the championship without a lap led. Pagenaud has not led a lap in the last 13 races dating back to last season. This is the first time Pagenaud has not led a lap within the first ten races of a season. The previous longest stretch he had gone without a lap led in a season was seven races in the 2013 season. The first race he led that season was the second Belle Isle race, which wound up being his first career victory.
David Malukas had the #18 Honda 18th in practice, with a time of 18.9416 seconds. Malukas has been the top Dale Coyne Racing finisher in four of the last five races, and Malukas is now level with Takuma Sato on five times as best finisher within the organization. Malukas has been the top Coyne finisher at each oval this season.
Hélio Castroneves found himself 19th in practice. Castroneves won his last start at Iowa Speedway in 2017. That was only Castroneves' second top five finish at this circuit. He was second in 2010 behind Tony Kanaan. Castroneves has led a lap in eight of his 11 Iowa starts and he has led 50 laps or more in five of those races. Castroneves has only started in the top ten twice this season, sixteenths at Texas and fourth at Belle Isle. This is his fewest top ten starting positions through the first ten races of a full season since his rookie season in 1998 when he only had two top ten starts.
Alexander Rossi rounded out the top twenty with a lap at 18.9906 seconds. Rossi must not like the letter "T" because his only retirements this season have been at circuits that start with the letter "T" (Texas and Toronto). Rossi has completed the fewest laps this season amongst the drivers who have started all ten races. Rossi has only completed 810 laps this season, fewer than even Jack Harvey and Callum Ilott, two drivers who missed races due to injuries.
Ed Carpenter is back this weekend in the #33 Chevrolet and he was 22nd in practice. Carpenter has finished outside the top ten in five of his last six Iowa starts and he has not had a top five finish at the track since he was fourth in 2015. The only time he has led at Iowa was in 2013 when he led 18 laps. He has retired from two of the last three Iowa races.
Romain Grosjean was 23rd in practice. Grosjean has finished outside the top fifteen in five of the last six races, and Grosjean has failed to finish the first two oval races this season. He has dropped from eighth in the championship after having three top ten finishes through the first four races, 43 points off the championship lead to 15th, 154 points off the championship lead.
Devlin DeFrancesco's first Iowa appearance had him 24th in practice. DeFrancesco has finished 18th or 17th in the last four races. DeFrancesco does have five consecutive top five finishes top twenty finishes after having only one top twenty finish in the first five races of the season.
A.J. Foyt Racing had its two cars take the final two spots on the timesheet in practice. Dalton Kellett was 25th. Kellett has retired from four races this season, including at Toronto last week. Kellett has only one lead lap finish this season, which came at Road America. Kyle Kirkwood and Jimmie Johnson are the only other drivers who have started every race but have fewer than five lead lap finishes this season. Kirkwood has four and Johnson has two.
Kyle Kirkwood was the slowest in practice, 0.7225 seconds off Power's top time. Toronto was Kirkwood's fifth retirement of the season and second consecutive. He has scored ten points or fewer in seven of ten races. His most points scored were 26 at the Indianapolis 500, the only double points races. He led five laps at Texas before having a spin in turn four, his first retirement of the season.
NBC's coverage of the HyVeeDeals.com 250 presented by Door Dash begins at 4:00 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 4:06 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 250 laps.
