The 11th and 12th rounds of the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series season takes place at Iowa Speedway for the only doubleheader weekend on the calendar. This year, both Iowa races will be 275 laps after last year's race were both 250 laps. It will be the first time Iowa Speedway has ever run to the 275-lap distance. Fourteen of 21 Iowa races have been 250-lap races with the other seven being run to a 300-lap distance. Team Penske has won four consecutive Iowa races and eight of the last nine at the 0.875-mile oval. Honda has not won at the track since 2018, but the Japanese manufacturer enters this weekend with ten consecutive victories and 11 consecutive dating back to last season.
Coverage
Time: Coverage for race one begins at 5:00 p.m. ET on Saturday July 13 with green flag scheduled for 5:20 p.m. ET. Coverage for race two begins at 1:00 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 1:20 p.m. ET.
Channel: Fox
Announcers: Will Buxton, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe will be in the booth. Kevin Lee, Georgia Henneberry and Jack Harvey will work pit lane.
Announcers: Will Buxton, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe will be in the booth. Kevin Lee, Georgia Henneberry and Jack Harvey will work pit lane.
IndyCar Weekend Schedule
Friday:
First Practice: 4:30 p.m. ET (90 minutes)
Saturday:
Qualifying: 12:00 p.m. ET
Race: 5:20 p.m. ET (275 laps)
Sunday:
Race: 1:20 p.m. ET (275 laps)
Sunday:
Race: 1:20 p.m. ET (275 laps)
The Elephant in the Room
IndyCar returns to Iowa coming off a pair of its worst races ever held, let alone at Iowa Speedway.
Last year's Iowa races had 192 total passes and 204 total passes respectively. Those races had 100 passes for position and 94 passes for position. Most passing was only possible on restarts and in the immediate laps afterward.
While Will Power won the second race from 22nd starting position, it was mostly down to a timely caution before Power made a pit stop while the rest of the field had stopped and were caught a lap down. The other four top five finishers in the second race last year started inside the top five. In the first race, only one lead change occurred. Colton Herta led the first 86 laps and then Scott McLaughlin led the final 164 laps. Herta was shuffled back to 11th when he was on pit lane when Álex Palou spun exiting the final corner.
It did not help that prior to last year's Iowa weekend, the average number of passes in an Iowa race since 2017 was 807.667. In 2023, the total number of passes in the two races were 1,502 and 1,168. The average number of passes for position since 2017 was 276.888 with the 2023 races having 319 and 379 passes for positions respectively. Prior to last year, since 2017, the fewest total passes in an Iowa race was 378 in 2017, and the fewest number of passes for position were 203 in the first race of the 2020 doubleheader.
The main reason for the passing issues was the partial re-pave of the Iowa track surface ahead of its inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race in June 2024. The bottom lane of the racetrack was re-paved, but the upper lane remained untouched, creating a near 18-year difference between the surfaces. With that discrepancy, drivers stayed on the bottom and no one ventured up the track during the middle of the run. With nowhere to go to pass, drivers saved fuel and both Iowa races became a two-stop race.
IndyCar did test last month ahead of the return to Iowa Speedway with 21 cars participating. Firestone brought a different tire while IndyCar increased the downforce while turning down the horsepower.
Conor Daly reportedly ran the fastest lap of the time at 181.315 mph while Álex Palou was second at 181.118 mph. Felix Rosenqvist was in third at 180.969 mph with his fellow Swede Marcus Ericsson right behind him at 180.872 mph. Rounding out the top five was Colton Herta at 180.611 mph with Patricio O'Ward in sixth at 180.186 mph.
Kyle Kirkwood was ninth in the test while none of the Team Penske drivers cracked the top ten. Josef Newgarden was 11th while Will Power was 14th and Scott McLaughlin was 15th.
After the test, Daly told Marshall Pruett of Racer the tires were a "better match for the bottom lane," but Daly added the second lane was not an option. In a post-test recap video for IndyCar's website, Daly emphasized the need for a high line practice, and he even jokingly suggested running the high line for the entirety of practice.
On his podcast after the test, Alexander Rossi stated drivers remained stuck to the bottom of the racetrack for the duration of the test, and Christian Rasmussen suffered a right front tire failure. This is leading Firestone to bring a different right side tire compound to this weekend, which is untested. Along with the different tire compound, IndyCar has settled on Iowa will have the same boost levels as the Indianapolis 500, and IndyCar has moved the dependence on downforce to the rear wing in hopes of increasing drag.
Through Two Oval Races
One-third of the oval races on the 2025 IndyCar calendar are complete. Another third will be in the books once we are through this weekend at Iowa. It will be a little over a month until IndyCar returns to another oval, but when IndyCar heads to Milwaukee it will be the first of two consecutive ovals to close out the season.
This has been an odd year for oval races, and that is reflected in the oval points scored.
Patricio O'Ward did not win either of the first two oval races, but with finishes of third and second, O'Ward has scored the most oval points. The Mexican has 87 oval points, and he has scored the most oval points in two of the last four seasons. O'Ward is five points ahead of Indianapolis 500 winner Álex Palou, who finished eighth at Gateway.
There is a 14-point break between the top two and David Malukas in third on 68 points. Christian Rasmussen sits in fourth on 65 points while Santino Ferrucci rounds out the top five with 61 points. O'Ward, Palou, Rasmussen and Ferrucci are the four drivers to have finished in the top ten of both oval races this season.
Kyle Kirkwood has 56 points with 51 of those points coming from his Gateway victory last month. Kirkwood is a point ahead of Felix Rosenqvist. Conor Daly sits on 54 points with Scott Dixon in ninth on 51 points. Rounding out the top ten is Christian Lundgaard, who has scored 47 points in the first two oval races.
Robert Shwartzman sits in 11th on 38 points. Twelve of those points are from Shwartzman's pole position at the Indianapolis 500, but he did score his first career top ten finish at Gateway. The next driver is Takuma Sato, who scored 36 points at Indianapolis after finishing ninth but Sato picked up 11 points for qualifying second and leading the most laps in the race. Marcus Armstrong has 34 points, two more than Rinus VeeKay and Colton Herta rounds out the top fifteen on 29 points.
Nolan Siegel has 28 points from two oval races while Devlin DeFrancesco and Marcus Ericsson are tied on 27 points. Alexander Rossi has 26 points while Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing teammates Louis Foster and Graham Rahal have 23 and 21 respectively.
Hélio Castroneves has 20 points after finishing tenth at Indianapolis. That is the same points total that Will Power has from two oval starts. Callum Ilott has 18 oval points and Sting Ray Robb has 17 oval points.
Last year, Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden ranked first and second in oval points. Through the first two oval races in 2025, they are the bottom two in points among drivers who have started both races. McLaughlin has scored 15 points from the first two oval events and Newgarden has scored 14 points. They have fewer oval points than Ed Carpenter, who scored 16 points for his 15th-place finish.
While it is good to score points on ovals, it usually does not win a driver the championship. Since 2010, only three times did the driver with the most oval points win the overall championship. Dario Franchitti did it in 2010, Ryan Hunter-Reay followed in 2012, and Scott Dixon was the most recent to do it in 2020. In that same timeframe, the driver with the most road/street course points has won the overall championship nine times, including in four consecutive seasons.
First-Time Winners
We are approaching two years since IndyCar's most recent first-time winner. This is the longest space between new winners since a near-three year gap from Alexander Rossi's first career victory at the 2016 Indianapolis 500 and Colton Herta's first career victory at Austin in March 2020.
Ovals are not where you would typically expect a first time winner. Of the 17 drivers to score their first career victory since 2012, only two won on an oval. Rossi was the first in 2016, Patricio O'Ward is the other when he won at Texas in 2021. However, looking at recent results, an oval is the more likely location for a breakthrough victory.
At the Indianapolis 500, four of the top eight finishers had zero career victories. At Gateway, three of the top six finishers and five of the top ten finishers had zero career victories.
Conor Daly was the fastest at the Iowa test last month. Daly has made 125 career starts and he is still looking for that first career victory. Only two drivers have made more starts before their first career victories. Michel Jourdain, Jr. won in his 129 starts. If Daly wins this weekend, he would match George Snider for second-most starts before a first career victory. Daly has finished in the top ten of both oval races this season, and he had finished in the top ten in four of his last five oval starts, including a third at Milwaukee last year.
Santino Ferrucci has five consecutive top ten finishes on ovals, four of which have been top five finishes. In his career, nine of his 11 career top five finishes have been on ovals. At Iowa, he was sixth and 11th last year, but prior to that, he had finished outside the top ten in his first five starts at the track.
David Malukas was second in the Indianapolis 500, and all three of his podium finishes have been on ovals. All his top five finishes have been on ovals as well. Malukas' best finish at Iowa was eighth, and he has finished outside the top ten in four of his six starts at the circuit.
Marcus Armstrong is quietly having a good season. Through ten races, Armstrong has finished in the top ten in five races, including a fifth at Road America. He picked up a top ten finish at Gateway as he was ninth. In nine career oval starts, Armstrong has four top ten finishes with his best result being seventh at Nashville last year.
Christian Rasmussen has been the surprise of the season on ovals. Not only does Rasmussen have the fourth-most oval points but he was third at Gateway, his first career podium finish, and it was Ed Carpenter Racing's first podium result since Barber Motorsports Park in 2022. It was ECR's best oval finish since Ed Carpenter was second at Gateway in 2019.
Of the remaining eight drivers entered for Iowa without a victory, none of them have a top five finish on an oval. Only Callum Ilott, Nolan Siegel, Sting Ray Robb and Robert Shwartzman have at least one top ten finish on an oval. Kyffin Simpson's best oval result was 13th in the second Milwaukee race last year. Devlin DeFrancesco and Louis Foster were 11th and 12th respectively at this year's Indianapolis 500, their best oval results. Jacob Abel made his first oval start at Gateway and finished 21st.
The next new winner is a milestone winner. It will be the 300th winner in IndyCar history. There is a reason everyone should be concerned though. There has never been a first-time winner at Iowa.
Intra-Team Battles
We have completed ten races in the 2025 season, and with three street races, five road courses and two oval races contested, we have a fair sample size of every bit of the calendar, and we know where every team stands with four ovals, two road courses and one street course remaining.
It is no surprise that Álex Palou is leading the way for Chip Ganassi Racing. Palou has won six times. He has been the top Ganassi finisher on seven occasions. Scott Dixon's victory at Mid-Ohio was his second time as the best Ganassi finisher this season. Kyffin Simpson has been the best Ganassi finisher once, that was Detroit, where Palou was taken out and Simpson was fifth. The other was Gateway, where Dixon caught a timely yellow, which allowed him to have a lap on the field before he made his penultimate pit stop, and it allowed Dixon to finish fourth while Palou was the next-best Ganassi runner in eighth.
When it comes to qualifying, Palou has been the top Ganassi starter eighth times. Dixon was the best Ganassi driver on the grid at St. Petersburg and the Indianapolis 500. Simpson has yet to be the best Ganassi starter, but his best grid position this season came last week at Mid-Ohio when he started third.
Patricio O'Ward has taken over the team battle at Arrow McLaren. O'Ward has been the top McLraen finisher in four of the last five races and he has been the best McLaren five times this year. Christian Lundgaard has been the top McLaren finisher four times this season, including his third last week at Mid-Ohio. Nolan Siegel got on the board at Road America when he led McLaren with an eighth-place finisher.
In qualifying, it is identical to race form. O'Ward has led McLaren five times to Lundgaard's four and Siegel has been on top once.
Kyle Kirkwood has been the top Andretti Global finisher in six races, including three of the last four. Colton Herta has been the best Andretti car four times, but one of those includes the Indianapolis 500 where Marcus Ericsson and Kirkwood were disqualified. Prior to his penalty, Indianapolis was the only time Ericsson has been the best Andretti finisher on the road. Ericsson has been the worst Andretti finisher in seven races.
Herta has been the better qualifying, as he has started ahead of both his teammates in seven races. Kirkwood has been the top qualifier only twice, and Ericsson started the best of the three at the Indianapolis 500.
Will Power has been the best Team Penske finisher five times while Scott McLaughlin has led the way four times, including in the last three races. Josef Newgarden has not been the best Penske driver since he was third in the St. Petersburg season opener.
McLaughlin is by far the best Penske driver in qualifying. He has been the top qualifier in seven races. The only times Newgarden has been the best starter was when no Penske car started in the top fifteen. At Thermal Club, Newgarden started 17th and his two teammates started outside the top twenty. The second time was at Mid-Ohio. Newgarden started 18th, and neither of his teammates started in the top twenty. Power's pole position at Gateway is the only time he has been the top Penske starter.
Felix Rosenqvist is sixth in the championship, two spots ahead of his Meyer Shank Racing teammate Marcus Armstrong. Rosenqvist has a 7-3 advantage on Armstrong in race finish, but the drivers are level 5-5 in terms of qualifying.
After splitting the first six races three apiece, Santino Ferrucci has taken a 7-3 edge in the A.J. Foyt Racing battle, but David Malukas has been the better qualifier in eight races this season, and Malukas has been the best Foyt starter in the last five events. On four of those occasions, Malukas has started in the top ten while Ferrucci has started 15th or worse. In three races of those races, Ferrucci has started no better than 18th.
Alexander Rossi is up 8-2 on Christian Rasmussen in races and 8-2 in qualifying at Ed Carpenter Racing. Rasmussen has been the best ECR finisher at both ovals, and Rasmussen has been the better qualifier in two of the last three races.
Conor Daly is up 7-3 on Sting Ray Robb in races and 8-2 in qualifying at Juncos Hollinger Racing. Robb got the better of Daly at Long Beach, Detroit and Mid-Ohio. Daly has been the best JHR starter in the last four races. The only times Robb has been the better starter was Long Beach, when he started 19th and Daly was 21st, and at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis with Robb starting 17th and Daly in 22nd.
Rinus VeeKay is thoroughly dominating the fight at Dale Coyne Racing over Jacob Abel. VeeKay is up 9-1 in finishing positions. The only time Abel has been the top DCR finisher was Detroit when VeeKay retired due to a mechanical issue after six laps. VeeKay is up 9-1 in qualifying as well. Abel got on the board last week at Mid-Ohio.
It has not been a good year at Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Its best driver in the championship is Graham Rahal in 21st, and Rahal has been the top RLLR finisher in six races. Louis Foster is 22nd, and he was the best RLLR driver at Long Beach in 16th, Road America when he finished 11th after starting on pole position, and Mid-Ohio in 14th. Devlin DeFrancesco's only race as the best RLLR finisher was when he was 11th in the Indianapolis 500. The three drivers are near-level as the top RLLR qualifier. Foster has been the best RLLR in four races while Rahal and DeFrancesco has each been the team's top starter three times.
At Prema, Robert Shwartzman holds a 6-4 advantage in finishing position, but Callum Ilott is ahead 8-2 when it comes to qualifying. Ilott has been the better starter in four consecutive races, and Ilott scored his best finish of the season at Mid-Ohio, finishing 13th.
Indy Lights
Only one series will join IndyCar at Iowa, and Indy Lights will run a 75-lap race on Saturday afternoon prior to the first IndyCar race of the weekend.
Dennis Hauger extended his championship lead with a victory at Mid-Ohio where Hauger led every lap. The Norwegian has 371 points and a 47-point lead over Andretti Global teammate Lochie Hughes, who was third at Mid-Ohio, his third consecutive podium finish and seventh of the season. Caio Collet was second at Mid-Ohio, and Collet is 83 points behind Hauger in the championship.
Myles Rowe is down 135 points to Hauger with Josh Pierson 147 points behind the Norwegian. Salvador de Alba is a point behind Pierson in the championship.
There has only been one oval race this season in Indy Lights. At Gateway, Hauger started on pole position and led, but he faded as the race went on and ended up falling to fifth at the checkered flag. Collet led most of the race, but the Brazilian did not have the pace to match Hughes down the stretch. Hughes won at Gateway and Rowe wound up taking second ahead of Collet. De Alba was fourth.
Last year, Andretti Global won at Iowa with Louis Foster. Three of the last four Iowa race winners have gone on to win the Indy Lights championship. It was an Andretti 1-2 finish with James Roe, Jr. finishing second. Roe is currently 15th in the championship and he has finished outside the top ten in six consecutive races. De Alba was third last year ahead of Callum Hedge. Hedge has finished sixth in the last two races and he is seventh in the championship on 189 points, 34 points behind Pierson.
The Indy Lights race will take place at 1:30 p.m. ET on Saturday July 12.
Fast Facts
Saturday's race will be the eighth run on July 12th and the first since Felix Rosenqvist scored his first career victory at Road America. Sunday's race will be the eighth run on July 13th and the first since Scott McLaughlin won at Iowa last year.
The only Iowa race to previously take place on July 12 was in 2014. Ryan Hunter-Reay won it, and only led the final two laps after pitting under the final caution when most of the leaders did not make a stop.
Chip Ganassi Racing has won four of the seven races held on June 12 (1998: Alex Zanardi at Cleveland, 2008: Scott Dixon at Nashville, 2009: Dario Franchitti at Toronto, 2020: Rosenqvist at Road America).
Honda has won three consecutive oval races. Honda has never won four consecutive oval races in the DW12 era.
This will be the 75th oval race in the DW12 era. Chevrolet has won 49 of them.
There have been seven different winners in the last seven oval races.
The last time there were eight different winners in eight oval races was from Pocono 2015 through the 2017 Indianapolis 500. Those winners were Ryan Hunter-Reay (Pocono 2015), Scott Dixon (Phoenix 2016), Alexander Rossi (Indianapolis 2016), Josef Newgarden (Iowa 2016), Will Power (Pocono 2016), Graham Rahal (Texas 2016), Simon Pagenaud (Phoenix 2017) and Takuma Sato (Indianapolis 2017).
The average starting position of an Iowa winner is 7.619 with a median of fourth.
Only five Iowa races have been won from the front row (2013, 2016, 2020 race II, 2022 race I, 2024 race I). James Hinchcliffe won the first. Josef Newgarden won the next three races and Scott McLaughlin won from second last year.
Six of 21 Iowa races have been won from third starting position.
Seven Iowa races have been won from outside the top ten, including the second race last year when Will Power won from 22nd. The worst starting position for an Iowa winner came in the first race in 2020 when Simon Pagenaud won from 23rd.
Ten of 21 Iowa races have been won from outside a top five starting position.
The average number of lead changes in an Iowa race is 8.523 with a median of eight.
Eight Iowa races have had at least a double-digit number of lead changes, but only two in the last ten Iowa races have had more than seven lead changes.
The average number of cautions in an Iowa race is 3.952 with a median of four. The average number of caution laps is 43.476 with a median of 44.
The most cautions in an Iowa race is seven, which occurred in 2014.
The second Iowa race last year had 12 caution laps, the fewest in an Iowa race.
Predictions
Chevrolet gets on the board this weekend and Josef Newgarden gets the weight off his back. Chevrolet sweeps the weekend with Patricio O’Ward. Álex Palou will be on the podium in both races. Each race will have a top five finishers with zero career victories. Passing will be up, but by no more than 12% from last year’s average. No cars will get airborne. No cars will run out of fuel. None of the rookies get a top ten finish this weekend. At least one race sees Alexander Rossi as the top finishing Ed Carpenter Racing driver. Marcus Ericsson snaps his top ten finish drought. Neither race is a double top ten day for Meyer Shank Racing. No caution catches out Colton Herta. Sleeper: Marcus Ericsson.
