Scott McLaughlin gets to follow up his victory Saturday night from Iowa with a start from pole position for the second race of IndyCar's Iowa doubleheader. McLaughlin ran a lap of 17.0966 seconds (188.248 mph) on the second lap of his qualifying run. The lap set the track record around the 0.875-mile oval. It is McLaughlin's third pole position of the season and his third pole position in the last four oval races. The New Zealander is going for his third consecutive podium finish. The only time he has had three consecutive podium finishes in his career was in 2022 at Nashville, Gateway and Portland.
Álex Palou missed out on pole position by 0.0615 seconds, but the championship leader will start second for today's race. Palou will look to rebound from his first retirement since the 2022 Road America race. His 23rd-place result last night was his worst finish on an oval since he was 28th in the 2020 Indianapolis 500. Palou has never had consecutive finishes outside the top twenty in his IndyCar career. His championship lead is down to 36 points over Patricio O’Ward.
Scott Dixon makes it two Chip Ganassi Racing cars in the top three spots. Dixon was 0.0992 seconds off his fellow New Zealander McLaughlin's time. Dixon's fourth-place finish last night was his eighth consecutive top ten finish at Iowa. However, during this streak, he has led only a combined five laps over the 2,100 laps run.
Despite a minor hybrid issue, Colton Herta ended up qualifying fourth for the second race of the weekend. Herta was 0.1159 seconds off sweeping the pole positions for the weekend. Last night, Herta led the first 86 laps in last night's race before he lost the lead in the lane to McLaughlin. It was the most laps Herta has led in a race since his 2021 Laguna Seca victory, where he led 91 of 95 laps.
Felix Rosenqvist starts fifth, Rosenqvist's best starting position on an oval this season. After starting 11th and finishing 13th last night, it was the fifth time this season Rosenqvist has finished worse than his starting position. This is the fifth time he has started in the top five this season. He has finished worse than his starting position in three of his for top five starts in 2024.
Alexander Rossi takes sixth position. Prior to this weekend, Rossi had not started better than 18th in the last five Iowa races. He will have started in the top seven of both races this weekend. With his eighth-place finish last night, Rossi now has seven top ten finishes in his career at Iowa, but he still has not finished in the top five at the track.
Patricio O'Ward will start a position behind his Arrow McLaren teammate Rossi in seventh. O'Ward's runner-up finish last night was the 12th of his career. It was also the first time O'Ward has finished better than seventh in the race following a victory. In 2022, he was second in the first Iowa race and followed that one with a victory in race two.
Graham Rahal has his best starting position on an oval this season in eighth. Rahal's 16th-place finish last night was the fourth consecutive Iowa race he has finished outside the top ten. He has finished off the lead lap in five consecutive Iowa races. The last time he finished on the lead lap here was when he was third in the second race of the 2020 doubleheader.
David Malukas starts in the top ten for the second time this year as Malukas will be on the inside of row five. He was the final drier within a quarter-second of the pole position time. Malukas was unable to complete a lap in last night's race as he spun after clipping the apron in turn two.
Agustín Canapino rounds out the top ten of the grid, Canapino's best starting position in his IndyCar career. His previous best was 13th at Laguna Seca three weeks ago. Canapino's 17th starting position in race one of this doubleheader was his best oval starting position, surpassing him starting 19th at Texas last year, his first career oval start.
Nolan Siegel will start 11th in his second career oval race. This comes one night after Siegel finished 12th in his first career oval start. He was the best finishing rookie last night. Siegel has been the top finishing rookie in two of his three races with Arrow McLaren. He was 12th at Laguna Seca last month.
Kyle Kirkwood makes it an all-American row six. Kirkwood went from 19th to seventh in last night's race. That gives Kirkwood nine top ten finishes this season and six consecutive. He has been the top Andretti Global finisher in only three races this season, but he has been the best Andretti car in both oval races in 2024.
Linus Lundqvist has the 13th starting position. Last night's retirement due to a mechanical issue means Lundqvist has finished outside the top ten in seven consecutive races. Four of those results have been finishes outside the top twenty.
Josef Newgarden has been struggled for speed this weekend, and after starting 22nd in the first Iowa race, Newgarden starts a little better for race two in 14th. Prior to this weekend, Newgarden had not started outside the top ten at Iowa since 2016. This is the fourth consecutive race he has started outside the top ten, his longest top ten starting drought since 2014 when he started outside the top ten in both Houston races, Pocono and Iowa.
Rinus VeeKay is two spots worse than he started for race one with VeeKay in 15th position. VeeKay's fifth-place finish last night was his first top five result since he was fourth in the first Iowa race two years ago. VeeKay went 32 races between top five finishes.
Romain Grosjean has himself in 16th starting position. This is Grosjean's best starting position on an oval this season after starting 16th at Indianapolis and 20th yesterday. With a 24th-place finish last night, the Frenchman has finished outside the top twenty in two consecutive races. The only time he has had three consecutive results outside the top twenty in his career was last year between the Indianapolis 500, Detroit and Road America.
Pietro Fittipaldi started 17th in race one, and Fittipaldi starts 17th in race two as well. He is the only driver starting in the same position for both races of the Iowa doubleheader. Fittipaldi was spun out of last night's race after contact with Will Power coming to a restart. In ten races this season, Fittipaldi has finished off the lead lap in half of them.
With Jack Harvey stepping out of the #18 Honda for Dale Coyne Racing due to back and neck pain, Christian Lundgaard moves up to 18th starting position. Lundgaard has never started better than 17th at Iowa and his average starting position in six races is now 19.667. The only track where the Dane has a worse average starting position, with a minimum of three starts, is Indianapolis Motor Speedway. His average starting spot there is 29.667.
After taking eighth starting spot with his first qualifying lap, Santino Ferrucci ran much slower and will start 19th for the second race of the doubleheader. Ferrucci overcame a restart violation and falling a lap down to finish sixth in the first Iowa race. He has three consecutive top ten finishes. Only once in his career has Ferrucci had four consecutive top ten finishes.
After 27 consecutive races starting outside the top ten, for the first time in his IndyCar career Sting Ray Robb will start inside the top twenty, thanks to Jack Harvey’s withdrawal from the race. Robb moves up to 20th position. His previous best starting position was 21st in the 2023 Long Beach race, his third career start. Robb started 24th for the first Iowa race.
Marcus Ericsson is 21st on the grid, his worst Iowa starting position. Including starting tenth yesterday, Ericsson had started tenth in three consecutive Iowa races and he had six top ten starts in his first eight Iowa races. His previous worst starting spot at this track was 15th. Ericsson does have five consecutive top ten finishes this season after finishing ninth last night.
Will Power skimmed the wall exiting turn two on his second qualifying lap yesterday, and that means Power slots into 22nd on the grid for the Sunday race. This is Power's worst ever starting position for an Iowa race. After starting fourth yesterday, he had started in the top five in ten consecutive Iowa races, and he had started in the top ten of 17 consecutive Iowa races. His previous worst starting position at the track was 11th in his first visit in 2008.
Kyffin Simpson is on the inside of row 12. Simpson was 14th last night, his best finish since he was 14th at Barber Motorsports Park in April. He had finished outside the top twenty in five consecutive races prior to last night's result. Simpson is 24 points behind his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Linus Lundqvist for best rookie in the championship.
Katherine Legge starts two places did that she did last night in race one. Legge is starting 24th for today's race. Legge was able to make it to the finish in race one, albeit a lap down in 17th. It was the second-best finish for the #51 Dale Coyne Racing entry this season, one week after the #51 car scored its best finish with Toby Sowery in 13th at Mid-Ohio.
Marcus Armstrong had a strong qualifying run for race one, starting ninth, but a brush with the wall on his second lap meant Armstrong was relegated to 25th on the grid for the second race this weekend. Armstrong is coming off finishing tenth last night. It ended a three-race slump of finishing 17th or worse.
Ed Carpenter will be in 26th at the green flag. This is Carpenter's worst starting position since he started 27th at Gateway last August. This is the third time in the last four oval races Carpenter is starting outside the top twenty. He has not started in the top ten on an oval outside of the Indianapolis 500 since he started ninth for the 2018 Iowa race.
With Jack Harvey stepping out of the car due to a back and neck injury around, Conor Daly will take over the #18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda for the second race of the weekend. Daly ran at Iowa last year substituting for Simon Pagenaud. Daly was 21st and 17th in those races. This is Daly’s 19th start with Dale Coyne Racing. He made one start in 2015, ran the entire 2016 season with the organization, and the 2018 Indianapolis 500. Daly is the eighth Coyne driver this season. Harvey did qualify 18th for today's race. Despite his ailments, Harvey was only 0.4585 seconds off pole position on the second lap of the qualifying runs.
NBC's coverage of the Hy-Vee One Step 250 begins at 12:00 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 12:30 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 250 laps.
