Alex Palou wins a strategic IndyCar Iowa Speedway Farm to Finish 275

Flag-to-flag battles were ultimately decided by a late yellow flag at Iowa Speedway

On a year when everything seems to be going right for Alex Palou, he caught every break needed to leave Iowa Speedway with a weekend-ending win.

Palou benefitted from a pair of timely cautions to deny Josef Newgarden and David Malukas and claim Sunday’s Farm to Finish 275. The Spaniard had started from pole after a strong second lap in Saturday’s qualifying, but was overtaken twice by Newgarden during Sunday’s race.

Josef Newgarden, Team Penske

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

But in the end, Honda’s fuel mileage and some misfortune for Andretti Global made the difference. Andretti’s misfortune was to watch as Marcus Ericsson and Colton Herta suffered separate right-front tire failures, both times after Newgarden had come to pit road, trapping the Tennessean a lap down.

After the first one, on lap 130, Newgarden took the wavearound marched from 13th back to the front. He passed Palou with 35 to go, taking Malukas with him, and figured to contend for the win. But the caution flew again with 22 laps remaining, after Newgarden and Malukas had stopped.

Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

That gave Palou the advantage he needed. The Indianapolis 500 winner stopped for fresh tires, emerged with the lead and marched off over the final 11-lap run for his seventh win of 2025.

“(I’m) speechless, honestly,” Palou said. “It’s been an unbelievable day, and unbelievable weekend. But more than anything any incredible year for us.

“I cannot really believe it, honestly. Winning here is super special. I 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 still trying everything that we could. That worked for us.”

Final finishing order

David Malukas, A. J. Foyt Enterprises

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

The late caution significantly shifted the final running order. Mid-Ohio winner Scott Dixon followed Palou for second to give Chip Ganassi Racing another 1-2 result, with Meyer Shank Racing’s Marcus Armstrong completing an all-Honda podium.

Malukas rallied over the late stint to rise from eighth to fourth, with Pato O'Ward completing the top five. Christian Lundgaard, Felix Rosenqvist, Christian Rasmussen, Robert Shwartzman and Newgarden completed the top 10.

Devlin Defrancesco, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

Just as it had on Saturday, the first caution came out on the opening lap. Devlin DeFrancesco lost control of his No. 30 Honda in the pack and spun around, clipping Scott McLaughlin in the process. Both drivers were knocked out of the race.

A second caution followed on lap 50, when Sting Ray Robb backed hard into the wall between turns 1 and 2. Nolan Siegel had suffered a similar crash on Saturday and missed Sunday’s race with a mild concussion, but Robb was released from the infield care center and appeared okay.

Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

More drivers wound up in the wall as the race went on; Andretti Global suffered its race-changing tire failures. Callum Ilott backed into the outside wall on lap 176.

Will Power didn’t suffer any contact, but saw his day undone by an engine failure in the early stages. All three Team Penske cars had finished in the top-four on Saturday, but endured a day to forget on Sunday.

Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing, Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing, Marcus Armstrong, Meyer Shank Racing

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

Only 19 of the 26 drivers that took the green flag made to the checkered in the end. Of them, 18 ended up following Palou past the checkered flag. Such is the story of the season.

The IndyCar field will be back in action next Sunday in Toronto.

Photos from IOWA - Race 2

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	Mph	Pits	Points	Retirement
1	A. Palou Chip Ganassi Racing	10	275	1:48'39.2641		135.761	4	54
2	S. Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing	9	275	+0.5280 1:48'39.7921	0.5280	135.750	4	40
3	M. Armstrong Meyer Shank Racing	66	275	+2.7436 1:48'42.0077	2.2156	135.704	4	35
4	D. Malukas A.J. Foyt Enterprises	4	275	+4.0007 1:48'43.2648	1.2571	135.677	4	32
5	P. O'Ward Arrow McLaren	5	275	+4.8250 1:48'44.0891	0.8243	135.660	4	30
6	C. Lundgaard Arrow McLaren	7	275	+6.4378 1:48'45.7019	1.6128	135.627	4	28
7	F. Rosenqvist Meyer Shank Racing	60	275	+6.9021 1:48'46.1662	0.4643	135.617	4	26
8	C. Rasmussen Ed Carpenter Racing	21	275	+7.8354 1:48'47.0995	0.9333	135.598	4	24
9	R. Shwartzman Prema Racing	83	275	+9.0457 1:48'48.3098	1.2103	135.573	4	22
10	J. Newgarden Team Penske	2	275	+10.1300 1:48'49.3941	1.0843	135.550	4	21
11	J. Abel Dale Coyne Racing	51	275	+11.8122 1:48'51.0763	1.6822	135.515	4	19
12	R. van Kalmthout Dale Coyne Racing	18	275	+11.8317 1:48'51.0958	0.0195	135.515	3	18
13	K. Simpson Chip Ganassi Racing	8	275	+13.4066 1:48'52.6707	1.5749	135.482	3	17
14	L. Foster Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	45	275	+14.5475 1:48'53.8116	1.1409	135.458	4	16
15	S. Ferrucci A.J. Foyt Enterprises	14	274	+1 Lap 1:48'51.5595	1 Lap	135.012	4	15
16	C. Daly Juncos Hollinger Racing	76	274	+1 Lap 1:48'52.0537	0.4942	135.002	4	14
17	A. Rossi Ed Carpenter Racing	20	274	+1 Lap 1:48'54.3555	2.3018	134.955	4	13
18	K. Kirkwood Andretti Global	27	274	+1 Lap 1:48'54.8519	0.4964	134.944	3	13
19	G. Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	15	272	+3 Laps 1:48'40.8258	2 Laps	134.248	4	11
20	C. Herta Andretti Global	26	252	+23 Laps 1:37'16.2420	20 Laps	138.966	3	10	Accident
21	C. Ilott Prema Racing	90	173	+102 Laps 1:07'32.3124	79 Laps	137.399	2	9	Accident
22	M. Ericsson Andretti Global	28	127	+148 Laps 48'59.6159	46 Laps	139.044	1	8	Accident
23	R. Robb Sting Juncos Hollinger Racing	77	48	+227 Laps 19'01.5353	79 Laps	135.329		7	Accident
24	W. Power Team Penske	12	21	+254 Laps 15'15.1680	27 Laps	73.851		6	Mechanical
25	D. DeFrancesco Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	30	0	+275 Laps 4.1402	21 Laps	0.000		5	Accident
26	S. McLaughlin Team Penske	3	0	+275 Laps 4.4384	0.2982	0.000		5	Accident
27	N. Siegel Arrow McLaren	6	0					3
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