After two races at Iowa Speedway, NTT IndyCar Series championship leader Alex Palou left with a comfortable lead in the run to his fourth Astor Cup. The battle is on for second place as the Spaniard has a 129-point cushion with five races remaining in the 2025 season.
With the unique doubleheader format consisting of the Synk 275 on Saturday (July 12) and Farm to Finish 275 on Sunday, Palou saw a minor shift in his lead after the first race concluded, losing seven points to new second-place title contender, Pato O’Ward. The Mexican driver was able to take the win away from Josef Newgarden in Race 1 and vault over Kyle Kirkwood, who had one of two rough outings on the weekend.
However, for Race 2 on Sunday, Palou cashed in his patented supply of good luck, with his team holding him long enough to take advantage of a late yellow that trapped title contenders a lap down. He cruised to a victory that gave him the maximum 54 points, including two for leading the most laps, one for leading at least a circuit and the point awarded for the pole. It was the perfect points day, and the second time he’s achieved that, doing so at Barber Motorsports Park in early May.
O’Ward did exactly what he needed to at one of his best tracks; he capitalized. On Sunday, he added a fifth-place finish to his win from the day before, earning a total of 81 points. Unfortunately, he is in a deep hole just like the rest of the field. The rest of the schedule doesn’t favor him as much as the title leader. O’Ward has won at just one of the five remaining events, Milwaukee. He’s placed well at the others — a second at Nashville, a couple of fourths at Portland — but he doesn’t equal Palou’s win total at those tracks.
A new driver has entered the fray to fight for second, though, as Mid-Ohio winner Scott Dixon continued his consistent year to jump Kirkwood and move to third. His 60 total points, boosted by his second place on Sunday, have him within artillery range of O’Ward, 44 back.
Kirkwood’s weekend was a championship nightmare and was only overshadowed because his entire team had troubles with load management on the right front tires. On Saturday, Kirkwood crashed in morning practice and subsequently did so in the race, finishing 26th. The next day wasn’t any better as far as pace — he ran where he was in Race 1 — and a gamble to stay out for track position didn’t help his chances too much as he finished 18th. Dixon’s better weekend bumped the Andretti Global driver to fourth in the points, but just seven behind the Kiwi, so a good showing at Toronto will get him back in it. Remember, street circuits are Kirkwood’s specialty.
Christian Lundgaard maintained his fifth place, but the gap to Felix Rosenqvist in sixth place shrank by two points, with a two-point spread now. A stellar third on Sunday by Marcus Armstrong gained him one spot, leaping Colton Herta, who managed a 13th as his best result on Saturday. Herta is now tied with Will Power for ninth. The Penske driver would have made further progress after a top five in Race 1 if his engine hadn’t soured early in Sunday’s race.
It was a dismal run for Team Penske after a confidence-building effort on Saturday, where all three cars earned valuable points with a second through fourth placing with their trio. Scott McLaughlin had worked back up into the top 10 of points after an inspiring climb from last to fourth on Saturday, but lost that progress when he wrecked on Sunday, finishing 26th.
Santino Ferrucci lost ground to the duo tied for ninth, with a best of eighth not enough to match the average finishes of those in front of him. He sits seven points behind Herta.
Deeper in the points, Arrow McLaren driver Nolan Siegel, who was 21st heading into Race 2, was not cleared to drive on Sunday. IndyCar awarded him three points, which, by rule, was half of the normal five given for that position. It was a bad weekend, with a crash on Saturday that ended up preventing him from running the second race, which netted him nine total championship points. His year could sink worse if he doesn’t receive clearance to drive in a week’s time.
The entire field is chasing Palou, though, who heads to Toronto with a comfortable lead as the rest of the competition battles it out for pride.
Tom is an IndyCar writer at Frontstretch, joining in March 2023. Besides writing the IndyCar Previews and frequent editions of Inside IndyCar, he will hop on as a fill-in guest on the Open Wheel podcast The Pit Straight. A native Hoosier, he calls Fort Wayne home. Follow Tom on Twitter @TomBlackburn42.