Josef Newgarden and Alex Palou polesitters after IndyCar Iowa doubleheader qualifying

Josef Newgarden and Alex Palou will lead the NTT IndyCar Series field to green this weekend at Iowa Speedway

IndyCar held qualifying for both legs of its Iowa doubleheader on Saturday. With two races to set the field for, drivers were tasked with completing two laps during their runs.

The first lap secured a driver’s spot in Saturday’s race, with the second lap determining the grid for Sunday.

Race 1 qualifying

Josef Newgarden, Team Penske

Photo by: Geoff Miller / Lumen via Getty Images

Josef Newgarden led all drivers in the opening session, scoring his first pole of 2025 and 19th of his career. The Tennessean completed a lap of 17.4914s to lead the session, beating Conor Daly, driving for Juncos Hollinger Racing, who nearly pulled off an upset in second.

Newgarden, the Team Penske star, is chasing his seventh Iowa victory and looking to turn around a difficult season, which has seen four DNFs in the five races prior to this weekend.

Felix Rosenqvist slotted third, with Palou and Pato O'Ward completing the top-five. Scott Dixon, Will Power, Nolan Siegel, Santino Ferrucci and David Malukas wrapped up the top-10.

Race 2 qualifying

Felix Rosenqvist, Meyer Shank Racing

Photo by: Geoff Miller / Lumen via Getty Images

Rosenqvist held the top spot for the race two grid into the final seconds of qualifying. But with a last-ditch rise, Palou jumped to the top of the charts with a session-best time of 17.49s. The result is the Spaniard’s fourth pole of 2025. He’s looking for his second oval win after claiming the Indianapolis 500 in May.

Just .0037s back from Palou was Rosenqvist, who was chasing his first pole since Long Beach in 2024. Malukas surged in his second lap to take third, with Newgarden and Siegel wrapping up the top-five. Capping off the top-10 were Power, Daly, Dixon, O’Ward and Graham Rahal.

Most drivers were consistent between laps, but there were close calls and setbacks. None are worse off going into the races than Scott McLaughlin, who crashed in the opening turn on his first lap after the car twitched at corner entry.

McLaughlin scored his first oval win at Iowa in 2024 and led the way in Saturday’s early practice. But his No. 2 team will be challenged all weekend after the qualifying crash, which forces the Kiwi to start last in both legs of the Iowa doubleheader.

“I got a little high, I guess,” McLaughlin said of his crash. “I wouldn’t say I was too much higher than I was in practice. The nose sort of went around on me, and it was hard to come back from where I was, how much lock I had in the car.”