IndyCar Iowa: Daly and Newgarden share pole positions

Daly set a brilliant first lap of 175.188mph that was unmatchable even by Newgarden and Power, ensuring he kept top spot for Race 1, while the second lap – which decides Race 2 – was a 174.9, which eclipsed all but those two Penske drivers.

Daly, who had never started inside the Top 10 on an oval before, thus delivers Carlin its first IndyCar pole in the squad’s third year in this series.

“Man, it’s just way better than last weekend, that’s for sure," he said afterward. "I’m just super happy to be here. I’ve struggled at Iowa, personally; and I’ve learned a lot lately. Carlin and this team has done an incredible job. We’ve improved exactly where we needed to from last year. We did the same at Texas. So mission one is accomplished; obviously starting up front is super, super helpful. So, we’ve just got one more mission left tonight and hopefully we can come out of here with some trophies.”

"I’ve started on the last row here pretty much every time I’ve run here. So, that’s quite a difference. If I have the car to do what I just did, I thrive it seems to be like. So, I’m super thankful that these guys have worked with me and have listened to what I’ve said, and we’ve all worked together as a team. And, we’re the only one-car team out here, so it’s nice to have us up front.”

Colton Herta’s Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport machine bottomed out at Turn 4 on his qualifying run but he held on to claim fourth, ahead of Andretti Autosport teammate Alexander Rossi whose first lap was brave and wild.

Takuma Sato, a former Iowa polesitter, was sixth for Rahal Letterman Lanigan ahead of the fastest Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda of Felix Rosenqvist who, as in last week’s second race at Road America, just eclipsed the Arrow McLaren SP-Chevy of Patricio O’Ward.

The 2016 and ’19 Iowa polesitter Simon Pagenaud in the third Penske had the worst day of anyone, unable to take his qualifying run reportedly because of no fuel pressure, and he is thereby consigned to the final row for both races.

Champion Scott Dixon also struggled after using the whole track, and will line up 17^th.

For tomorrow evening’s race Newgarden and Power have locked out the front row while Daly will start alongside Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay and Herta.

Like Hunter-Reay, Meyer Shank Racing’s Jack Harvey felt out his first lap and then laid it on the line in Lap 2 to grab sixth on his first ever qualifying run at Iowa.

Rookie Alex Palou was also impressive for Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh, taking seventh, just ahead of the most experienced man in the field, 45-year-old Tony Kanaan in the AJ Foyt Racing-Chevy.

Marcus Ericsson and Rosenqvist rounded out the Top 10 for Ganassi, while teammate Dixon’s poor first lap led to only 18^th on the second.

The same was true of Zach Veach, whose Andretti car had a huge moment in Turn 4 at the end of his first lap, killing the speeds for both laps.

RACE 1 – Friday

Cla	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Mph
1	Conor Daly	Carlin	18.371		175.188
2	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske	18.379	0.008	175.107
3	Will Power	Team Penske	18.411	0.040	174.807
4	Colton Herta	Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport	18.412	0.040	174.799
5	Alexander Rossi	Andretti Autosport	18.683	0.312	172.263
6	Takuma Sato	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	18.697	0.326	172.130
7	Felix Rosenqvist	Chip Ganassi Racing	18.704	0.333	172.063
8	Patricio O'Ward	Arrow McLaren SP	18.753	0.382	171.617
9	Jack Harvey	Meyer Shank Racing	18.754	0.382	171.611
10	Marcus Ericsson	Chip Ganassi Racing	18.766	0.395	171.496
11	Santino Ferrucci	Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan	18.783	0.412	171.340
12	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport	18.790	0.419	171.278
13	Rinus van Kalmthout	Ed Carpenter Racing	18.820	0.449	171.005
14	Oliver Askew	Arrow McLaren SP	18.834	0.463	170.879
15	Charlie Kimball	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	18.841	0.470	170.817
16	Ed Carpenter	Ed Carpenter Racing	18.858	0.487	170.661
17	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	18.863	0.492	170.619
18	Alex Palou	Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh	18.876	0.505	170.495
19	Tony Kanaan	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	18.878	0.507	170.482
20	Marco Andretti	Andretti Herta Autosport with Marco & Curb-Agajani	18.995	0.624	169.433
21	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	19.110	0.739	168.407
22	Zach Veach	Andretti Autosport	19.452	1.080	165.453
23	Simon Pagenaud	Team Penske
View full results

RACE 2 - SATURDAY

Cla	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Mph
1	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske	18.355		175.333
2	Will Power	Team Penske	18.388	0.032	175.024
3	Conor Daly	Carlin	18.395	0.039	174.960
4	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport	18.470	0.114	174.245
5	Colton Herta	Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport	18.556	0.200	173.437
6	Jack Harvey	Meyer Shank Racing	18.654	0.299	172.523
7	Alex Palou	Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh	18.670	0.314	172.382
8	Tony Kanaan	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	18.729	0.373	171.834
9	Marcus Ericsson	Chip Ganassi Racing	18.749	0.393	171.653
10	Felix Rosenqvist	Chip Ganassi Racing	18.784	0.428	171.336
11	Charlie Kimball	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	18.788	0.432	171.294
12	Patricio O'Ward	Arrow McLaren SP	18.810	0.454	171.099
13	Oliver Askew	Arrow McLaren SP	18.824	0.468	170.970
14	Ed Carpenter	Ed Carpenter Racing	18.843	0.487	170.797
15	Rinus van Kalmthout	Ed Carpenter Racing	18.868	0.512	170.574
16	Santino Ferrucci	Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan	18.881	0.525	170.450
17	Marco Andretti	Andretti Herta Autosport with Marco & Curb-Agajani	18.897	0.541	170.313
18	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	18.984	0.628	169.531
19	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	19.013	0.657	169.268
20	Takuma Sato	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	19.024	0.668	169.174
21	Alexander Rossi	Andretti Autosport	19.084	0.728	168.639
22	Zach Veach	Andretti Autosport	19.948	1.592	161.334
23	Simon Pagenaud	Team Penske
View full results