IndyCar News: Sunday Morning Report from Iowa Speedway
Good morning from Iowa Speedway, where the NTT INDYCAR Series will be running the Farm to Finish 275 Powered by Sukup. The lineup today will be short one driver, Arrow McLaren’s Nolan Siegel, who made heavy contact with the SAFER Barrier on Lap 248 of yesterday’s race and has not been cleared to drive today.
The weather should be in the low 80s when the race begins today at 1:00 pm CT, with no precipitation predicted for today.
There is no other on-track activity except the IndyCar race today.
Yesterday, we saw Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin move his way through the field from last place to 4th. The Kiwi is staring at the back of the pack today also, because of his crash in qualifying yesterday.
Will Power, driver of the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, was pretty happy to see Conor Daly, driver of the No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Racing entry, using the second lane during the race yesterday.
The veteran driver said he felt more confident using the upper lane after seeing other drivers using it and keeping it rubbered in. This creates more passing and better racing for drivers and the fans.
Series championship points leader, Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou, will start on the pole. Palou is still 105 points ahead of second-place Pato O’Ward, who will start ninth in today’s event. Kyle Kirkwood starts 21st today and did not finish the race yesterday, dropping down to third in the championship.
The 1:00 pm ET race will be broadcast on Fox. Actual race start 1:30pm ET
Editor’s Note:
The empty grandstands at Iowa Speedway tell a story IndyCar doesn’t want to hear. While the NASCAR stock car series celebrates back-to-back sellouts at the track, IndyCar is staring at a potential disaster that could end its relationship with one of its former crown jewel venues.
Why Is IndyCar Struggling at Iowa While NASCAR Thrives?
When Hy-Vee sponsored the IndyCar races at Iowa, they brought in big-name concerts, and the grandstands were full. Hy-Vee is now gone, and so too are the big-name concerts. That’s the reason why the grandstands are nearly empty for the 2025 event – the fans were there for the concerts, not the races.
The numbers paint a grim picture for the open-wheel series. It’s a double-header weekend, but according to IndyCar reporter Nathan Brown, fewer than 6,000 tickets have been sold for each event day, but fewer than 2,000 showed up on race day Saturday. This represents only a fraction of a venue that has a seating capacity of about 30,000 people.
Meanwhile, Iowa has racing enthusiasts. Look at the Cup Series races: Their debut race, Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol in 2024, was a sellout, and even the 2025 one, scheduled to kick off in August, is already sold out. So clearly, there is a racing market, but IndyCar fans have rejected another oval event and rumor has it this may be the last year IndyCar race in Iowa.
Lucille Dust reporting live from Iowa Speedway