Iowa IndyCar: Power leads Daly in practice for double-header

Rinus VeeKay of Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet was the first driver to lap the 0.894-mile course in more than 170mph, but it was his teammate Daly who zoomed to the top of the start with his fourth lap. Daly, who took a pole for the Carlin team here back in 2020, lapped in 18.5778sec which is an average of 173.239mph. Even Josef Newgarden, who has led more than 1100 laps at this track, fell more than 1.6mph short despite moving into second.

Graham Rahal, who has always been strong at Iowa, was third fastest at the halfway point of the 90-minute session but with 40mins to go he was usurped by Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet’s Pato O’Ward on his 46^th lap having switched to a new set of Firestones. Then Alex Palou, defending champion in his newly Ridgeline-colored #10 Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda, slotted into second, within 1.5mph of Daly’s benchmark. However, on his 53^rd lap, O’Ward grabbed second, with a 172.687mph

At this time, Palou’s teammate led the 20-lap averages at 158.624mph, a tad ahead of Will Power’s Team Penske-Chevrolet, VeeKay and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s HyVee-backed driver, Jack Harvey.

Jimmie Johnson, practicing for his first IndyCar race at Iowa, then launched into the top six with his 54^th lap with a 170.795mph effort which, along with an improvement by Marcus Ericsson, ensured all four Ganassi cars were in the top 12.

With 20mins to go, several drivers attempted qualifying simulations, and Power – a three-time Iowa polesitter who is still seeking his first race win here – jumped to the top, shading Daly by a mere 0.0049sec with an 18.5729sec at 173.285mph. His sophomore teammate Scott McLaughlin almost matched him to claim third.

Then out came the second caution of the session, again for a track inspection, this time caused by a fox on the track.

The green flag waved again with 10 laps to go, and Palou set his fastest time of the session to move into fourth

Palou was the driver who completed the most laps at 119.

Qualifying begins at 9.30am local (Central) time, with the first race, the HyVeeDeals.com 250 presented by DoorDash, getting the green flag at 3.05pm.