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Colton Herta, Scott McLaughlin snag IndyCar Iowa Speedway poles

Portrait of Nathan Brown Nathan Brown
Indianapolis Star

NEWTON, Iowa -- After two years of Will Power pole domination since IndyCar's return to Iowa Speedway in 2022, two new drivers will start out front for Saturday and Sunday's pair of races.

Despite dealing with issues with his Energy Recovery System during his qualifying run -- one of several drivers to complain of an inability to deploy the several seconds of 60 extra horsepower during their two-lap runs -- Colton Herta snagged pole for Race 1 that will kickoff shortly after 8 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. CT Saturday night . The performance marks the 13th pole of his IndyCar career and the first for an oval race.

After another race where he felt he had a race-winning car, Colton Herta was forced to scramble from the back to try and salvage points for his hopeful championship run.

The Andretti Global driver currently sits 5th in points, but just nine points out of 3rd and 31 out of 2nd as he and the rest of the 27-car field chase down defending champion and current points leader Alex Palou (who starts 3rd Saturday). Among the other championship contenders, 2nd-place Will Power will start 4th; 3rd-place Pato O'Ward starts 6th; and 4th-place Scott Dixon starts 5th.

Joining him on the front row for Saturday night's Race 1 will be Scott McLaughlin, who enters 8th in points -- and more importantly, secured both a pole for Race 2 and a new single-lap track record during his qualifying run Saturday afternoon. Palou will join the Team Penske driver on the front row for Sunday's Race 2, which starts at 12:30 p.m. ET / 11:30 a.m. CT. Dixon (3rd) and Herta (4th), Felix Rosenqvist (5th) and Alexander Rossi (6th) make up the front three rows for the backend of the doubleheader.

Scott McLaughlin at Road America in June 2024

Josef Newgarden, the winner of five of the last seven IndyCar races at Iowa Speedway -- including sweeping last year's weekend -- has a lot of ground to make up for both races and will start 22nd Saturday night and 14th Sunday.

Among concerns entering IndyCar's Iowa Speedway weekend are whether the field will manage to rubber-in a second lane in the turns after the NASCAR-owned track underwent a partial repave in the offseason ahead of the stock car series' inaugural visit to the track last month. Though the field started Friday practice with a 30-minute practice of strictly running in the second lane to try and rubber it in, cars struggled to run there towards the end of the day's traditional 90-minute practice session -- leading to a handful of spins in the closing minutes.

Teams are also battling a revamped tire compound from Firestone after the full-field test two weeks ago, in hopes of delivering some more tire degradation that had been a staple of the race and determined stint lengths. Without tire deg, and if cars can't safely and effectively run up high to make passes, the weekend's doubleheader could turn into a pair of processional affairs with passes largely made during pit sequences.

What to know:IndyCar Series at Iowa doubleheader concerts, schedule, TV, streaming, qualifying

IndyCar qualifying results for Race 1 at Iowa Speedway

*Graham Rahal and Kyffin Simpson will both drop nine spots on the starting grid for Saturday night's race due to the team making an unapproved engine change after Mid-Ohio. Below are the qualifying results.

  1. Colton Herta
  2. Scott McLaughlin
  3. Alex Palou
  4. Will Power
  5. Scott Dixon
  6. Pato O'Ward
  7. Alexander Rossi
  8. Santino Ferrucci
  9. Marcus Armstrong
  10. Marcus Ericsson
  11. Felix Rosenqvist
  12. Graham Rahal
  13. Linus Lundqvist
  14. Rinus VeeKay
  15. David Malukas
  16. Nolan Siegel
  17. Agustin Canapino
  18. Pietro Fittipaldi
  19. Jack Harvey
  20. Kyle Kirkwood
  21. Romain Grosjean
  22. Josef Newgarden
  23. Christian Lundgaard
  24. Sting Ray Robb
  25. Ed Carpenter
  26. Katherine Legge
  27. Kyffin Simpson

IndyCar qualifying results for Race 2 at Iowa Speedway

  1. Scott McLaughlin
  2. Alex Palou
  3. Scott Dixon
  4. Colton Herta
  5. Felix Rosenqvist
  6. Alexander Rossi
  7. Pato O'Ward
  8. Graham Rahal
  9. David Malukas
  10. Agustin Canapino
  11. Nolan Siegel
  12. Kyle Kirkwood
  13. Linus Lundqvist
  14. Josef Newgarden
  15. Rinus VeeKay
  16. Romain Grosjean
  17. Pietro Fittipaldi
  18. Jack Harvey
  19. Christian Lundgaard
  20. Santino Ferrucci
  21. Sting Ray Robb
  22. Marcus Ericsson
  23. Will Power
  24. Kyffin Simpson
  25. Katherine Legge
  26. Marcus Armstrong
  27. Ed Carpenter