It may not come close to the overall importance of the Indy 500, but in terms of the IndyCar championship, there is no race weekend more important to the series than this weekend, with two full points-paying races scheduled to take place at Iowa Speedway.
Saturday's Synk 275 and Sunday's Farm to Finish 275 are both scheduled to be 275-lap races around the four-turn, 0.875-mile (1.408-kilometer) Newton, Iowa oval, and Saturday's qualifying session is set to set the starting lineups for both events.
The traditional non-Indy 500 oval qualifying format is set to be used, with each driver set to make a single two-lap qualifying attempt. But first laps are only set to count toward determining the starting lineup for the first race, while second laps are only set to count toward determining the starting lineup for the first race.
Many view this weekend as the best possible weekend for a Team Penske bounce-back. Roger Penske's team have yet to win through 10 races this season. In fact, Chevrolet remains winless. But Team Penske drivers have combined to win eight of the nine most recent races at Iowa, and it would be nine in a row had Josef Newgarden not had a shock failure while dominating the second race in 2022.
Scott McLaughlin won the first race last year, and Will Power finally got his first Iowa win in the second race last year. Ironically, it was six-time Iowa winner Newgarden who was the only Penske driver not to find victory lane there in 2024.
Follow along with our live qualifying updates for both Iowa races.
IndyCar at Iowa: Race 1 starting lineup
1st - Josef Newgarden - No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet - 183.999
2nd - Conor Daly - No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet - 183.714
3rd - Felix Rosenqvist - No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda - 183.635
4th - Alex Palou - No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda - 183.596
5th - Pato O'Ward - No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet - 183.096
6th - Scott Dixon - No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda - 182.924
7th - Will Power - No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet - 182.824
8th - Nolan Siegel - No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet - 182.807
9th - Santino Ferrucci - No. 14 A.J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet - 182.756
10th - David Malukas - No. 4 A.J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet - 182.596
11th - Marcus Armstrong - No. 66 Meyer Shank Racing Honda - 182.482
12th - Louis Foster - No. 45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda - 182.381
13th - Alexander Rossi - No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet - 181.939
14th - Graham Rahal - No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda - 181.478
15th - Marcus Ericsson - No. 28 Andretti Global Honda - 181.463
16th - Robert Shwartzman - No. 83 Prema Racing Chevrolet - 181.319
17th - Callum Ilott - No. 90 Prema Racing Chevrolet - 181.257
18th - Kyle Kirkwood - No. 27 Andretti Global Honda - 181.13
19th - Christian Rasmussen - No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet - 181.107
20th - Devlin DeFrancesco - No. 30 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda - 181.097
21st - Christian Lundgaard - No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet - 179.975
22nd - Kyffin Simpson - No. 8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda - 179.966
23rd - Colton Herta - No. 26 Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian Honda - 179.27
24th - Sting Ray Robb - No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet - 178.885
25th - Rinus VeeKay - No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda - 177.157
26th - Jacob Abel - No. 51 Dale Coyne Racing Honda - 175.255
27th - Scott McLaughlin - No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet - 0
IndyCar at Iowa: Race 2 starting lineup
1st - Alex Palou - No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda - 184.014
2nd - Felix Rosenqvist - No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda - 183.975
3rd - David Malukas - No. 4 A.J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet - 183.369
4th - Josef Newgarden - No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet - 183.316
5th - Nolan Siegel - No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet - 183.194
6th - Will Power - No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet - 183.072
7th - Conor Daly - No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet - 182.943
8th - Scott Dixon - No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda - 182.664
9th - Pato O'Ward - No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet - 182.645
10th - Graham Rahal - No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda - 182.489
11th - Robert Shwartzman - No. 83 Prema Racing Chevrolet - 182.443
12th - Marcus Armstrong - No. 66 Meyer Shank Racing Honda - 182.409
13th - Callum Ilott - No. 90 Prema Racing Chevrolet - 182.214
14th - Marcus Ericsson - No. 28 Andretti Global Honda - 182.154
15th - Alexander Rossi - No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet - 181.846
16th - Louis Foster - No. 45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda - 181.805
17th - Christian Rasmussen - No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet - 181.681
18th - Kyffin Simpson - No. 8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda - 181.589
19th - Colton Herta - No. 26 Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian Honda - 181.472
20th - Santino Ferrucci - No. 14 A.J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet - 181.205
21st - Kyle Kirkwood - No. 27 Andretti Global Honda - 181.181
22nd - Christian Lundgaard - No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet - 180.92
23rd - Devlin DeFrancesco - No. 30 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda - 180.664
24th - Sting Ray Robb - No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet - 177.683
25th - Jacob Abel - No. 51 Dale Coyne Racing Honda - 177.145
26th - Rinus VeeKay - No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda - 170.822
27th - Scott McLaughlin - No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet - 0
Fox is set to provide live coverage of the Synk 275 from Iowa Speedway beginning at 5:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, July 12, and it is also set to provide live coverage of the Farm to Finish 275 beginning at 1:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 13. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss any of the action!