Alex Palou was looking like he was catching another championship saving break. Rain began to fall on the .894-mile Iowa Speedway just as qualifying was set to begin. It was the only spot in the entire state of Iowa that was getting any rain. If qualifying was rained out, he’d get the pole for not only today’s race (3 p.m. ET, NBC, INDYCAR Radio Network), but also tomorrow’s (2 p.m. ET, NBC, INDYCAR Radio Network) too.

However, track and NTT INDYCAR SERIES officials adapted. They moved the Indy NXT race to 7:30 p.m. ET tonight and was able to dry the track in time for Indy Car qualifying to take place at the time the junior category race was supposed to begin.

As a result, Will Power capitalized. He went from starting 8th to the pole in not only Saturday’s 250 lap race, but also Sunday’s too.

Colton Herta (178.270 mph) was quickest for Race 1 and David Malukas (178.610 mph) in Race 2. Then Power dropped the gauntlet in going nearly 3 mph faster than both on his run. The pole king scored his 69th and 70th career poles by going 181.426 on Lap 1 in his No. 12 Dallara-Chevrolet and 181.578 mph on Lap 2.

He won both poles a year ago and took them to finishes of 3rd and 2nd respectively. In fact, just 1 time in 15 races has the pole winner won here. So, that’s not great odds for Power.

But, 5 of the last 8 races here were won from the top 3 spots so it is good for his teammates Scott McLaughlin (180.334 mph) and Josef Newgarden (180,081 mph) in Race 1 and McLaughlin (179.635 mph) and Malukas for Race 2.

McLaughlin has 12 top 5 finishes so far and among his 12 top 5 finishes in the sport, 5 of which came on ovals. He was second in Texas 1 in 2021 and fourth in Gateway that season. Last year, he was second at Texas, third in Iowa 2 and third again in Gateway. This year, he was sixth at Texas and comes to Iowa on the heels of finishes of 7th (Detroit), 8th (Road America), 5th (Mid-Ohio) and now 6th (Toronto) respectively. He was second quick on Friday too.

Newgarden (3rd) and O’Ward (5th) being in the top 5 for Race 1 could be tough for Power and McLaughlin to hold back.

Newgarden has led 111 or more laps in 7 of his last 9 Iowa starts including four wins, a pair of runner-ups, a fourth, fifth and sixth place result in the last 10 tries. He’s won 3 of the last 5 here as well as having scored 5 wins in the last 7 short oval races in general. Newgarden has a pair of top five finishes in the last three races and was quickest in Friday’s practice.

Newgarden and O’Ward swept the races here last year too. They have also combined to have won 7 of the last 8 oval races in general with Newgarden winning 6 of the last 8 all by himself. He’s 2-for-2 this season.

On short ovals in general, Newgarden and O’Ward have won five in-a-row dating back to Race 2 at World Wide Technology Raceway in 2020. They’ve also gone 1-2 in 5 of the last 12 oval races too.

Oddly enough, 3 of O’Ward’s 4 career trips to victory lane came on the 2nd day of a doubleheader weekend which makes him a strong favorite for Sunday. He’ll start 11th tomorrow.

Scott Dixon was fourth for today’s race to start between Newgarden and O’Ward.

Ganassi could have had 3 of the top 4 spots in both races and now starts 4-7-10-11 in Race 1 and 9-10-12-13 in Race 2 instead. Ganassi won 2 of the 1st 3 years but 0-for-14 since and was looking like if the lineup was determined by entrant points, their winless drought could have potentially ended in at least 1 of the 2 250-lappers this weekend.

Instead, they’re now back to where they were entering.

Where this is big is, there’s no doubt that these tracks are Palou’s weakness. Palou has finished 11th, 14th, 6th and 13th at Iowa and 15th, 12th, 20th and ninth in Gateway. He was also only 15th in practice on Friday. He starts 7th and 12th this weekend.

However, due to being the points leader and rain falling this morning, he nearly was rewarded with a pole each day.

What a massive break that this could have been for Scott Dixon too. Dixon is 0-for-17 at Iowa but was staring down a front row spot in each race too.

Dixon has been solid here as of last with five straight top five finishes too. He also has 3 top 8’s in his last four at Gateway as well. Also, Dixon has finished 7th, 6th, 6th, 4th, 4th, 2nd and 4th respectively over his last seven starts on the season. In fact, his three finishes prior were 3rd, 5th and 27th. He’ll roll off fourth and ninth.

Marcus Ericsson was going to start fourth but now is 10th on both days. He was third on the speed charts on Friday. With so many winners coming from the top 2 rows here, it was setting up nicely for Ganassi before they got to qualify later this morning.

For Sunday’s race, it’s the same front row, but an entirely different lineup behind.

Malukas and Ed Carpenter share Row 2. Colton Herta and Graham Rahal are in Row 3.

Starting Lineup For Race 1

Row 1: Will Power, Scott McLaughlin

Row 2: Josef Newgarden, Scott Dixon

Row 3: Pato O’Ward, Colton Herta

Row 4: Alex Palou, Romain Grosjean

Row 5: David Malukas, Marcus Ericsson

Row 6: Takuma Sato, Devlin DeFrancesco

Row 7: Graham Rahal, Helio Castroneves

Row 8: Rinus VeeKay, Ryan Hunter-Reay

Row 9: Kyle Kirkwood, Ed Carpenter

Row 10: Christian Lundgaard, Alexander Rossi

Row 11: Felix Rosenqvist, Conor Daly

Row 12: Callum Ilott, Agustin Canapino R

Row 13: Santino Ferrucci, Jack Harvey

Row 14: Sting Ray Robb R, Benjamin Pedersen R

---

Starting Lineup For Race 2

Row 1: Will Power, Scott McLaughlin

Row 2: David Malukas, Ed Carpenter

Row 3: Colton Herta, Graham Rahal

Row 4: Josef Newgarden, Helio Castroneves

Row 5: Scott Dixon, Marcus Ericsson

Row 6: Pato O’Ward, Alex Palou

Row 7: Takuma Sato, Rinus VeeKay

Row 8: Conor Daly, Felix Rosenqvist

Row 9: Kyle Kirkwood, Alexander Rossi

Row 10: Devlin DeFrancesco, Romain Grosjean

Row 11: Christian Lundgaard, Jack Harvey

Row 12: Agustin Canapino R, Callum Ilott

Row 13: Ryan Hunter-Reay, Sting Ray Robb R

Row 14: Santino Ferrucci, Benjamin Pedersen R