Delight to despair for McLaughlin, Power in Iowa

McLaughlin’s race lasted less than a lap after Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver Devlin DeFrancesco spun and took the #3 Chevy with him.

The Kiwi has foreshadowed a repeat of his Sunday efforts, in which he surged from 27th to fourth after crashing out of qualifying.

However, it was all over in less than a minute.

“It sucks,” said McLaughlin.

“I was really excited today. The Gallagher Chevy was going to be just as good. I just got caught up in someone else’s accident.

“There’s only so much you can do to avoid. We nearly got him and then… I would have just got through and probably would have got through unscathed.

“Unfortunately, it is what it is. There were a couple of negatives this weekend but we’ll take the positive of yesterday and charge on to Toronto.”

Power, meanwhile, suffered an engine failure on Lap 21 of the 275-lapper.

“Same as Mid-Ohio it felt like. Some sort of engine failure,” said Power.

“We improved upon yesterday. It felt like we were going to have a good race. Obviously, you never know what can happen. Obviously something just happened.

“Man, pity. We keep giving away days when we have a car to win. Just have those seasons, I guess. Not much we can do.”

Newgarden, meanwhile, led 72 laps of the race but wound up falling foul of badly timed mid-race caution and a slow pit stop.

The #2 Chevy dominated Sunday’s race before being pipped by McLaren’s Pato O’Ward. On Monday, Alex Palou prevailed.

“We’ve just got to keep doing what we are doing,” said Newgarden, who finished 10th after being a lap down.

“Team Penske is working incredibly hard, the whole group. Yesterday was a good day for everybody. You could see the spirits lift. They don’t need to change what they’re doing.

“They’re doing a great job, they brought a fast car here today.”

Palou started from pole position and led 194 laps, beating Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon and Meyer Shank Racing’s Marcus Armstrong.

David Malukas was fourth for AJ Foyt Racing ahead of McLaren’s O’Ward.

It was Palou’s seventh win of the season. The all-time record for wins in a season is 10 held by A.J. Foyt (1964) and Al Unser (1970).

The race featured several incidents. Sting Ray Robb crashed his Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevy on lap 50.

Newgarden took the lead on Lap 66 and held that position until the very moment he pitted under green when Andretti Global’s Marcus Ericsson crashed on Lap 131.

Newgarden dropped to the back of the lead lap and fought from 13th to 10th by Lap 176 when Prema Racing’s Callum Ilott crashed out.

What followed was a blistering run from Newgarden, who surged to the lead with 36 laps to go.

However, it was all undone when he suffered an agonisingly slow final pit stop and dropped to 10th.

Palou inherited the lead again and was unstoppable from there. He survived a late caution for Andretti Global’s Colton Herta crash.

Results: IndyCar Series Farm To Finish 275 Powered by Sukup, Iowa Speedway