All CGR Hondas Finish in Top-Nine at Iowa, Palou Maintains Championship Lead

Marcus Ericsson registered the top overall finish for Chip Ganassi Racing at Iowa Speedway today, earning a personal-best P4 result at the 7/8-mile track.

The Kumla, Sweden, native executed the third-most on-track passes (75) of anyone in the field, charging hard after beginning the race from P10. He now sits fifth in the standings with 307 points, but remains in striking distance just 21 points away from breaking back into the top-three.

Since the start of last season, Ericsson and the No. 8 Huski Ice Spritz team have achieved the series’ best average finish (4.88) across the eight oval races.

Scott Dixon piloted the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda to a P6 finish after facing early adversity. The one and only caution in the race fell at an inopportune time, forcing a restart on lap 165 of 250, as he was making a run to return to the lead lap. Dixon is positioned third in the championship chase (328 points) with six more races to go.

Alex Palou secured a P8 finish in the No. 10 American Legion Honda and remains the championship leader by a margin of 98 points. Takuma Sato finished just behind Palou in P9, moving forward two positions over the course of the race in the No. 11 Deloitte Honda.

Up next: NBC will air the second 250-lap race at Iowa Speedway tomorrow, Sunday, July 23, starting at 2:00 p.m. ET. The green flag is scheduled for shortly thereafter at 2:30 p.m. ET.

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Marcus Ericsson
No. 8 Huski Ice Spritz Honda
“It was a tough race, as it always is here, with a lot of overtaking and defending. There are just a lot of things happening in these types of races. I think all of us on the No. 8 Huski Ice Spritz Honda team did a really good job. I think we had a solid day and this always takes a team effort between pit stop strategy and balance, and we did well with all of that. P4 was a good result. We want a bit more, of course, but the good thing is we’ll get another chance tomorrow.”

Scott Dixon
No. 9 PNC Bank Honda
“On that first stint, we just had a lot of oversteer and it got worse very quickly. From that point on, we were okay and caught the leaders on the second stint. But by that point, we were a lap down. We stayed with them and kept going long, while others went short. We were maybe a top-five car, so it’s a little frustrating because we had hoped for more. I think if we can get the consistency down on stint two we’ll be okay for tomorrow. Starting a little bit further back in tomorrow’s race, but that shouldn’t matter too much.”

Alex Palou
No. 10 American Legion Honda
“Pretty happy with P8. It could have been a little bit better, but it’s an improvement from last year. We’ve made some progress, so I am looking forward to the debrief here to make some adjustments for tomorrow. We’ll have another shot at the PeopleReady Force for Good Challenge where we can help The American Legion save more veterans’ lives.”

Takuma Sato
No. 11 Deloitte Honda
“It was a tough race. I thought the car was working well for the first half of the stint, but as soon as we hit degradation, we were struggling a bit. We’ll look at the balance, but all in all, the team worked very well and the pit stops were great. P9 is a bit of a pity, but we learned a lot and we can come back even stronger tomorrow.”

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Palou Secures Podium at Iowa, Continues Leading INDYCAR Championship

Alex Palou led a late-race charge in the No. 10 American Legion Honda and captured a P3 finish in the second race of the Iowa Speedway doubleheader. He remains the championship leader for the eighth race in a row, now clutching an 80-point advantage with five races to go. 

Palou secured his 21st career podium in what was his 45th start with Chip Ganassi Racing today (47%).

The 2021 INDYCAR champion again displayed his consistent ability to navigate through the field, advancing nine positions over the course of the race to finish on the podium. The P3 result is Palou’s personal best at Iowa Speedway, previously earning a P6 finish in the first race of last year. 

Scott Dixon matched his previous day’s result of P6 in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda, again fighting with the frontrunners for position throughout the entirety of the race.

Dixon has now posted an average finishing result of 4.3 over his past seven races at Iowa, claiming a top-six finish in each of those events. The six-time champion is right in the mix of the championship chase, as he sits third in the standings with 357 points. 

Similarly battling near the front of the field was Marcus Ericsson in the No. 8 Huski Ice Spritz. The team recorded a P9 finish and moved upward to fourth position in the standings with 330 points. 

Takuma Sato unfortunately made contact with the wall on lap 142. He was forced to pit and spend an extended amount of time on pit lane for repairs before returning to the race for a P25 finish.

Up Next: INDYCAR racing will return to the streets of Nashville from August 4-6, where Chip Ganassi Racing has has won both Music City Grand Prix races (2022: Dixon; 2021: Ericsson). 

Alex Palou
No. 10 American Legion Honda
“I’m very happy to drive our American Legion Honda to the podium. It was a really busy day, even making five pit stops. We didn’t really have the pace at the beginning, but the team put me in a position to finish third after starting fifth on the restart with four laps to go. This was a great crowd here in Iowa, and I’m happy for The American Legion to be here on the podium in Iowa.”

Scott Dixon
No. 9 PNC Bank Honda
“Honestly, the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda was very good. We may have gone a bit too long on our stints and got undercut. It was a frustrating day, as we had moved up to third, were then challenging for second and then ended up sixth. This is definitely a fun track. It’s obviously more fun when things go right, but that’s not always possible.”

Marcus Ericsson
No. 8 Huski Ice Spritz Honda
“It was a bit of an up and down day. I had a really good start to the race and for most of the day we were running in the top five. But things just didn’t fall our way in the second half of the race. It’s a bit disappointing and frustrating, but that’s short oval racing sometimes. I love racing on short ovals, constantly battling and overtaking, but there’s so much with strategy, how the yellows fall, how the tire degradation gets and overall so many decisions that you have to make as a driver. Overall, though, it’s been a good weekend for us in the No. 8 car.”

Takuma Sato
No. 11 Deloitte Honda
“It was a really tough day for our Deloitte 11-car team. We had such a successful practice this morning. Everything was hooked up and the balance felt much more connected. But unfortunately, things flipped on us during the race. We caught some understeer and things just seemed off. But a big congratulations to Alex for achieving the podium finish. Chip Ganassi Racing had a very strong day today and I feel sorry that we couldn’t deliver the result that we wanted. We learned a lot, so hopefully we can transfer all the information to our last oval in St. Louis.”