RACE ADVANCE: The Sukup INDYCAR Weekend Doubleheader at Iowa Speedway

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Sukup INDYCAR Weekend – Iowa Speedway
Synk 275 – Saturday, July 12
Farm to Finish 275 – Sunday, July 13
Pre-Race Notes
Round 11 & 12 of the 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES

DATE:     July 11-13, 2025

PRACTICE BROADCAST:     Live on FS2 Friday from 3:30 – 6:00 p.m. ET on Friday. Also live on the INDYCAR Radio
Network (IRN) and www.indycar.com (timing & scoring + live analysis).

QUALIFYING BROADCAST:     Live on FS1, the IRN and www.indycar.com (timing & scoring + live analysis) from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. ET Saturday.

RACE BROADCAST(S):     Live on FOX on Saturday, July 12 from 5:00 – 7:30 p.m. ET and live on FOX on Sunday, July 13 from 1:00 – 3:30 p.m. ET. And also on IRN and Sirius XM INDYCAR Nation 218.

TRACK LAYOUT:     0.875-mile tri oval
RACE LENGTH:     274 laps / 240 miles (Race 1 & 2; 25 laps were added to each race)

2024 WINNERS:     Scott McLaughlin (Race 1) & Will Power (Race 2)
2024 POLESITTERS:     Colton Herta (Race 1, 187.526 mph) & Scott McLaughlin (Race 2, 188.248 mph)

RAHAL’S BEST IOWA START / FINISH:     6th in 2013 / 3rd in 2020 (Race 2); will be his 21st & 22nd races here
RAHAL’S HIGHEST SERIES START / FINISH     5 poles – Pole at St. Pete (street) 2009, Kansas (oval) 2009, Detroit Race 1 (street) 2017, IMS (road) 2023 August, Portland (road) / 6 wins – 1st in St. Pete in 2008, Fontana & Mid-Ohio 2015, Texas 2016, Detroit Race 1 & Race 2 2017

DEFRANCESCO’S BEST IOWA START / FINISH:     12th in 2023 – Race 1 / 15th in 2022 – Race 2; will be his fifth INDYCAR race here
DEFRANCESCO’S HIGHEST SERIES START / FINISH:     5th at the IMS road course (August 2023, 2025) / 11th at Indy 500 (2025)

FOSTER’S BEST IOWA START / FINISH:     First INDYCAR race here; 2nd in 2024 INDY NXT / 1st in 2024 INDY NXT
FOSTER’S BEST SERIES START / FINISH:     Pole at Road America 2025 / 11th (Indy GP and Road America 2025)

RLL’S TOP START / FINISH AT IOWA:     4th by Sharp in 2007 / 3rd – 2020 Race 2 by G. Rahal, 2018 by Takuma Sato and 2007 by Scott Sharp

NEWS & NOTES:

RLL AT IOWA SPEEDWAY
The 2025 Sukup INDYCAR Weekend will mark the 19th and 20th events for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) at Iowa Speedway. The best finish for the team is third place (2020 Race 2 by G. Rahal, 2018 by Sato and 2007 by Scott Sharp). Sharp also earned the top start for the team of fourth in 2007.  Prior to the 2025 events, the team prepared a total of 33 entries for drivers Scott Sharp (2007), Jeff Simmons (2007), Ryan Hunter-Reay (2008), Takuma Sato (2012, 2018-2020 x 2) Graham Rahal (2013-2020 x 2, 2022 x 2, 2023 x 2, 2024 x 2), James Jakes (2013), Christian Lundgaard (2022 x 2; 2023 x 2, 2024 x 2), Jack Harvey (2022 x 2; 2023 x 2) and Pietro Fittipaldi x 2. The team has earned three podiums (3rd – Sharp 2007, Sato 2018, Rahal 2020) and 12, top-10 finishes at the track. The team will prepare the No. 15 One Cure entry for Graham Rahal, the No. 30 Luther Automotive entry for Devlin DeFrancesco and the No. 45 Droplight entry for Louis Foster for the weekend.

GRAHAM AIMS FOR ANOTHER PODIUM AT IOWA SPEEDWAY
The 2025 Sukup INDYCAR Weekend doubleheader will mark Graham Rahal’s 21st and 22nd races here. He has earned 12 top-10 finishes in 20 starts with his best being third in Race 2 in 2020. Last year, in Race 1, he qualified 12th for Race 1 but had to serve a 9-spot grid penalty for an unapproved engine change and started 21st. On Lap 84, he slowed on track and brought out a full course caution for what was later determined a wheel failure. He entered a closed pit for emergency service and later received a drive-through penalty for having gotten full service. The team discovered that all but one of the metal spokes on his right front wheel broke. He ultimately took the checkered flag in 16th place after four more caution periods. In Race 2, he started eighth, ran as high as seventh and finished eighth. His best finish at Iowa Speedway of third place came in Race 2 in 2020 where he set the eighth fastest time in the pre-race practice and started from 19th place. He extended his stint the longest and made his first stop from the lead on Lap 63. Due to track position, he went a lap down but was able to get it back by Lap 84 before he made his second stop from the lead on Lap 119 under caution for Carpenter once the pits opened. He returned to the track in fourth place and closed on third place Power before passing him on Lap 129 for third. He cycled back into the lead on Laps 171-174 before his third stop on Lap 175 and had moved into sixth a few laps later when Hunter-Reay brought out a caution. After the pits opened, a few drivers made stops, and he restarted in fourth place. Once third place Daly made his stop, Rahal moved into third on Lap 216 and held it until the checkered flag. A complete list of results are available. Four of the seven remaining races this season are on ovals and Rahal is hoping to collect a good amount of points this weekend.
“We’re in the thick of the summer schedule now and although it’s always important to collect as many points as possible, it’s even more so this weekend with two races on the same track. Last year we were able to earn some decent qualifying spots – minus the gird penalty in Race 1 from an engine change. We had some solid races apart from a wheel failure in the first race so we’re hoping that competitiveness will carry over this weekend. The series has been working hard to make the racing as exciting as possible at Iowa so I’m looking forward to getting there and seeing what we’ve got in terms of a technical package.”

DEVLIN TO MAKE HIS FIFTH AND SIXTH STARTS AT IOWA SPEEDWAY
DeFrancesco has raced here four times with a best start of 12th in Race 1 in 2023 and best finish of 15th in Race 2 of 2022 — both with Andretti Steinbrenner Racing. He is looking forward to checking out the changes that have been made to the track since the last time he raced there in 2023.
“Iowa is a tricky place; short oval racing is always exciting. Everyone is very close and everything happens fast. There is new pavement since I’ve been there, and the regulations are quite different since I’ve been there. So, I think it’s going to be vastly different since the last time I was there. I’m looking forward to seeing how it is. Iowa is going to be very different from Gateway.”

FOSTER RETURNS TO THE SITE OF ANOTHER 2024 INDY NEXT VICTORY
Foster tested at Iowa Speedway on June 25 so he will have run laps in an INDYCAR there prior to arriving for race weekend, which has not been the case for most races. His top start in INDY NXT here is second place in 2024 and his top finish also came in 2024 when he won the event.  At the previous short oval race in June outside St. Louis, Foster ran as high as sixth after starting 21st and was doing well until “marbles” from rubber than was coming off race tires accumulated on his tires and he lost traction and hit the wall while running 10th after a pit stop. As he slid down the track, he collected race leader Newgarden, and both were checked and cleared by INDYCAR Medical. Although Iowa Speedway is different than the oval at World Wide Technology Raceway, he is optimistic of continuing to make progress on the team’s oval setup as the season progresses.
“It’s going to be a very important race weekend with two races in two days so it’s super important to turn up strong. We only get one practice session before qualifying as well so all of the drivers and teams are thrown in the deep end and have little time to make gains. I tested there in June, and we’ve spent a lot of time since then on the simulator to continue working on that. Once you are onsite, it’s harder to find gains in such a short period of time. All the guys and girls on the team are working super hard to make sure that we turn up at Iowa as strong as possible.
“I think we can take some of the things we learned in St. Louis to Iowa. Iowa Speedway is definitely a very different type of oval from the one outside St. Louis but there are nuances we tend to have in our oval car that we are continuously working on that can benefit from the overall knowledge we gain each time we are on track.”

POINTS BATTLE AFTER 10 OF 17 RACES
Heading into Round 11 and 12 of 17 at the Sukup INDYCAR Weekend, Rahal is 21st in series point standings with a total of 139 points, Foster is 22nd with 118 and DeFrancesco is 25th with 99. Foster is five points ahead of Robert Schwartzman in the rookie-of-the-year standings with seven races to go.