Conor Daly earned him and Carlin a first IndyCar pole position in Iowa on Friday, and it was only a late intervention by a pair of Penskes that kept him from securing a clean sweep for this weekend’s doubleheader, with Josef Newgarden finally claiming the honor for race two.
Daly was the fifth car to come out and dust off those ahead of him with a first-lap average of 175,188 mph, and backed him up with a robust second lap of 174,960 mph. Based on this weekend’s unconventional qualifying procedure, in which the first lap established the grid for the first race and the second ordered the starting order for the second race, placing him in a solid position for both races. . But with most of the field still in the qualifying queue, he also made a nervous wait.
This time around, the wait was less painful than it could have been: the field scored without anyone offering any real opposition until only the three Penskes, Colton Herta and Scott Dixon remained on the line. That was further reduced when Simon Pagenaud’s car suffered a fuel problem in the pitlane, forcing the 2016 champion to return to the garage to contemplate the possibility of two starts in last place.
There were no such problems for Will Power, who nearly knocked Daly out of first place on his first lap, but then jumped to provisional pole for the second race. Newgarden exited immediately afterward and ran Daly’s lap once even closer, the pair being separated by approximately 0.08s, but the reigning champion found a bit more on his second lap to improve both Power and Daly at 175,333 mph.
That left Dixon, who quickly made it clear that No. 9 didn’t have enough to pose a threat. Daly’s nails were saved from further torture.
“It is just amazing,” said Daly. “I am very grateful to have a little comeback. Very grateful to be here. I hated this place the past few years, and now we are on pole. This is very funny. We have one more mission tonight, and that’s the race. “
There were other types of heroicity that can be found elsewhere. Zach Veach was not the only Andretti Autosport driver to run into trouble: Alexander Rossi’s car was visibly loose for most of the run, but a starting point in the back row is infinitely preferable to missing tonight’s race because the car is being rebuilt, which would have been the case if the No.26 driver hadn’t made a phenomenal save when his car jerked on his second fast lap.
Initial grid of race 1 (unofficial)
Initial grid of race 2 (unofficial)
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