UPDATE: Because of breaking news Saturday’s Iowa Speedway race at 8 p.m. ET has been moved to CNBC (and also is streaming on Peacock)
Colton Herta will lead the field to the green flag on an oval for the first time in his NTT IndyCar Series career. The Andretti Global driver qualified first for Saturday night’s race at Iowa Speedway with a 187.655 mph lap.
Scott McLaughlin qualified second Saturday, but the Team Penske driver found redemption by setting a track record at 188.248 mph on his second qualifying to win the pole for Sunday afternoon’s race.
Herta earned his 16th career pole position despite the battery in his hybrid system failing to deploy during his qualifying laps. Though given the option to requalify the No. 26 Dallara-Honda, Herta and his team elected to stand on their speeds after qualifying first for Race 1 and fourth for Race 2.
STARTING LINEUPS: Click here for Race 1 l Click here for Race 2
“That’s the most bizarre pole maybe IndyCar has seen for a while,” Herta told NBC Sports’ Georgia Henneberry. “I’m happy we ended up holding on. It’s tough. It’s my first oval pole, and it means a lot to finally get that monkey off my back. Hopefully, we can follow it up with my first oval win tonight. Seems like it’s going to be tough to pass unfortunately.”
Jack Harvey opted to requalify after his hybrid system also failed to engage in qualifying. Alexander Rossi, who qualified in the top 10 for both races, told NBC Sports’ Dillon Welch that his hybrid system also had issues, but Rossi wasn’t allowed to requalify by IndyCar.
With Herta and McLaughlin on the front row, here’s the rest of the starting top 10 for Race 1 (8 p.m. ET, CNBC and Peacock): Alex Palou, Will Power, Scott Dixon, Pato O’Ward, Rossi, Santino Ferrucci, Felix Rosenqvist, Marcus Armstrong and Marcus Ericsson.
For Sunday’s race (noon ET, NBC and Peacock), McLaughlin will start on the front row with Palou, followed by Dixon, Herta, Rosenqvist, Rossi, O’Ward, Graham Rahal, David Malukas and Agustin Canapino.
Josef Newgarden, who swept the races at Iowa last year, will start 22nd in Race 1 and 14th in Race 2.
In a change announced Sunday morning, Conor Daly will drive the No. 18 Dallara-Honda in place of Jack Harvey, who is suffering from back pain. Daly will start last.
Here are the IndyCar starting lineups for the race weekend doubleheader at Iowa Speedway, an 0.894-mile oval in Newton, Iowa (qualifying position, car number in parentheses, driver, engine, speed):
RACE 1 AT IOWA
ROW 1
1. (26) Colton Herta, Honda, 187.655 mph
2. (3) Scott McLaughlin, Chevy, 187.526
ROW 2
3. (10) Alex Palou, Honda, 186.841
4. (12) Will Power, Chevy, 186.328
ROW 3
5. (9) Scott Dixon, Honda, 186.208
6. (5) Pato O’Ward, Chevy, 186.074
ROW 4
7. (7) Alexander Rossi, Chevy, 186.039
8. (14) Santino Ferrucci, Chevy, 185.405
ROW 5
9. (11) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 185.337
10. (28) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 185.271
ROW 6
11. (60) Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, 185.196
12. (15) Graham Rahal, Honda, 184.810
ROW 7
13. (8) Linus Lundqvist, Honda, 184.659
14. (21) Rinus VeeKay, Chevy, 184.336
ROW 8
15. (66) David Malukas, Honda, 184.151
16. (6) Nolan Siegel, Chevy, 183.749
ROW 9
17. (78) Agustin Canapino, Chevy, 183.632
18. (30) Pietro Fittipaldi, Honda, 183.623
ROW 10
19. (18) Jack Harvey, Honda, 183.556
20. (27) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 183.504
ROW 11
21. (77) Romain Grosjean, Chevy, 183.453
22. (2) Josef Newgarden, Chevy, 182.763
ROW 12
23. (45) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 181.521
24. (41) Sting Ray Robb, Chevy, 177.530
ROW 13
25. (20) Ed Carpenter, Chevy, 176.838
26. (51) Katherine Legge, Honda, 176.225
ROW 14
27. (4) Kyffin Simpson, Honda, 175.866
RACE 2 AT IOWA
ROW 1
1. (3) Scott McLaughlin, Chevy, 188.248 mph
2. (10) Alex Palou, Honda, 187.572
ROW 2
3. (9) Scott Dixon, Honda, 187.162
4. (26) Colton Herta, Honda, 186.980
ROW 3
5. (60) Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, 186.835
6. (7) Alexander Rossi, Chevy, 186.029
ROW 4
7. (5) Pato O’Ward, Chevy, 185.857
8. (15) Graham Rahal, Honda, 185.690
ROW 5
9. (66) David Malukas, Honda, 185.595
10. (78) Agustin Canapino, Chevy, 185.212
ROW 6
11. (6) Nolan Siegel, Chevy, 185.014
12. (27) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 184.797
ROW 7
13. (8) Linus Lundqvist, Honda, 184.665
14. (2) Josef Newgarden, Chevy, 184.154
ROW 8
15. (21) Rinus VeeKay, Chevy, 184.136
16. (77) Romain Grosjean, Chevy, 183.800
ROW 9
17. (30) Pietro Fittipaldi, Honda, 183.561
18. (45) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 182.268
ROW 10
19. (14) Santino Ferrucci, Chevy, 181.408
20. (41) Sting Ray Robb, Chevy, 181.069
ROW 11
21. (28) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 181.029
22. (12) Will Power, Chevy, 179.302
ROW 12
23. (4) Kyffin Simpson, Honda, 178.972
24. (51) Katherine Legge, Honda, 177.862
ROW 13
25. (11) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 173.682
26. (20) Ed Carpenter, Chevy, 169.209
ROW 14
27. (18) Conor Daly, Honda (replacing Jack Harvey