McLaughlin leads Iowa practice

Friday’s intense weather, which included a tornado within sight at Iowa Speedway, was traded for a warm 75 degrees and problem-free running to start a busy Saturday morning IndyCar practice that was led with ease by Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin.

McLaughlin’s No. 3 Chevy turned a 183.514mph lap to lead an all-Chevy top six with Arrow McLaren’s Nolan Siegel (182.645mph), Ed Carpenter Racing’s Alexander Rossi (182.512mph), Pato O’Ward (182.393mph), Josef Newgarden (182.319mph), and Christian Rasmussen (182.189mph).

Championship leader Alex Palou was first among the Honda-powered drivers in seventh (182.013mph).

Cautions were needed for Pato O’Ward spinning while exiting pit lane, a stalled Jacob Abel, and a brush of the wall by Christian Rasmussen.

Within the field of 27 drivers, 26 participated in the practice session, which followed the high-line rubbering-in session where Andretti’s Kyle Kirkwood crashed and broke the right-side suspension. As a result, Kirkwood – who holds second-place in the championship – was unable to participate in the open practice and will go straight into qualifying with the repaired car.

“We were running fine up top and I went down low and it got loose and see ya’ later. It’s a mistake on my part. Really caught me off guard there,” Kirkwood said.

After losing Friday, a hectic pace will dominate the day with qualifying up next at 1:30pm ET and the first 275-lap Sukup-sponsored race of the weekend goes live on FOX at 5pm ET.

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