Race Report: Farm to Finish 275 powered by Sukup

NEWTON, Iowa (July 13, 2025) -- It's all about timing. And the timing of the caution flags did not work out for AJ Foyt Racing at Iowa Speedway today.

But there was no denying David Malukas a strong finish as his No. 4 Clarience Technologies Chevrolet was one of the fastest cars on the track. Malukas was in position to claim his first IndyCar victory had the yellow not come out for Colton Herta's crash in turn 3 on lap 254 of the 275-lap race.

Starting third in the Farm to Finish 275, Malukas dropped back to fourth in the opening laps but moved into third by lap 39 and was never out of the top three--running second for a good portion of the race. He made his final pit stop under green flag conditions on lap 247 and dropped to 11th. The timing of that stop should have been the race-winning decision -- and would have been -- had the race not gone yellow seven laps later.

The team executed flawless pit stops to keep Malukas in the hunt all day.

Eventual winner Alex Palou stayed out longer as did his teammate Scott Dixon along with a host of other Honda-powered drivers. They waited in hopes of another yellow. The fifth one of the race was delivered by Herta who suffered a right front tire failure and hit the wall in Turn 3. He was not injured.

The caution flag allowed the top seven drivers to pit under caution and drivers who had pitted earlier were given the wave-around once those leaders came out of the pits. Malukas restarted in eighth and with just 11 laps left he charged up to fourth, his second top-five finish of the season.

"Well, a good day for us," said the Chicago native. "We had a lot of speed. A lot of good racing out there. Unfortunately, the yellows didn't come out to play for us and we ended up with the P-4 result. But we worked our butts off, guys did great stops, and these guys did an insane job getting the car where it needed to be after everything we learned from race 1 yesterday. So, big kudos to them; we capitalize on this and move forward."

Malukas fistbumps his race engineer James Schnabel after the race. In the background are David's father Henry and driver coach Luke Varley (far right).

Asked about the decision to pit earlier than needed for fuel and then have the yellow come out, he explained, “It’s just the way INDYCAR is. It’s part of the game.  We decided to do the undercut. It tends to be a lot quicker.  They waited it out for a yellow, and unfortunately it came out for them.  It’s just how it is. We just keep pushing. This is good for us. Consistent run. Ever since the 500, we've been on the upward trajectory, and the races, they're just tough, but that's what makes IndyCar fun. We're always trying to play the guessing game and try to be up there. So we'll take this P-4. Hardest P-4 I had to work for, and we'll take it."

He moved to 11th in the standings with 237 points and ironically, he is tied with his teammate Santino Ferrucci in 10th -- also with 237 points. Ferrucci gets the nod because he has more top-three finishes.

Ferrucci came over to congratulate Malukas and described a situation during the race.

Ferrucci had to start 20th in the No. 14 Sexton Properties Chevrolet after an issue in qualifying yesterday. This race he carried several "Mystic Strong" decals on his car (as did Malukas) in support of the families and friends who lost loved ones in the tragedy of the Texas flooding of the Guadalupe River. It was personal to team president Larry Foyt who had friends who lost family members.

The Mystic Strong decal (referring to Camp Mystic, an all girls summer camp) was designed by a young woman who had lost a cousin in the tragedy. The decal was carried on the mirrors on both cars and on the team's pit equipment.

Ferrucci spent the first half of the race in the bottom half of the field as he struggled with the car's handling. However, after a couple pit stops in which race engineer Adam Kolesar ordered some adjustments, Ferrucci began to move forward. He moved into the top 10 on lap 191. By lap 233 he was up to seventh and still coming through the field.

The 14 crew were on top of their pit stops all day.

Like his teammate, he also pitted on lap 247 but he fell back to 17th. He didn't have the track position that Malukas had so he remained a lap in arrears even with the wave around. He ended up 15th.

"Honestly, really tough day to start," said Ferrucci. "But then the car was actually coming to us as the race was going on, which was great. Adam made some great adjustments. We were deep inside the top 10 at the end there (7th) and opted to go on a different strategy instead of staying out. It was just a mistake the way the yellows played out. We would have made it on fuel to the yellow and then made it to the finish. We would have finished in the top-five. It is what it is."

Ferrucci listens to his race engineer Adam Kolesar (right) as Mike Armbrester (left), the team's technical director and No. 14 race strategist looks on.

Alex Palou benefitted from the timely (in his case) caution as he was running third at the time. He notched his seventh victory of the season ahead of Scott Dixon, Marcus Armstrong, Malukas and Pato O'Ward.

The team heads back to Indy to turn their cars around for the street course in Toronto. That race will be broadcast by FOX next Sunday afternoon starting at 12 noon ET.

 David receives a hug from his mother Daiva after the race.