Alex Palou claims his 7th win of the IndyCar season at Iowa Speedway

The reigning Indianapolis 500 champion used a perfectly-timed caution flag to win his seventh race of the IndyCar season.

He’s the first driver to win seven of the first 12 races of a season since Al Unser Jr. in 1994. With five races left, he’s within striking distance of the record for most wins in a season. A.J. Foyt (1964) and Al Unser (1970) share the record with 10.

“Speechless, honestly speechless,” Palou said. “It’s been an unbelievable day, an unbelievable weekend. More than anything, what an incredible year for us.

“I really cannot believe it, honestly.”

He was running in third place late when the leaders, Josef Newgarden and David Malukas pitted for fuel handing him the top spot. A few laps later Colton Herta’s accident brought out the yellow flag. Palou was able to make his final stop under the caution and maintain his lead.

The win was the Spaniard’s first on a short oval as he extends his points’ lead to 129 over the winner of the first race of the Iowa doubleheader, Pato O’Ward.

“Winning here is super special,” said Palou. “I’ve struggled on short ovals for so long. Today, although the strategy helped us a little bit there at the end when we were P3, we were trying everything that we could and (delaying the pit stop) worked for us.”

Scott Dixon, who took advantage of an uncharacteristic Palou mistake to win at Mid-Ohio last Sunday, finished second and Meyer Shank Racing’s Marcus Armstrong crossed in third.

Newgarden finished 10th after leading 72 laps to add to Team Penske’s disappointing season.

Scott McLaughlin was involved in an incident with Devlin DeFrancesco on lap two and finished 26th, just ahead of Nolan Siegel, who did not start the race. The Arrow McLaren driver wasn’t cleared after an accident in Saturday’s race. Will Power finished 24th after an engine problem.

The IndyCar Series drivers continue their busy stretch on the streets of Toronto next weekend, their fourth of five races in July.