Two days of intense racing in the Sukup INDYCAR Race Weekend at Iowa Speedway offered many opportunities for highs and lows, and they were numerous.

This edition of Instant Recall provides a review:

HIGHS

· Give it up to Alex Palou. Admittedly never outstanding on the short ovals in his five-plus seasons, the Chip Ganassi Racing driver produced 194 laps led in the second race – the Farm to Finish 275 powered by Sukup – and capitalized on the fortuitous timing of a late caution to score his first race win on such a track. By finishing fifth in Race 1 – the Synk 275 powered by Sukup – Palou came out of the two-day show with an even larger points lead. He's now ahead by 129 points with five races remaining.

· Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward posted the same results as Palou only in reverse order. Netting the first win of the season by a Chevrolet driver in Race 1 was a huge score. In an odd twist, O’Ward won races in his 50th and 100th career start. He surely can’t wait for No. 150 which should come in the 2028 season.

· AJ Foyt Racing’s David Malukas, Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Conor Daly and Ed Carpenter Racing’s Christian Rasmussen surely left Iowa unfulfilled, but everyone watching these races knew they were there. Malukas scrambled back from that untimely late caution in Race 2 to finish fourth, and he's had a strong stretch in this middle part of the season. Simply put, Daly again showed he's a beast on these short ovals, and Rasmussen has finished sixth, third, sixth and eight on the ovals this season. Each of them is primed for a race win sooner or later.

· Marcus Armstrong scored a podium finish in Race 2 by coming home third. Don’t look now, but the driver from Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian has six consecutive top-nine finishes since the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge, and that includes a ninth-place finish in Saturday’s race.

· Team Penske will make both of these categories. Its cars ran second, third and fourth in Race 1, and Josef Newgarden led 55.2 percent of the weekend’s laps (304 of 550). For a team having its worst season since 1999, it was refreshing to be back in the camera shot and contending for wins. In that sense, INDYCAR order was restored.

· In Race 1, McLaughlin overcame starting in last place (27th) due to the crash in qualifying and finished fourth with a magnificent drive. He followed Newgarden (second) and Will Power (third) to the finish line.

· Eight days after winning the 59th series race of his career, six-time season champion Scott Dixon contributed to another 1-2 finish for Chip Ganassi Racing. That's two in an eight-day stretch and three for the season. Dixon finished 10th in Race 1, and the combination of results pushed him to third in the standings.

· Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard bounced back from a 21st-place finish in Race 1 to finish sixth in Race 2.

· Rookie Robert Shwartzman has certainly taken to these oval tracks despite having never competed on one prior to this season. He won the pole for the “500,” finished 10th at World Wide Technology Raceway and finished a career-best ninth in Race 2.

· Rookie Jacob Abel also posted his best finish of the season – 11th place in Race 2.

LOWS

· Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood fell from second to fourth in the standings in a massively disappointing weekend. He crashed in Saturday's high-line practice, which meant he had no experience with the repaired car heading into the two laps of qualifying. Suffice it to say, starting 18th and 21st in the races wasn't ideal. Then in Race 1, he crashed again, finishing 26th. Going off sequence in Race 2 allowed him to lead nine laps, but the driver who has won three races this season finished 18th, his worst two-race stretch this season.

· Andretti Global had a weekend to forget. Marcus Ericsson and Colton Herta also had accidents, and the three drivers combined for an average two-day finish of 19.0.

· For as good as Race 1 was for Team Penske, Race 2 was the opposite. McLaughlin was collected (and eliminated) in the first-lap spin of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Devlin DeFrancesco, and Power was out of the race with mechanical failure soon thereafter. Newgarden could have won either race -- he again showed he's the best driver at this track -- but he had to settle for second- and 10th-place finishes to gain five positions in the standings (19th to 14th).

· PREMA Racing’s Callum Ilott would prefer to move on from this track after making wall contact in both races.

· Arrow McLaren’s Nolan Siegel’s rear-first impact with the Turn 4 wall in Race 1 left him not feeling himself, and he was not cleared to participate in Race 2.

· Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Sting Ray Robb crashed out of Race 2. That happened to him last year as well.