Round 11: Iowa Corn 300, Newton, Iowa. July 8-9.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Round 11: Iowa Corn 300, Newton, Iowa. July 8-9.

The AAA, (American Automobile Association) held the first race in Iowa, at the Tri-State Fair Grounds, in Burlington on July 9, 1915, with a distance of 100 miles (160 km). The AAA also hosted events at Des Moines Speedway in Valley Junction, on a one mile (1.60 km) wooden board track, in 1915 and 1916. The track closed and was dismantled soon after.

Construction of the current speedway began towards the end 2005 and was completed in July 2006. Iowa Speedway was the first track to have the SAFER Barrier installed around its entire perimeter and used a second generation of the barrier, which doesn't have a concrete wall behind the energy absorbing structure.

The first major event to be held at the new venue, was also the Indy Racing League's, inaugural Iowa Corn Indy 250 on June 24, 2007, which was won by Dario Franchitti, driving a Dallara IR05-Honda HI7R V8 for Andretti Green Racing. From 2014, the race distance was increased to 262.5 miles (422.45 Km) or 300 laps.

The Iowa Speedway is the shortest track on the IndyCar calendar, at 0.875 miles (1.408 Km) long, with an average lap time of under 18 seconds. Qualifying is decided by a two-lap speed average.


Last year Pagenaud took pole but Newgarden took the lead for the first 50 laps. During the first round of scheduled pitstops, the lead went from Pagenaud, to Chilton and then Rossi, before going back to Newgarden. The first caution came out on lap 108, when Hunter-Reay had an engine failure and came to a halt on the track. The race restarted on lap 128, with Newgarden pulling away from the field.

There was a second caution on lap 179, when Montoya's engine failed and his car stopped on the track. Racing resumed on lap 188. The third and final caution came lap 246, Chilton spun at Turn 2. This bunched the field up for a 40 lap sprint to the end. Newgarden, still leading, again pulled away to win by over four seconds from Power. Only five cars remained on the lead lap. Newgarden set a record for most laps led in a Verizon IndyCar Series race with 282.

Some trivia:
Driver with the most wins: Ryan Hunter-Reay, 3: 2012, 2014, 2015.
Team with most wins: Andretti Autosport, 7: 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015.

Track:


Length:
0.894 mi - 1.408 km
Turns: 4

Lap record:
Single lap. July 12, 2014, Helio Castroneves, 17.2283 seconds, 186.809 mph (300.64 km/h). Team Penske, Dallara DW12-Chevrolet IndyCar V6.

Two-lap qualifying average. July 12, 2014. Scott Dixon, L1 - 17.2662 seconds. L2 - 17.2926 seconds, 186.256 mph (299.75 km/h). Chip Ganassi Racing, Dallara DW12-Chevrolet IndyCar V6.

Last year's winner:
Josef Newgarden,
Ed Carpenter Racing,
Dallara DW12-Chevrolet IndyCar V6

Laps: 300
Distance: 262.50 Miles (422.452 km)
Race Time: 1:52:16
Average Speed: 143.33 mph 230.667 km/h)
Cautions: 3, laps 42.

Broadcast:
NBCSN 5:00pm ET.

[NaBUru38]

Honda claims to have fixed their engine issues, but have they?

You are welcome to place bets on the Bet 'Em IndyContest.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Qualifying

Chevy have the upper hand but whether that carries over into the race is another thing.
1 Will Power, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 185.210
2 J.R. Hildebrand, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 183.811
3 Helio Castroneves, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 183.712
4 Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 183.503
5 Takuma Sato, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 182.653
6 Mikhail Aleshin, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 182.454
7 Tony Kanaan, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 182.394
8 Ed Jones, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 182.290
9 James Hinchcliffe, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 181.187
10 Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan. Dallara/Honda. 181.138
11 Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 181.137
12 Alexander Rossi, Andretti Herta. Dallara/Honda. 181.136
13 Max Chilton, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 180.927
14 Charlie Kimball, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 180.863
15 Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 180.716
16 Josef Newgarden, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 180.343
17 Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 180.302
18 Esteban Gutierrez, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 179.389
19 Conor Daly, AJ Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Chevrolet. 178.613
20 Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 171.710
21 Carlos Munoz, AJ Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Chevrolet. 0.000

[Formulahistory]

Carpenter or Aleshin to win the race would be nice.

[bjohnsonsmith]

A very clean start with Power in the lead.

[gert]

Originally Posted by Formulahistory

Carpenter or Aleshin to win the race would be nice.

Aleshin or Hildebrand for me ...

[bjohnsonsmith]

Really interesting lines they are taking because of the bumpiness of the track.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Aleshin loses it and goes into the wall at Turn 2. First FCY.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Hildebrand just cruised past Castroneves for the lead.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Munoz brushes the wall, damaging the nose of his car bringing out the 2nd FCY.

Castroneves got out of the pits ahead of Hildebrand.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Third FCY, as Daly clips the wall, similar to team mate Munoz. There doesn't seem to be any external damage.

Hunter-Reay up to third after that round of stops.

[gert]

Rain ?

[bjohnsonsmith]

A fourth FCY. Something about rain.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Red flag.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Congrats to Castroneves, he drove superbly. His 30th IndyCar victory and first win since 2014. Talk about a dry spell. A good result for Penske and Chevrolet.

[NaBUru38]

Now that's low aero downforce. Cars shifted to fourth gear in corners and braked from 180 to 145 mph.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

Now that's low aero downforce. Cars shifted to fourth gear in corners and braked from 180 to 145 mph.

The NBCSN commentary mentioned drivers lifting as they were going into the turns. The race coverage went on board with Graham Rahal and his helmet-cam and you could here him lifting.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Race result:

Chevrolet had the upper hand, though R H-R was top Honda, finishing third. As for AJ Foyt Enterprises, that's a race they would rather forget, with both cars going out in a similar fashion.

With the rumours surrounding Castroneves future at Team Penske, winning the race couldn't have come at better time. Otherwise, it was quite an enthralling race.

1 Helio Castroneves, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1h55m11.2807s
2 J.R. Hildebrand, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 3.9647s
3 Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 4.5845s
4 Will Power, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 5.7403s
5 Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman. Lanigan. Dallara/Honda. 10.1811s
6 Josef Newgarden, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 11.0500s
7 Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 12.2562s
8 Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 14.3653s
9 Tony Kanaan, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 15.1184s
10 James Hinchcliffe, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 15.8243s
11 Alexander Rossi, Andretti Herta. Dallara/Honda. 1 Lap
12 Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1 Lap
13 Esteban Gutierrez, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 1 Lap
14 Max Chilton, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 1 Lap
15 Charlie Kimball, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 2 Laps
16 Takuma Sato, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 2 Laps
17 Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 2 Laps
18 Ed Jones, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 3 Laps
19 Conor Daly, AJ Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Chevrolet. Contact
20 Carlos Munoz, AJ Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Chevrolet. Contact
21 Mikhail Aleshin, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. Contact

[Formulahistory]

But I don't think that has any influence of the decision. Castroneves was second best Penske driver before the race, was a title contender. So nothing really changed.

[gert]

If the decision is set in stone to go back to 3 cars, then all sentiments aside it is a logical decision that it is Castroneves that will have to go. Even if he finishes ahead of his teammates.

Just like it was a normal decision last year that either Montoya or Castroneves would have to go if they really wanted Newgarden.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Formulahistory

But I don't think that has any influence of the decision. Castroneves was second best Penske driver before the race, was a title contender. So nothing really changed.

Listening to what the commentary team were saying, the win at Iowa could be significant.

[broadrun96]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Listening to what the commentary team were saying, the win at Iowa could be significant.

Were they being hopefully that he stays with Penske for '18? Seems to be gaining traction that he may join Montoya over in IMSA with Indy only rides in openwheel.

[JHamilton]

Well I missed the end due to the rain delay - dvr situation. Oh well.

Originally Posted by broadrun96

Were they being hopefully that he stays with Penske for '18? Seems to be gaining traction that he may join Montoya over in IMSA with Indy only rides in openwheel.

One of the announcers (can't remember who) said that Helio is not ready to leave but may not have a choice. "They" also said that it would be tough to remove the champ from the series, implying that was what Helio was trying to do.

Honestly, I'm a big Penske fan, but never really liked Helio. Not sure what series I would rather have him in.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

Were they being hopefully that he stays with Penske for '18? Seems to be gaining traction that he may join Montoya over in IMSA with Indy only rides in openwheel.

Sort of a mixture of being hopeful and wishful thinking. They mentioned his age but also how popular he is and though he has been competitive, there was this three year dry spell hanging over him.

What was interesting was something one of commentary team said, the impact on Castroneves performance, since the arrival of Power and then Newgarden.

They also mentioned how ironic it would be, if he won the series and was dropped, hence winning the race could be game changer.

[Number4]

Hi Guys,
I did not see the Indy Car race, but I wondered how you rate Iowa Speedway?
NASCAR Cup series does not go there but the Xfinity, Trucks, and K&N series do.
The Xfinity and Truck races were by far the best of the season, they were running three wide for most of the races.
It is my favourite oval, it seems to me they got the length, width, and banking just right.