Iowa Speedway Tag

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing has added yet another sponsor as Friday it was announced that Luther Automotive Group will be the primary sponsor of Graham Rahal at Iowa Speedway on July 8. The company, which is the largest new and used dealership group in the Midwest, will also be an associate sponsor for Rahal’s No. 15 RLL Honda for the full 2018 season. “We are proud to be part of the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing family and do our part to support Graham and Takuma as well asRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor IndyCar has announced changes to the rules and format of qualifying for oval races from 2018 on, according to a recent article by RACER.com. The old system of a driver lottery, the equivalent of drawing a name from a hat is replaced by a new system designed to up the tension and spectacle in a logical and fair manner. For the races at Phoenix, Texas, Iowa, Gateway and Pocono drivers will qualify in championship order according points. Drivers at the bottom of the standings will qualifyRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Contributing Writer Motorsports Tribune reviews the season of the top 10 drivers from the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series championship. Our list continues with the fourth-place championship finisher, Helio Castroneves. Helio Castroneves, No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet 2017: 4th in the championship  Wins: 1, Top 5: 9, Top 10: 16, Poles: 3, Laps Led: 442 Best Finish: 1st (Iowa Speedway) With Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves set to move over to sports car racing outside of the Indianapolis 500 in 2018, his 2017 served as both an impressive final Verizon IndyCarRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor IndyCar continued its round of tests for the new 2018 universal aerokit at Iowa Speedway this week where test drivers Juan Pablo Montoya and Oriol Servia experimented with the Road Course/Short Oval spec car on the 0.894 mile oval. The veteran duo completed 270 laps as they sampled the new kit in various trims to determine a base line set up for next year’s race, where they added and then took downforce off of the cars to find the elusive sweet spot. Like the previous testsRead More

By Rob Gray, NASCAR Wire Service NEWTON, Iowa — Ryan Preece’s short-lived, but ambitious 2017 NASCAR XFINITY Series schedule began three weeks ago at his de facto home track, New Hampshire Motor Speedway. It ended Saturday in the U.S. Cellular 250 at Iowa Speedway — as confetti swirled and soared to highlight his first career series triumph in Victory Lane. Preece, held off a hard-charging Kyle Benjamin in a green-white checkered finish that came after the third restart in the race’s final 17 pulse-quickening laps. “I thought this race wouldRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer NEWTON, Iowa — Helio Castroneves went 1,134 days without a victory in the Verizon IndyCar Series after his last win at the Detroit doubleheader race on June 1, 2014. His winless streak ended Sunday in victory at the Iowa Corn 300 at Iowa Speedway, also ending Team Penske’s 11 year run of futility at Iowa. Castroneves started third, grabbed the lead for the first time on Lap 20 and ended up leading 217 of the final 280 laps, passing Al Unser Sr.Read More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer NEWTON, Iowa — Esteban Gutierrez’s first race on an oval ended Sunday night with a 13th place finish in Sunday’s Verizon IndyCar Series Iowa Corn 300 at Iowa Speedway. Having driven in Formula One and Formula E, Gutierrez’s past oval experience consisted of a test day at Iowa Speedway in the weeks before running 300 laps around the .894 mile oval, but the Mexican rookie managed to keep his wheels clean, running in the top 10 late in the race. In fact,Read More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer NEWTON, Iowa — Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden qualified 16th thanks to a bad qualifying draw for Sunday’s Iowa Corn 300 at Iowa Speedway. He managed to salvage a sixth place finish by gradually climbing a mountain of cars in his No. 2 Fitzgerald Glider Kits Chevrolet. The Tennessee native didn’t crack the top 10 until Lap 68, getting to ninth after passing both James Hinchcliffe and Scott Dixon. Newgarden continued his rise, getting to his eventual finishing position on Lap 109 and heRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer NEWTON, Iowa — Ryan Hunter-Reay’s 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season has been one to forget but Sunday’s Iowa Corn 300 at Iowa Speedway gave his season a bit of a lift. The No. 28 Andretti Autosport DHL Honda started 15th at Iowa but finishing third was almost like a victory, which is saying a lot considering that Hunter-Reay won three times in a four year span. The 2012 series champion moved his car to sixth place by Lap 60, gaining roughly oneRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer NEWTON, Iowa — JR Hildebrand got his chance to prove that his testing work last year was not done in vain. Finishing second in Sunday’s Iowa Corn 300 at Iowa Speedway for the Verizon IndyCar Series showed it. Hildebrand received much of the credit for then-teammate Josef Newgarden’s victory at last year’s Iowa Corn 300 by testing and perfecting the car’s setup while Newgarden was nursing injuries from a crash at Texas Motor Speedway. Newgarden led 282 laps last year and HildebrandRead More