Following a successful event at the Milwaukee Mile, the Verizon IndyCar Series will now turn their attention to the second straight short oval on the tour as they head to Iowa Speedway. Only 0.894 miles in length, it’s bound to keep the field tight together and put on a show.
Points leader Juan Pablo Montoya is hoping to extend his points lead this weekend as he enters the event, 54 points ahead of Scott Dixon. Montoya enters with some momentum as he has posted back-to-back fourth place finishes in the last two races. He also feels that they can have a good run this weekend despite finishing 16th last year at Iowa Speedway due to how much they learned about the aero kit last weekend.
“I’m really proud of everyone on the No. 2 Verizon Chevy team for how hard we worked last weekend,” he commented. “We got a top-five finish and extended our lead in the standings. If you can’t win the race, that is not a bad consolation prize. I felt we were really strong at Iowa last year but didn’t get a chance to show it as we were crashed out of the race. Obviously I’d love to go there and win the race, but we know what we need to do over these last four races to win the championship.”
While Montoya hasn’t had success at Iowa, his championship foe has as Dixon comes into this weekend with the best average finish of active drivers, boosting a 6.5 following his eight previous starts. He has yet to win a race at Iowa Speedway, but he has five top-fives and seven top-10s to his credit. If he was able to visit victory lane this weekend, it’d be huge for Chip Ganassi Racing as it’d mark their 100th IndyCar victory.
“Iowa is such a little bullring, it’s so fast,” he said. “The G-loadings that you’re getting and how quick they get the cars to perform around the track is spectacular. I think I’ve been on the pole twice there and I don’t think I’ve ever been on the podium there, so I’ve got a little bit of work to do. Tony Kanaan was very strong there last year and I think we got robbed of a 1-2 finish there with a late caution and a bunch of guys going on new tires. It’s definitely a fun place where the people love coming to our races and I think it’s probably one of the best shows we have all season.”
The team to watch this weekend, though, will be Andretti Autosport as they have won six of the eight races at Iowa Speedway, including the last five in a row. Ryan Hunter-Reay was the most recent, and is the only active driver to have won twice at Iowa Speedway. After failing to finish in the top-10 over the past four races, a good run for Hunter-Reay this weekend would be huge as he currently sits 14th in points.
“Iowa (Speedway) is another track where we have great history as a team,” he commented. “On the 28 side, we’ve found victory lane twice and are entering the weekend as defending race winners. We hope to get the DHL Honda back up front this weekend.”
Though perhaps it’ll be Sebastian Bourdais with his third victory of the season this weekend as he dominated at Milwaukee, leading 118 of the 250 laps en route to the victory. There was one point that he had the whole field a lap down. Notably, he hasn’t posted a top-10 finish in his previous two starts at Iowa.
“I’m very excited about the win in Milwaukee. It is my first on an oval in nine years and to do it the way we did was special,” he boosted. “The KVSH Racing guys did an awesome job preparing and setting up the car and in the pits during the race. That was last weekend and in racing it is easy to go from being the hero to a goat. Iowa is, obviously, a different kind of oval than Milwaukee. It is a bit shorter and has high banking, but we had a decent car there last year and have worked very hard on our oval setup this year. Chevy has given us great power and the best aero package, and we have a real chance to finish in the top five in the championship. We just have to keep our nose to the grindstone and keep putting up good results.”
Helio Castroneves has yet to visit victory lane at Iowa Speedway, having only posted one top-five finish (second in 2010) in his previous eight starts for an average finish of 7.5. He needs a good run this weekend to make up points on Montoya as he currently sits third in points, 69 points back. He enters this weekend with momentum after finishing second at Milwaukee.
“It’s our smallest oval but, man, it’s really fast,” Castroneves stated. “You have to really stay alert because you are in traffic a lot. One slip and you can easily find yourself behind the wall losing a lot of points.”
His Team Penske teammate Simon Pagenaud will be vying to beat him to victory lane as he has yet to win a race this season despite winning three times last year with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Pagenaud has done well at Iowa Speedway in the past, posting a top-five and two top-10s in his previous three starts.
“We struggled a bit in qualifying at Milwaukee with the balance on the Penske Truck Rental Chevy, but I was quite happy with the way the car drove in the race,” he stated, following a ninth place finish at Milwaukee. “With that race under our belt, we should be a bit more dialed in for Iowa. Everything happens very fast at Iowa so you want to have your balance exactly where you need it. We continue to make small gains with our program; gains that may not be visible to the fans yet, but they will be soon. Things feel like they are really coming together with this team and that has me excited.”
