Round 11: Iowa Corn 300, Newton, Iowa. July 7-8.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Round 11: Iowa Corn 300, Newton, Iowa. July 7-8.

The AAA, (American Automobole Association) held it's 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 though was closed and
dismantled soon after.

Construction of the current speedway began towards the end 2005 and was completed in July 2006. It is modeled after the Richmond International
Raceway, with a track width of 60 feet and 12-14 degree compound
banking in the turns. The front stretch features 10 degrees of banking
and the backstretch has 4 degrees of banking.

Iowa Speedway was the first track to install SAFER Barrier, around its entire perimeter and to subsequently use the second generation of the barrier, which doesn't use 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.

Track:


Length:
0.894 mi - 1.408 km
Turns: 4

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

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

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.

-

Last year's race
Will Power took pole and swept into the lead, while both Castroneves
and Carpenter passed J. R. Hildebrand for second and third,
respectively, with Sato rounding out the top five. On Lap 20,
Castroneves got past Power for the lead and began puling away. Further
back, Rahal began to move through the field and into third place, while
Aleshin moved up to fourth. Aleshin's run came to an early end on Lap
57, as he lost control and spun, crashing into the outside wall at Turn
2, bringing out the race's first yellow. During the caution, the field made their first pit stops, with Castroneves still in the lead, followed by Power, Rahal, Carpenter and Hildebrand.

Racing resumed on Lap 67. Hildebrand gradually moving up the field,
from fith to second place on lap 93. Four laps later, he caught and
passed Castroneves for the lead and began to pull away. Behind them,
Hunter-Reay was able to pass Carpenter and move into the top 5. On lap
100, Castroneves dropped back to third behind teammate Power. By lap
109, the running order was now Hildebrand, Power, Castroneves, Rahal,
Hunter-Reay and Newgarden, who had passed Carpenter.

On lap 132, the race saw the second caution period when Muñoz hit the
wall coming out of Turn 4, ending his race. With the second caution
period came the second round of pit stops, during which Castroneves
managed to leapfrog both Hildebrand and Power to retake the lead, while
Hunter-Reay moved into fourth ahead of Rahal.

The race restarted on lap 142, with Power immediately passing Hildebrand for second and Rahal passing Hunter-Reay for fourth. After a
few laps, Hildebrand once again passed Power and began to close on
Castroneves. However, his charge was stopped withn the race's third
caution period, as Daly made contact with the front straight wall on lap 171. With the caution came the third round of stops, with
Castroneves emerging in front of Power, Hunter-Reay and Hildebrand.
However, Kimball now took the lead, as he had elected not to pit during
the caution period.

Racing resumed on lap 182, with Castroneves taking less than a
lap to reclaim the lead, while behind him, Rahal passed Hildebrand. The leaders were able to quickly dispatch of Kimball and continue their pursuit of Castroneves.

On lap 196, caution once again waved, this time for a passing rain shower. Most of the leaders stayed out, while a few drivers farther back in the field, including Newgarden, Dixon and Pagenaud, elected to pit. On lap 208, the race was halted as the rain grew heavier, though only lasted for roughly 10 minutes.

Racing finally resumed on lap 210 with Castroneves still leading, while
Newgarden, on fresh tires, moved into the top six after only nine laps.
Castroneves, managed to pull out a sizable lead before making his final
stop on lap 253. However, after the cycle of stops, Hildebrand
emerged ahead of him, having stopped for fresh tires seven laps
before Castroneves. He quickly caught up with Hildebrand and
managed to retake the lead, with the help of a slower back-marker. Castroneves pulled away from Hildebrand, eventually winning the race

Castroneves's victory snapped a 54 race winless drought since the 2014 Dual in Detroit. It also marked his 30th career victory in IndyCar. Hildebrand's second place matched his career best finish. Hunter-Reay completed the podium.

Last Year's Pole
Will Power:
Lap 1, 17.3929.
Lap 2, 17.3612.
Average 34.7541. 185.210 mph (298.066 km/h)
Team Penske, Dallara DW12-Chevrolet IndyCar V6

Last year's winner:
Helio Casroneves,
Team Penske, Dallara DW12-Chevrolet IndyCar V6

Laps: 300
Distance: 262.50 Miles (422.452 km)
Race Time: 1:55:11
Average Speed: 139.702 mph (224.828 km/h)

Cautions
4, laps 42.

Broadcast:
NBCSN 2:00pm ET.