Josef Newgarden led the final practice for tonight’s Iowa 250. Simon Pagenaud and Scott Dixon followed in a session that saw the series veteran stats at the front.
Colton Herta drove his repaired car and Rinus VeeKay drove a backup car. Herta was 13th and VeeKay was 14th.
The top seven:
Photo: Pagenaud at Road America last week
Last night should remove any doubts about the aeroscreen. It saved Rinus VeeKay’s life and probably kept Marcus Ericsson from serious injury.
Herat’s crash is one of the worst I have ever seen. Thank goodness for the aeroscreen and that the SAFER barrier at Iowa is in front of the fence. We could have seen another Wickens type incident otherwise.
A driver going from starting last to victory lane is quite an accomplishment, but Simon Pagenaud has had lots of practice this year. Last night he improved eight places in the first 25 laps. His average starting position through last night was 17th. His average finishing position is 6.2
Pit strategy played a big part of the outcome. Once again, the timing of the yellow thwarted some great strategy by Takuma Sato, Oliver Askew, and Pato O’Ward.
Up until last night I have been praising the newer drivers. Yesterday was a big day for the newer teams. Carlin, a single car entry, won the pole with Conor Daly, who finished eighth. Arrow McLaren SP, with Askew getting his first podium and O’Ward finishing fourth, had a shot at the win. Don’t count them out tonight either.
It is hard to believe that it took five races for a Penske car or a Chevy to win this season.
Askew’s third place finish gives him a top 10 and a top 5 in the two oval races to date.
I’m hearing that Andretti will repair Herat’s car, and VeeKay will go to the backup. A badly damaged car in race 1 is a risk on a double header weekend.
Dixon”s try for career win 50 fell less than half a second short. Like Pagenaud, he started near the rear of the field and will do so again tonight. The task might be a bit more challenging with Josef Newgarden and Will Power on the front row.
It was a great race. Once again, the television schedule didn’t work out in Indycar’s favor. This would have been a really nice one to have had on NBC.
I’ll be back with tonight’s starting lineup and practice results later.
Today’s schedule:
Old photo. Someone must have thought these guys would be pretty good drivers
Conor Daly joined the ranks of Indycar pole winners this afternoon as he had the fastest first lap in qualifying for the Iowa 250s. Daly’s first lap of 175.188 beat Josef Newgarden by 0.0085 seconds. Newgarden turned the fastest second lap of 175.333 nipped teammate Will Power for tomorrow night’s pole. Daly starts third Saturday.
Simon Pagenaud had a fuel pressure problem as he started out of the pits for his qualifying run. Pagenaud will start last in both races. Qualifying has been difficult for Pagenaud this season.
It will be fun watching him work his way to the front.
Daly’s first pole follows last Sunday’s first pole for Pato O’Ward. Four drivers have won pokes so far this year.
This is big achievement for Carlin Racing, the only single car team in the field.
Tonight’s green flag is at 9:15 pm Eastern Time.
Colton Herta was quickest in the practice session for the first Iowa 250. Herta’s best lap of 171.990 mph beat Conor Daly, who held the top spot for most of the final 30 minutes. Daly’s time of 171.488 was the first of the day above 171 mph. Five drivers topped the 171 mark.
The top 5:
One interesting note- Daly, driving for Carlin this weekend, is pitted next to his other car, the 20 of Ed Carpenter.
I am all set up in the Grinnell annex of the Iowa media center. I will be heading to the track for qualifying and the race in a few minutes. I will try to post a quick qualifying summary. Look for my race summary tomorrow morning.
Good morning from somewhere in the wilds of I-74. As you read this i am on my way to Iowa for Rounds 5 and 6 of the Indycar season.
Today’s schedule: (Times are Central)
The qualifying sets the grid for tonight and tomorrow night. Both races are on NBCSN. Sunset tonight is 8:43 pm Central time, so this race will be run mostly after dark. Saturday’s race begins 30 minutes earlier.
I will try to post after qualifying, but definitely look for my race quick thoughts about two hours after the finish of the race. I will also have a feature tomorrow morning on some news of the week.
Enjoy the races.
yesterday doctors began the process of bringing Alex Zanardi out his medically induced coma. the process is expected to take three days. When he is awake, the doctors will do a neurological evaluation.
Two spotter’s guides, one for each race. Like last week, the 15 car of Graham Rahal will switch liveries for Race 2. It will also be difficult to remember that Ed Carpenter is in the Air Force car and that Conor Daly is driving number 59 for Carlin.
Photo: Last year’s race ended early Sunday morning after a 4 hour rain delay. Photo: USAToday.
The 2019 Iowa race began on Saturday and ended on Sunday. The reason was a violent rainstorm that hit the track about two hours before the scheduled start. This year the event begins on Friday and and ends on Saturday. It is by design. The strange times we live in and schedule postponements have made this event a doubleheader, with two night night races. The fourteenth race at Iowa Speedway will feature the first doubleheader at the track and the third different qualifying format in the race’s history. Here are some things to look for this weekend.
Tony Kanaan, who won this race in 2010, will be driving his final race at Iowa as his oval only season continues. After this weekend, Kanaan will have just two races remaining, the 104th running of the Indianapolis 500, and the race at Gateway. His number 14 car for A. J. Racing will feature a classic livery of Bryant Heating and Cooling, a long time sponsor in the series.
Photo from @AJFoytRacing Twitter account
Kanaan will be the Grand Marshall for Friday’s race, giving the command from the cockpit of his car. In addition to winning in 2010, Kanaan has a second place in 2011, and three third place finishes in 2012, 2013, and 2014. Ryan Hunter-Reay is the only other driver to have as many top three finishes at Iowa.
Iowa has become the place to experiment with qualifying. In 2012 and 2013, grid positions were set by three heat races. The heats were determined by practice times. This was not a popular format with the drivers or fans. In the heats drivers drove cautiously so they didn’t damage their cars before the race. A crash in one of the 2013 heat races put an end to this experiment. I doubt we will ever see qualifying races again in Indycar.
This year, in the interest of time and to take a bit of workload off of the crews, There will be one qualifying session on Friday afternoon. The qualifying run will still be two laps. rather than average the laps, the first lap will set the grid for Race 1 on Friday, and the second lap will set Saturday’s grid.
Race 1’s lineup should look much as we would expect, with the usual suspects up front. Traditionally, the second qualifying laps at Iowa see a significant drop from the first lap. Race 2’s lineup could look very interesting. Someone might steal a pole for that race.
At road America the younger drivers, those with less than three years of experience, shined. At Iowa, I think we’ll see the veterans dominating. At least three of the younger drivers have never raced here. This weekend is just the second oval race for Alex Palou. His race at Texas ended early as he was collected by Rinus VeeKay, who hit the wall and slid down the track.
VeeKay hopes to make up for his poor showing at Texas, where team owner Ed Carpenter was frustrated with his driving. I think we will see a much better result from VeeKay this time around.
Will Scott Dixon start a new winning streak? This is one of the tracks where Dixon has never won. He showed a lot of strength at Texas, and I look for another good weekend for the five time champion as Chip Ganassi Racing looks to stay undefeated in 2020.
I think Team Penske will finally break through to win at least one of the races. Josef Newgarden has won twice at Iowa and is the defending winner. he nearly won a third time in 2018, when James Hinchcliffe got by for the victory. He should have a strong two races.
Will Power has just two poles hereand has not won. he has been s pressing a bit this season. This may be the weekend thta gets his season back on track.
The weather at Road America was cooler than expected. Iowa will be the first real test of the new modifications to the aeroscreen as Indycar tries to mitigate the heat in the cockpits. Teams are allowed to use a second cooling duct. the water bottles have been moved to a position so that the fluid does not get warm, and a crew member can give the driver a water bottle during a pit stop.
Racing at night should help as well. the aeroscreen will continue to be a work in progress this season and next. When the new chassis comes on line in 2022 and the screen is fully integrated into the bodywork, i think a lot of these problems will take car of themselves.
Iowa Speedway is going to great lengths to ensure the safety of the fans this weekend. They have limited ticket sales. A xcheck of their their seating chart shows large patches of seats not for sale. It appears that they are leaving two rows empty between where fans may sit.
Saturday is general admission and they are not selling any more tickets for that race. fans are encouraged to bring a blanket to sit on as no lawn chairs are allowed.
All cars must drive through a health screening station before entering the the track. I spoke with a representative of the track yesterday who told me there will be five lanes open at that point for temperature checks. All cars will funnel into the health checkpoint. Masks are recommended but not required. I expect like Road America that we will see about 50% of the fans wearing masks.
My apologies. I posted last week’s entry lists by mistake. here are the correct ones.
Race1
Race 2
The Pit Window by Mike Silver 