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There is no denying that neither of the two races for the Hy-Vee IndyCar Weekend at Iowa Speedway were very compelling. The track repaved the corners adding a ton of grip. To take that into account, Firestone brought a new tire for the right side of the cars. IndyCar lowered downforce by about 10%. The result of all of these factors were two races where the drivers found it especially difficult to pass.

That being said, the championship tightened up at the top and fans were treated to two races where Santino Ferrucci had far more passes than any other driver for both races. Saturday night saw points leader Alex Palou crash due to an unforced error on the main straightaway. He redeemed himself by finishing second. There was no real harm done, because his closest pursuer – Will Power – also had a bad race Saturday; before coming back to win on Sunday. Palou had a forty-eight point lead over Power coming into the weekend. They both left Iowa with Palou holding on to a thirty-five point lead.

Perhaps the biggest winner of the weekend was Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin. He won Saturday night’s race and finished third on Sunday. After suffering a disqualification in the first race of the season, McLaughlin has clawed back to only sixty-five points out of the lead and sits in fifth in points. Santino Ferrucci finished sixth and eleventh in both races this weekend and now finds himself in the Top-Ten in points.

Scott Dixon did what Scott Dixon always does. He was very consistent and finished fourth in both races. Consequently, Dixon also sits fourth in points – fifty-seven points behind Palou. Josef Newgarden didn’t win either of the races, which is news in itself – but he overcame a poor qualifying effort to finish third on Saturday night and seventh on Sunday. He may have driven his best races here in two years, yet no one will talk about it because he didn’t win. Overall, the races were processional – but it was what most were expecting.

TV Coverage: Obviously I didn’t get to see or hear much of the coverage, except what I caught in the media center when I wasn’t in the pits. Unless he said otherwise on the broadcast, this was Leigh Diffey’s last time to broadcast an IndyCar race. I know some didn’t care for Diffey’s delivery in the booth, but I didn’t mind it. Yes, he sounded overly excited and could have turned down the decibel level at times; but he was genuine and likeable. Personally, I’ll miss him.

As far as the broadcasts, I was ecstatic to learn that Saturday night’s race would be carried on Big NBC. Unfortunately, life sometimes takes precedent over racing. NBC moved the race broadcast to CNBC in order to cover the assassination attempt on Former President Trump. While it was certainly a ratings downer for the broadcast; NBC made the appropriate call.

Getting to Iowa: While it would have been nice to have some edge of your seat races to witness in-person; the racing wasn’t all we came here for. We had never been to Iowa Speedway before. In fact, until October of 2020 – when we took Susan to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota – I had never set foot in the state of Iowa before. For decades, I had been in forty-seven of the contiguous forty-eight states. The only one missing? Iowa. While at the Mayo Clinic, we had an afternoon with no appointments scheduled. We drove the fifty miles to the Iowa state line and drove about a mile into the state and walked around a parking lot, so I could say my feet had been in Iowa.

Still I had never spent time in Iowa. For years, I had all of my racing friends tell me how I had to go to a race at the 7/8 mile track in the middle of Iowa. We never really had the budget to do it, but at Road America – one of our friends talked us into swapping Gateway for Iowa. With Luke Combs on the concert schedule, it didn’t take any convincing to talk Susan into going.

We are glad we came. We really loved the track and the area. The ten and a half hour drive from Nashville may prevent us from coming here every year, but we will definitely come back. The small track makes for a very intimate, yet laid back setting. Even standing in the pits, I could see more than jhalf the track and was able to follow certain battles around from before the start/finish line, follow them through Turns One and Two, and through the first half of the back stretch.

I was also impressed with the amenities under the grandstands. They didn’t gouge customers at the concession stand and the selections were varied. Whether it was Hy-Vee, the track or IndyCar – there seemed to be a genuine concern to make sure that fans were overserved.

We also liked the area. While there are not a ton of hotels in the immediate area, there are plenty reasonably priced accommodations surrounding the track. Like Wisconsin, we found Iowa to be a very clean state with little or no threat of crime. While our hotel was thirty miles away, the commute was very easy.

If you are on the fence about whether or not to come to this race, I highly recommend it. We’re certainly glad we did.

The Crash: Unfortunately, there was a huge and very frightening crash on the last lap of the race. Alexander Rossi ran out of fuel and was slow coming out of Turn Two. Sting Ray Robb ran up behind him and was launched high up into the air by Rossi’s rear tire. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a car get that high in the air. When the car came down, it tumbled several times before skidding down the backstretch upside down. Rossi’s car skidded across the track and collected the cars of Kyle Kirkwood and Ed Carpenter, with Carpenter’s car ending up on top of Kirkwood.

It was a scary scene, especially when we saw the AMR Safety Team getting a stretcher out for Robb. As he was placed in the ambulance, he gave a wave with both hands – letting everyone know he was reasonably OK. The latest reports saif he was awake, alert and in good condition. He was transported to a local hospital for observation. After seeing that crash, we are once again reminded how strong and safe these cars are.

Drives of the Weekend: Since we are talking about two races, I will pick two different drivers for their collective drives over both races. Josef Newgarden greatly improved his starting positions over both races. He started twenty-second on Saturday and finished third. On Sunday, he started fourteenth and finished seventh. While he is used to winning on this track, he acquitted himself nicely after a very mediocre qualifying session on Saturday afternoon.

Santino Ferrucci qualified eighth for Saturday night’s race, and finished sixth. While that doesn’t sound that impressive, you have to remember that Ferrucci was issued a stop-and-go penalty for a questionable call on a re-start. He was the last car running at one point, but used good pit strategy and drove the wheels off of the car to work his way up to finish sixth.

Both of these drivers are certainly worthy of Drive of the Weekend.

All and All: Despite the mediocre racing we saw on the track – we had an absolute blast on our first visit to Iowa. The media center and fan amenities were as nice as advertised. The best thing about such a small track – you don’t have to walk very far for whatever you need. The paddock, hospitality, shuttles, the pits – they are all right next to each other. The staff here is friendly and knowledgeable. Other than the expected heat – I cannot say one bad thing about Iowa Speedway or our weekend here. Thanks to everyone who followed us all through the weekend.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on July 15, 2024 at 4:04 am and is filed under IndyCar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.