Iowa Corn Indy 300 presented by DEKALB
Click it: Championship standings || Entrant list || Tickets and track info
TV: NBCSN telecasts the race live (8 p.m. ET July 12) and qualifications (7 p.m. ET July 11). ... Leigh Diffey is the chief announcer with Paul Tracy and David Hobbs the analysts.
Radio/web: All Verizon IndyCar Series sessions are broadcast on www.IndyCar.com and the INDYCAR 14 app in conjunction with real-time Timing & Scoring. In addition, the race will be broadcast on IMS Radio Network affiliates, XM 209 and Sirius 213. Paul Page is the chief announcer. ... Live streaming video of the July 11 practice sessions will be on www.IndyCar.com, incorporating Timing & Scoring and the IMS Radio Network broadcast.
Twitter: @iowaspeedway, @IndyCar, #IowaCorn300
Weekend schedule (all times Eastern):
Friday, July 11 – 11-a.m.-noon Verizon IndyCar Series practice *
3 p.m. Verizon IndyCar Series single-car qualifications
7 p.m. Verizon IndyCar Series practice *
* streaming video on www.IndyCar.com
Saturday, July 12 – 8 p.m. NBCSN on air
Weather forecast: Highs in the low 80s with scattered showers.
Qualifications: Single-car cumulative time of two consecutive timed laps, with order determined by blind draw, to determine the Verizon P1 Award winner. Iowa-based Sukup Manufacturing Co. is the sponsor of Pole Day. ... Single-lap track record is 17.3324 seconds (185.687 mph) by Helio Castroneves of Team Penske in 2013 in qualifying for heat races.
Race laps: 300 in counterclockwise direction on the .894-mile oval as measured by INDCYAR Timing & Scoring (12-14 degrees of banking in the turns, frontstretch of 1,075 feet) … 50 laps were added for the 2014 race.
Challenges of the track: "It’s challenging because it’s so small. There are such high G (force) loads, it’s a very physical track. It’s a tricky place because to get over the bumps and make the car good in all aspects of the track is very difficult if not impossible,” said Graham Rahal, who finished fifth in 2013.
Start: Two-wide start based on qualifications results … single-file restarts.
Pit boxes: 40 feet.
Tires: Firestone is providing the same tire construction that was used in Iowa in 2013. The right-side tires are the same construction used at Texas Motor Speedway and Auto Club Speedway (superspeedway right side with a softer compound left-side tire).
Fuel: 40 U.S. gallons of E85 for practice/qualifications; 70 gallons for race ... Verizon IndyCar Series cars carry 18.5 U.S. gallons.
Engines: 2.2-liter, twin-turbocharged V6s supplied by Chevrolet and Honda ... 140 kPa turbo boost for oval race. Chevrolet has six victories and Honda has five this season.
Aerodynamics: Short oval specifications -- rear wing mainplane angle of 0 degrees +/- .50 degree and rear wing flap angle of 34 degrees maximum. A rear wing wicker is optional, as are front brake backing plates and an underwing strake.
2013: James Hinchcliffe won the in the No. 27 Andretti Autosport car, leading 226 of the 250 laps after starting second. It was his third victory of the season. Teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay was runner-up and Tony Kanaan was third. ... Ed Carpenter posted the fastest race lap in 2013 (17.9744 seconds; 179.055 mph).
For spectators: A Verizon IndyCar Series autograph session will be held from 4-5 p.m. (local) July 11 at the INDYCAR Fan Village behind the grandstand. ... Country music artist Tim Dugger will perform about 30 minutes after the race. The concert is free to race ticket-holders. … Fan Walk and Paddock passes CLICK HERE.
Of note: No driver has won the race from the pole. There have been eight different race winners and Verizon P1 Award winners in the 11 races. There were nine different winners in the 19 races in 2013. ... Andretti Autosport has won five of the seven Verizon IndyCar Series races at Iowa Speedway, including the past four (Hinchcliffe, Hunter-Reay, Marco Andretti and Kanaan). … Kanaan has finished on the podium the past four years. Andretti has four podium finishes in seven starts. … Hinchcliffe has started in the top 10 the past seven races. He has an average starting position of 6.1 this season. … Five drivers will make their Verizon IndyCar Series debut at Iowa Speedway (rookies Mikhail Aleshin, Carlos Huertas, Jack Hawksworth and Carlos Munoz, plus Juan Pablo Montoya). Montoya, who earned his first Indy car victory since September 2000 at Pocono Raceway on July 6, competed in an ARCA race on the oval in 2006. Munoz and Hawksworth competed in Indy Lights at the track in 2013. ... Chip Ganassi Racing’s Ryan Briscoe (Pocono) and Kanaan (Texas) have recorded the fastest laps in the past two oval races. … Sebastian Saavedra, who tied his Verizon IndyCar Series career best of 15th on an oval at Pocono, makes his 50th start in the series. He won the 2010 Indy Lights race at Iowa. … Wichita State University and companies from Wichita, Kan., will be displayed on the sidepods of the No. 67 Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing car. Team co-owner Wink Hartman is a Wichita native. Engineering students from the university will tour the garage and watch the race. ... At Pocono, Scott Dixon passed Bobby Unser and tied Kanaan for ninth on the all-time list with his 113th top-five finish. ... NASCAR purchased Iowa Speedway late last year from the family of Featherlite Trailers founder Conrad Clement and appointed Jimmy Small as president.
History: The Verizon IndyCar Series has raced at Iowa Speedway since June 2007 -- the year after the racetrack opened. The Iowa Corn Promotion Board and the Iowa Corn Growers Association, which has been the title sponsor of each race, recently extended its sponsorship through 2015. Cars are fueled with E85.