IndyCar: Friday Afternoon Report from HyVee IndyCar Race Weekend

The NTT INDYCAR SERIES is racing this weekend in the cornfield of Central Iowa at the fastest short track on the planet, Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa.  HyVee sponsors the Saturday night race,  HyVee Homefront 250, and the Sunday morning race, HyVeeOneStep250.

The track recently had its first NASCAR event, and part of it was repaved in May, before the inaugural race. This provided a massive amount of grip when the IndyCars came here to test for this weekend at the end of June. The lap times were two seconds faster than last year.

The series decided that might not make for an entertaining race. Since the speeds were faster than expected, they decided to reduce the car’s downforce by approximately 400 pounds by changing the back wing’s angle.

Firestone was at the test and realized that the tires had no drop-off.  The cars were fast enough so Firestone created a new compound and construction for softer tires on the right side of the car.

During the June testing, the cars were not able to drive up in the second lane without heading to the wall.  The schedule today includes a session to rubber in the second lane so the race will be more exciting.

Rubber in Session      Group A     2:45 – 3:00 pm     CT

Group B      3:00 – 3:15 pm

Practice 1                                               3:35 – 5:00 pm

Lucille Dust reporting live from Iowa Speedway