Round 11: Iowa Corn 300, Newton, Iowa. 9th - 10th July.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Round 11: Iowa Corn 300, Newton, Iowa. 9th - 10th July.

The AAA, (American Automobole Association) held the 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 closed and was dismantled soon after.

Construction of the current speedway began towards the end 2005 and was completed in July 2006. Iowa Speedway was the first track to have the SAFER Barrier installed around its entire perimeter and used a second generation of the barrier, which doesn't have a concrete wall behind the energy absorbing structure.

The first major event to be held at the new venue, was also the IndyCar Serie'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.

Some trivia:
Driver with the most wins: 3, Ryan Hunter-Reay: 2012, 2014, 2015
Most team wins, Andretti Autosport: 7, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015.

Track:



Length:
0.894 Miles (1.408 km)
Turns: 4

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

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

Last year's winner:
Ryan Hunter-Reay,
Andretti Autosport,
Dallara DW12-Honda

Laps: 300
Distance: 262.50 mi (422.452 km)
Race Time: 2:03:50
Average Speed: 129.94 mph (209.12 km/h)

TV Coverage:
NBCSN
5:00pm EST.