IndyCar: Open Wheel Wednesday, Iowa Edition

For the fifth consecutive year, the Izod Indy Car Series travels to the Iowa Speedway.  This will be the first time since the inception of the Iowa Corn 250 that the race will be run under the lights.

Iowa is known for great side-by-side action.  With the track being less than a mile in length, there's really no margin for error or a bad set up. 

The track also has gradual banking in the turns to cause side-by-side action all the way through the corners.

Look for many of the top teams in the series to stay on top at Iowa.  The four races in the history of the Speedway have been dominated by the Andretti and Ganassi teams. The driver that is patient enough to stay out of harm's way will be the one standing in victory lane.

TRACK FACTS

• Iowa Corn 250—Iowa Speedway, Saturday June 25th @8 pm on Versus
• Iowa Speedway—Newton, Iowa
• 30,000 seat capacity
• 0.875 mile oval
• Four turns and a tri-oval on the main stretch
• Banking—12-14 degrees in the turns, frontstretch: 10 degrees, backstretch: 4 degrees
• Lap Record—Ryan Briscoe 2008, 17.4908 seconds

PAST WINNERS

2007—Dario Franchitti, AGR

2008—Dan Wheldon, Ganassi

2009—Dario Franchitti, Ganassi

2010—Tony Kanaan, AGR

2011 IZOD INDY CAR SERIES POINTS STANDINGS AFTER 8 RACES
1	12	Will Power	271
2	10	Dario Franchitti	271
3	2	Oriol Servia	198
4	9	Scott Dixon	195
5	38	Graham Rahal	176
6	82	Tony Kanaan	171
7	6	Ryan Briscoe	165
8	77	Alex Tagliani	147
9	5	Takuma Sato	142
10	7	Danica Patrick	141
11	4	J.R. Hildebrand R	137
12	26	Marco Andretti	134
13	3	Helio Castroneves	133
14	27	Mike Conway	132
15	14	Vitor Meira	129
16	6	James Hinchcliffe R	120
17	22	Justin Wilson	120
18	78	Simona de Silvestro	112
19	83	Charlie Kimball R	105
20	59	E.J. Viso	100
21	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	91
22	34	Sebastian Saveedra	84
23	24	Ana Beatriz	80
24	18	James Jakes R	80
25		Raphael Matos	67
26		Dan Wheldon	59
27	67	Ed Carpenter	53
28	8	Paul Tracy	44
29	19	Sebastien Bourdais	44
30	19	Alex Lloyd	41

MY TOP 5 PREDICTIONS

1. 10 Dario Franchitti

2.   9 Scott Dixon

3. 12 Will Power

4. 82 Tony Kanaan

5. 26 Marco Andretti