NEWTON, Iowa – It’s been two years since the NTT IndyCar Series has raced at the 0.894-mile Iowa Speedway, but Will Power still has the secret to getting around this oval in a hurry.
The driver of Team Penske’s No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet had the fastest speed in Friday’s 90-minute practice session with a lap at 173.285 mph. That was faster than Conor Daly of Ed Carpenter Racing, who raced around the oval at 173.239 mph in the No. 20 Chevrolet.
“I was happy with the test last month, we tried a few things and I think we’re in the window,” Power said. “Obviously, a lot of good cars and drivers, so you’re never going to predict who is going to be where. I’m hoping to finally have a good qualifying, at least start at the front.
“But I feel good about the car.
“If you start at the front, it certainly helps. It’s difficult to make a lot of ground, so you want to definitely start in that top 10. It’s a difficult race to win when Josef Newgarden is in the game. He’s had a very strong career at this track. Yeah, I think he’ll always be in the mix. But I’ve got the same car. Hopefully I can make it work.”
Click here for the practice results.
Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin was third in the No. 3 Chevrolet at 173.083 mph followed by defending series champion Alex Palou, the fastest Honda, at 172.687 mph in the No. 10 NTT DATA ride.
This year’s Indianapolis 500 winner, Marcus Ericsson, was sixth at 171.819 mph in the No. 8 Huski Chocolate Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing.
Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Carvana/American Legion Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing, was very happy after practice. He was ninth-fastest on the oval with a lap at 170.95 mph.
“Great practice session for us,” Johnson said. “I wish we had made another qualifying run. It would have gotten us higher in on the timing sheets. We had P9 in that session with one attempt on the qualifying run. I was really happy with the race balance.
“I think our efforts really paid off. I felt really competitive out there. I worked the second lane, passed a lot of cars, and still put up a decent time.
“A good opening session and I look forward to tomorrow’s qualifying session.”
The qualifying format at Iowa Speedway is unique because this is a doubleheader. It begins at 10:30 a.m. ET and consists of two laps around the oval. The first lap will determine a driver’s time for Saturday’s race and the second lap sets the field for Sunday’s race.
“It’s not so much the lap, the one lap for each race, it’s just that you wake up in the morning, you get breakfast, the next thing you know you’re out for one warmup lap, then qually lap,” said Andretti Autosport driver Romain Grosjean, who was 23rd on Friday in the No. 28 DHL Honda. “You don’t have warmup. I think that’s really something different. I like it. But going into Turn 1, first thing in the morning, as fast as you can get.
“I think qualifying is always important, but some races more than others. I think in IndyCar you can win from anywhere. I feel like here if you have a better car than others on tire life, you could be looking good at one point after 40 or 50 laps.
“It’s important to be qualifying up front. Will has more experience; he’s talking about top 10. I’ll take his word. I feel it’s more how your car is going to conserve your tires and how fast you can go the last 30 laps of the stint.”
Saturday’s Hy-Vee Deals.com 250 begins at 4 p.m. Eastern Time. Sunday’s Hy-Vee “Salute to Farmers” 300 is Sunday at 3 p.m. ET.
Both races will be on NBC.