Track Walk: Iowa 2014

Twenty-Two drivers are entered for the 8th Iowa Corn Indy 300

The championship is all tied up with the twelfth round of the 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series this Saturday night from Iowa Speedway. Will Power had another on-track infringement at Pocono and it cost the Australian a 39-point lead in the championship as he and his Team Penske teammate Hélio Castroneves are even. With his victory at Pocono, Juan Pablo Montoya jumped from fifth to fourth in the championship, narrowing his gap to Power from 116 points to 55 points. Simon Pagenaud is third in the championship, trailing his former teammate by 44 points. This year's race will be 300 laps, a 50 lap increase from the previous seven runnings.

Coverage
Time: Coverage begins at 8:00 p.m. ET Saturday July 12th. Green flag is at 8:50 p.m. ET.
TV Channel: NBCSN
Announcers: Leigh Diffey, Paul Tracy,  David Hobbs (Townsend Bell is at Mosport for IMSA competition), Kevin Lee, Kelli Stavast, Jon Beekhuis and Robin Miller.

Can Andretti Autosport Make It Five Consecutive?
Michael Andretti's team has won four consecutive and five of seven Iowa Corn Indy 300s, each won by a different driver. Dario Franchitti won the inaugural Iowa race in 2007. Tony Kanaan won in 2010 after three consecutive DNFs at Iowa. Marco Andretti won under the lights in 2011. It was Marco's first victory since Sonoma 2006, 77 starts prior. Ryan Hunter-Reay's victory in 2012 was the middle leg of a three race winning streak for the American on his way to the 2012 championship. James Hinchcliffe won last year. It was the Canadians third of the season and first career oval victory.

Hunter-Reay has five top tens in six Iowa starts despite his average starting position at Iowa being 11.666. Andretti has five top tens in seven Iowa starts and has started in the top ten five times. Hinchcliffe's next best Iowa finish is ninth in three starts on the 0.875 mile oval. The Canadian's average starting position on the short track is 4.333.

Carlos Muñoz is making his first career IndyCar start at Iowa. In two Indy Lights starts, the Colombian finish seventh and eighth. Muñoz is sixth in the championship, directly behind his teammate Hunter-Reay and has three podiums finishes this year including Pocono last Sunday. Muñoz had yet to lead a lap in 2014. A rookie has not won an oval race since Sébastien Bourdais at Lausitzring 2003. The last rookie to win an American oval race was Tomas Scheckter at Michigan in 2002.

Andretti Autosport has dominated short tracks, winning the last six short track races and seven of the last eight but the team needs a slight turn around. Hunter-Reay and Andretti both have yet to score top five finishes since finishing first and third respectively in the Indianapolis 500. Hinchcliffe has yet to finish a race in a position better than he started. The Canadian loses on average 7.727 positions from his spot on the grid each race.

Penske's Kryptonite
Iowa hasn't been Team Penske's best friend. Hélio Castroneves may have six top tens in seven starts at Iowa but The Captain's team has yet to step foot into victory lane. Castroneves has one podium (a second to Kanaan) in 2010 and Ryan Briscoe finished second in 2009 when apart of the team. Will Power has been behind the Iowa 8-ball. He has two top tens in five starts at Iowa but has finished twenty-first, twenty-third and seventeenth in his last three Iowa races, two of which were DNFs. Sam Hornish, Jr. had a DNF in 2007, his lone Iowa start. Juan Pablo Montoya has one appearance at Iowa and that came in the inaugural ARCA race at the track in 2006. Montoya finished 24th that day, competing 208 of 250 laps after an accident.

Past Iowa Performances
Tony Kanaan has put his past Iowa disappointments behind him. After three DNFs in his first three Iowa starts, Kanaan has four consecutive Iowa podium finishes.

Scott Dixon had six consecutive top tens at Iowa until his sixteenth place finish last year. Dixon started the first two Iowa races from pole position.

Graham Rahal has four top tens in six Iowa starts including his first career top five at Iowa last year, a fifth place finish. Rahal average starting position at Iowa is 14.666.

Simon Pagenaud has finished fifth and sixth in his two previous Iowa starts. He came from 25th to finish fifth in 2012.

Ed Carpenter scored his first career top five at Iowa last year, a fourth. He has two other top tens at the track.

Takuma Sato's best finish in four Iowa start is twelfth. His other three races have ended in nineteenth, nineteenth and twenty-third.

Justin Wilson has one top ten at Iowa in six appearances.

Charlie Kimball has yet to break the top ten in Iowa with his best finish being eleventh in 2012.

Fun Facts
There have been four IndyCar races on July 12th. The winner of each July 12th race won the championship that year. The drivers to win on July 12th are Mario Andretti at Nazareth in 1969, Alex Zanardi at Cleveland in 1998, Scott Dixon at Nashville in 2008 and  Dario Franchitti at Toronto in 2009.

Scott Dixon needs to lead 246 laps to become the eighth driver to reach the 4,500 laps led club.

Juan Pablo Montoya needs to lead 152 laps to become the twenty-third driver to join the 2,000 laps led club.

Ryan Briscoe needs to lead 65 laps to become the twenty-seventh driver to join the 1,500 laps led club.

Should he take the green flag on Saturday night, Sebastián Saavedra will be making his 50th career IndyCar start.

For more fun facts check out the Telemetry Center.

Predictions
Carlos Muñoz wins. Ryan Hunter-Reay and Tony Kanaan round out the podium. Charlie Kimball qualifies on one of the back three rows but makes up at least five positions in the race. James Hinchcliffe finishes better than his starting position for the first time in 2014. Josef Newgarden picks up his second consecutive top ten finish. Mikhail Aleshin finishes ahead of Simon Pagenaud. Sleeper: Graham Rahal.