The 11th and 12th rounds of the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series season brings the series back to Iowa Speedway for the first time since the 2020 season. This will be the lone doubleheader weekend this season and it will be the third and fourth oval races out of five on the 2022 calendar. There have been seven different winners in the last seven IndyCar races with four teams represented among the race winners during this stretch. The driver who has led the most laps has won the last four races while the driver leading the most laps has won seven of ten races this season.
Coverage
Time: Coverage for Saturday's race begins at 4:00 p.m. ET on Saturday July 23 with green flag scheduled for 4:06 p.m. ET. Coverage for Sunday's race begins at 3:00 p.m. ET on Sunday July 24 with green flag scheduled for 3:20 p.m. ET.
Channel: NBC
Announcers: Kevin Lee, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe will be in the booth. Dave Burns, Dillon Welch and Nate Ryan will work pit lane.
Channel: NBC
Announcers: Kevin Lee, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe will be in the booth. Dave Burns, Dillon Welch and Nate Ryan will work pit lane.
IndyCar Weekend Schedule
Friday:
First Practice: 4:30 p.m. ET (90 minutes)
Saturday:
Qualifying: 10:30 a.m. ET
Race: 4:06 p.m. ET (250 laps)
Sunday:
Race: 3:25 p.m. ET (300 laps)
* - All sessions will be available live on Peacock
Return to Iowa
One week after IndyCar made its first visit to Toronto since 2019, IndyCar makes its return visit to Iowa Speedway after the 7/8th-mile oval was not on the 2021 calendar.
Iowa hosted IndyCar for 14 consecutive years from 2007 through 2020. The 2020 weekend was a doubleheader to increase the race total during the pandemic-altered season.
Ten drivers have split the 15 races to take place at Iowa Speedway. Ryan Hunter-Reay and Josef Newgarden are tied for the most Iowa victories. Each driver has won three times at the track. Hunter-Reay is the only driver with consecutive victories at Iowa, having on in 2014 and 2015. Newgarden is the winner of the most recent Iowa race.
Dario Franchitti and James Hinchcliffe are the only other drivers with multiple Iowa victories. Both drivers won at the track with two different teams. Dan Wheldon, Tony Kanaan, Marco Andretti, Hélio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud each have one Iowa victory.
Andretti Autosport has the most Iowa victories among steams. Andretti Autosport has seven Iowa victories, the inaugural race in 2007 and a six-race winning streak from 2010 through 2015. Team Penske has the next most victories with four. All four of Penske's victories have come in the last five Iowa races. Chip Ganassi Racing won twice in 2008 and 2009. Ed Carpenter Racing and Schmidt Peterson Motorsports are the only other teams to win at the track.
In the ten Iowa races since engine competition returned to IndyCar, Chevrolet has won seven times, including the last three years.
Newgarden has the best average finish at Iowa at 5.6 among drivers with at least three starts, just ahead of Pagenaud's 6.4 and Scott Dixon's 6.8. Dixon is level with Dan Wheldon for third-best Iowa average finish. James Hinchcliffe averaged a seventh-place finish in eight Iowa starts, just ahead of Alexander Rossi, Hélio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe, who all have an average finish of 7.7.
Hideki Mutoh had an average finish of 8.3 over three Iowa starts. Graham Rahal's average finish is 8.6. J.R. Hildebrand, Danica Patrick and Marcus Ericsson are the only other drivers to have an average finish better than tenth with at least three Iowa starts. Hildebrand averaged a 9.3 in three starts while Patrick averaged 9.6 in five starts and Ericsson's average finish is 9.7 in three starts.
Newgarden has the most laps led at Iowa at 1,150. The next most is Castroneves on 644 and Kanaan is third at 523 laps, the only three drivers with over 500 laps led. Franchitti led 405 laps in six Iowa starts while Hinchcliffe led 190 laps. Power and Dixon are the only other drivers with 100 laps led at the track. Power has led 131 laps, one more than Dixon.
Despite winning three times at Iowa, Ryan Hunter-Reay ranks 14th in laps led at the track with only 58 laps led out of 3,262 laps completed. Drivers who have led more laps at Iowa than Hunter-Reay include Pagenaud, Andretti, Briscoe, Vitor Meira, Wheldon and Takuma Sato.
Entering this weekend, only three drivers have started every Iowa race. Only Dixon is entered. Andretti and Kanaan are not on the entry list.
A Doubleheader
For the tenth consecutive season, IndyCar will have a doubleheader weekend on its schedule, but this year Iowa is the only doubleheader weekend. There have been 18 doubleheaders in IndyCar since they were re-introduced in 2011 with the Firestone Twin 275s at Texas Motor Speedway.
This Iowa weekend will be just the fourth time since 2011 a doubleheader has occurred on an oval, but the last time IndyCar went to Iowa it held a doubleheader.
When IndyCar raced at Iowa two years ago, Team Penske swept the weekend. In three of the 12 doubleheaders held between 2011 and 2019, only three teams did a team sweep the race. In the six doubleheaders held since the start of the 2020 season, three have had a team sweep the races, but there hasn't been a driver sweep of a doubleheader since Graham Rahal at Belle Isle in 2017. The only other driver sweep since 2011 was Scott Dixon at Toronto in 2013.
Chip Ganassi Racing and Team Penske have won ten of the last 12 races to take place during doubleheader weekends.
In the 2020 Iowa doubleheaders, seven drivers finished in the top ten of both races. Pagenaud had the best average finish at 2.5 (1st & 4th) ahead of Newgarden's 3.0 (5th & 1st) and Dixon's 3.5 (2nd & 5th). Oliver Askew had the next best average finish, a 4.5 after finishes of third and sixth. Rossi and Jack Harvey each averaged a 7.0. Rossi was sixth and eighth in the top races while Harvey was seventh in both. Ericsson was ninth in both races.
Patricio O'Ward went from fourth in race one to 12th in race two after a botched pit stop. Conor Daly fell from eighth to 13th while Takuma Sato went from tenth to 21st. Rahal jumped from 12th in race one to third in race two. Power was involved in an accident in race one and recovered to finish second in race two. Marco Andretti retired from race one and finished tenth in race two.
With two races in successive days, a championship can swing in a blink. After six of the 18 doubleheaders since 2011, the championship lead has changed hands. On average, the championship leader loses 12.333 points in his championship lead after a doubleheader weekend. The biggest championship swing was 74 points after the 2013 Houston doubleheader when Castroneves went from a 49-point lead to trailing Dixon by 25 points. In three of the six times the championship lead has changed hands after a doubleheader, the lead entering that weekend was 35 points or more. In the other three years, it was 11 points or fewer.
While the championship lead might not have changed hands, there have been four occasions where the championship leader remained the same, but lost ground to the rest of the field. On average, the championship leader lost 18 points in those cases. Coincidentally, three of those occasions occurred during Dixon's 2020 championship season when he led wire-to-wire to be champion. The only other time was with Juan Pablo Montoya in 2015 when Montoya lost four points in his championship after Belle Isle.
On seven times has a championship leader increased, but the championship leader averages only a 10.857-point increase in those circumstances. The largest increase was 25 points by Dixon after the 2020 Road America weekend. In four of these circumstances, the championship lead only went up by a single-point margin.
Once has the championship lead remained flat after a doubleheader weekend. Will Power entered the 2014 Houston round up 39 points and he left Houston with a 39-point championship leader.
Entering this weekend, 44 points cover the top five drivers in the championship. Ericsson has a 35-point championship lead over Power with Palou only 37 points off his teammate. Newgarden and Dixon are tied, 44 points behind Ericsson.
With 108 points on the table and Ericsson likely starting both races, the largest gap that could be overcome this weekend is 98 points. Ninety-seven points cover top eight in the championship, meaning Patricio O'Ward, Scott McLaughlin and Colton Herta all have a mathematical shot of leaving Iowa as the championship leader.
A New Experience
Two years isn't a long time between events at a track, but since IndyCar was not at Iowa last year, there are many drivers who have never raced here before in IndyCar. Nine drivers to be exact have yet to race at Iowa in an IndyCar, eight of which have never raced at the track in any series.
Scott McLaughlin is the one driver in the top ten of the championship who has never raced at Iowa before. This will be the fourth different oval he has ever raced on before after Texas, Indianapolis and Gateway. He has finished runner-up in each year he has raced at Texas. McLaughlin has had good runs at Indianapolis despite not getting the results in his two Indianapolis 500 starts. He was fourth in his lone Gateway race.
This will also be Romain Grosjean's fourth oval he has driven on. Grosjean was 14th on his oval debut last year at Gateway, but he has failed to finish both oval races this season. He had an engine failure at Texas and an accident at Indianapolis. He completed 103 laps and 105 laps respectively in the two oval races this season.
Christian Lundgaard and Callum Ilott are two Europeans making their first trip to Iowa. Lundgaard has finished 19th and 18th in the two oval races this year. Ilott broke his wrist in his accident in the Indianapolis 500. Since then, he has finished in the top fifteen twice in three starts after having on top fifteen result in the first six races of the season. Ilott led five laps at Texas during a pit cycle.
David Malukas has never raced at Iowa before, but he swept the Gateway Indy Lights races last year. The only other oval Malukas competed on in the Road to Indy was Indianapolis Raceway Park in Pro Mazda in 2018. Devlin DeFrancesco won at Gateway in Indy Pro 2000 in 2019, but he also has not raced at Iowa before. DeFrancesco was in the top five of both Gateway Indy Lights races last year. Kyle Kirkwood won at Indianapolis Raceway Park in U.S. F2000 and at Gateway in Indy Pro 2000 before finishing runner-up to Malukas in both Indy Lights races last year at Gateway.
Despite Iowa hosting 33 NASCAR national touring series races between its Grand National Series and Truck Series, Jimmie Johnson has never raced at Iowa Speedway. Johnson made 113 NASCAR Cup Series starts on short tracks and won 14 of them with 39 top five finishes and 63 top ten finishes. Johnson did win nine times at Martinsville, three times at Richmond and twice at Bristol. He also made a combined 19 short track starts between NASCAR's lower two national touring series where he had no victories, one top five finish and four top ten finishes.
Of the nine IndyCar drivers who have never raced at Iowa in IndyCar, the one who has raced here is Dalton Kellett. Kellett was second in the 2015 Pro Mazda Iowa race, finishing behind then-Andretti Autosport teammate Weiron Tan. He made three Indy Lights starts athlete track and finished ninth, third and fifth in those races.
Scott Dixon Appreciation
Less than a week after picking up his 52nd IndyCar victory, Scott Dixon will have a chance at win #53 and surpassing Mario Andretti on the all-time victory list six days after he tied the legend. Dixon will get two cracks at it this weekend.
Dixon's 52nd victory came in his 361st start. Andretti's 52nd victory came in his 377th start. A.J. Foyt's 52nd victory was in his 233rd start.
Dixon went 442 days between his 51st victory and his 52nd victory. That was the third longest stretch between victories in his IndyCar career behind the 665 days between his first career victory at Nazareth in 2001 and his second career victory at Homestead in 2003 and the 820 days between his fourth career victory at Richmond in 2003 and his fifth career victory at Watkins Glen in 2005.
Dixon averages 149.96 days between victories in his IndyCar career.
With his victory at Toronto, Dixon has now won a race in 20 IndyCar seasons, extending a record. He has won a race in 18 consecutive season, extending a record. Lost in the celebration of Dixon's 52nd victory is another milestone reached in Toronto. With 40 laps led, Dixon returns the United States with 6,504 laps led in his IndyCar career. He is just the fourth driver to reach the 6,500 laps led milestone and with 550 laps scheduled for this weekend, he could move up to second all-time at Iowa.
Dixon is currently 117 laps behind A.J. Foyt for third all-time and 188 laps behind Michael Andretti for second all-time. Mario Andretti is the all-time leader with 7,595 laps led.
On top of all the history Dixon has made, he is on the cusp of making more this weekend at Iowa. If Dixon starts both Iowa races, he will have made 300 consecutive starts, only the second time IndyCar history a driver will have made 300 consecutive starts. Tony Kanaan has the record of 318 consecutive IndyCar starts running from June 24, 2001 at the CART Portland race through the June 6, 2020 Texas season opener.
Dixon has not missed a race since the 2004 Indy Racing League event at the Milwaukee Mile on July 25, 2004. He had two practice accident in the lead up to the race which left him with a bone chip in his right thumb and a sprained left ankle. The IRL medical staff did not clear Dixon to race that weekend. Dixon's first race back was on August 1, 2004 at Michigan where ehe finished seventh, behind Bryan Herta and ahead of Townsend Bell. It was Buddy Rice's third and final IndyCar victory.
Not only could Dixon reach 300 consecutive starts this weekend, but he could match another record that Mario Andretti currently holds. Dixon has never won at Iowa Speedway and if he were to win this weekend it would be the 26th different track Dixon has won at in his IndyCar career, tying Andretti for the most different circuits with a victory.
At Iowa, Dixon has nine top five finishes and 12 top ten finishes in 15 starts. He has three consecutive top five finishes, two of which have been runner-up results. The only track where Dixon has more starts and no victories is St. Petersburg where he has started 18 races. An Iowa victory would be his seventh on an oval one-mile or shorter in length. He has only won once on an oval a mile or shorter in length in the DW12-era. That was the 2016 Phoenix race.
Road to Indy
After not competing in Toronto, Indy Lights joins IndyCar at Iowa and will be the only Road to Indy series in competition this weekend. Iowa is the ninth of 14 races this Indy Lights season. This is the first of two oval races Indy Lights will run in 2022.
Linus Lundqvist leads the championship with 350 points and he has finished in the top five of every race this season. Lundqvist is the only driver with multiple victories this season having won four times. Eighty-seven points behind Lundqvist is Sting Ray Robb, who has seven top five finishes from eight races, but Robb has not won this season despite standing on the podium five times.
Matthew Brabham is up to third in the championship after his runner-up result at Mid-Ohio, but he is still 96 points behind Lundqvist in the championship. Hunter McElrea is up to fourth in the championship after his Mid-Ohio victory, and McElrea has been on the podium in three consecutive races. He is 98 points behind Lundqvist. Benjamin Pedersen rounds out the top five, 104 points back of Lundqvist. Pedersen has three runner-up finishes this season, the most runner-up finish in 2022.
Christian Rasmussen and Danial Frost are tied on 232 points. Each driver has a victory, but Rasmussen owns the tiebreaker with his next best result being a runner-up finish to Frost's fourth.
Kyffin Simpson is a distant eight on 191 points. Antonio Serravalle is five points behind Simpson and one points ahead of Jacob Abel, who rounds out the top ten. Ernie Francis, Jr. is on 174 points and his best finish was seventh at the St. Petersburg season opener. Christian Bogle sits on 172 points with James Roe, Jr. on 160 points.
Indy Lights will race at 12:10 p.m. ET on Saturday July 23. The race is scheduled for 75 laps, the shortest Indy Lights race ever at Iowa. From 2007 to 2013, the race was 115 laps. From 2015 to 2018, the race was 100 laps. This is the first time Indy Lights has raced at Iowa since 2018.
Fast Facts
Saturday's race will be the eighth IndyCar race to take place on July 23 and the first since 2006 when Justin Wilson won the Champ Car race at Edmonton and Tony Kanaan won the Indy Racing League race at Milwaukee.
Christian Lundgaard will turn 21 years old on Saturday and Lundgaard could become the tenth driver to win an IndyCar race on his birthday. The last driver to do it was Dan Wheldon at Iowa on June 22, 2008. Lundgaard would be the youngest birthday winner and the first driver to have his first career victory occur on his birthday.
Iowa has never produced a first-time winner.
Sunday's race will be the fifth IndyCar race to take place on July 24 and the first since Will Power won at Edmonton in 2011.
The average starting position for an Iowa winner is 7.8 with a median of fourth.
Josef Newgarden won the most recent Iowa race from pole position, the first time an Iowa race was won from pole position.
The average finishing position for an Iowa pole-sitter is 8.6 and the pole-sitter has finished in the top ten of six consecutive Iowa races.
The race before Newgarden won, Simon Pagenaud won from 23rd on the grid, the worst starting position for an Iowa winner.
Five of 15 Iowa races have been won from outside the top ten.
Five of 15 Iowa races have been won from third on the grid.
The driver that has led the most laps at Iowa has only won seven of the 15 races, including five of the last six Iowa races. (Franchitti 2007, Hinchcliffe 2013, Newgarden 2016, Castroneves 2017, Newgarden 2019, Pagenaud 2020 I, Newgarden 2020 II).
Second starting position has produced five winners this season, including the last three race winners. No other starting position has produced multiple winners this season.
The only time an Iowa winner has started second was Josef Newgarden in 2016.
The average number of lead changes in an Iowa race is 9.8667 with a median of ten.
The fewest lead changes in an Iowa race was six in 2014. The most lead changes in an Iowa race was 16 in 2010.
Eight of 15 Iowa races have had ten lead changes or more.
The average number of cautions in an Iowa race is 4.333 with a median of five. The average number of caution laps is 48.333 with a median of 46.
The most cautions in an Iowa race was seven in 2014. The fewest number of cautions in an Iowa race was the first race in 2020, which had only one caution.
Eight of 15 Iowa races have had five cautions or more.
Predictions
Josef Newgarden and Colton Herta split the weekend. Neither will win from pole position but neither will win from second on the grid either. Christian Lundgaard will be outside the top fifteen on his birthday. A.J. Foyt Racing will not have double retirements in either race. Will Power has top ten finishes in both races. Jimmie Johnson will finish on the lead lap in at least one of the races. Marcus Ericsson will be the championship leader after the weekend, but Ericsson's lead will be smaller than when it started. Álex Palou does not make contact with any barriers or any other cars. Ed Carpenter Racing will have at least one top ten finishers in each race. At least one driver gets his first top five finish of the season this weekend. No car will have all four wheels off the ground during the race. Sleepers: Hélio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud.
