Track Walk: Iowa 2012

Iowa is the ninth round of the championship. Coming off his win at Milwaukee, Ryan Hunter-Reay heads to Iowa fourth in the standings being Will Power, James Hinchcliffe and Scott Dixon. Hinchcliffe currently leads the AJ Foyt Oval Championship, ahead of Tony Kanaan, Ryan Briscoe and the three winners on ovals, Justin Wilson, Hunter-Reay and Dario Franchitti in that order. Featured this year at Iowa will be heat races to determine the starting grid.

Heat Races
Practice speeds will split the field into three, 30 lap heat races. The first heat will set the even positions, 10th-24th. The second heat sets odd positions 9th-25th. The final heat race will involve the fastest eight and set the top eight positions. It is a good format but a few things could be done to make these heats more exciting or interesting. An opinion I have is to have the winners of the first two heats, transfer to the final heat race. One problem is the transfers will have raced 60 laps by the end of the night, double that of the other competitors. If the heats were a little shorter, 15 or 20 laps, than it may be doable. Secondly, I think giving some extra points would be nice. Give the winner of the third heat, along with the $10,000 given for winning the pole, 12 points, second gets 8, third 7, fourth 6, fifth 5, sixth 4, seventh 3, eighth 2 and if you do transfer the first two winners, give ninth and tenth positions one point a piece. Even if you don't transfer them, give the winners of the first two heats a point each and the rest of the field does not score points.

Late Start Time
Iowa will be a true night race, with a 9pm start time in Iowa, 10pm Eastern, 8pm Mountain, 7pm Pacific and 4pm Hawaiian. As someone who lives on the east coast, I don't have a problem with this. A late start can benefit the series as it is a ideal start time for the fans out west and since it is a Saturday night, more people on the east coast may stay up to watch. Plus, the heat races will be shown taped before the actual Iowa race and following the Iowa Corn Indy 250 (if you are still awake), you can watch the Indy Lights event. NBC Sports Net is giving us a six hour window of racing. I'll take it. Might not be a bad thing to start later.

Will We See a Different Winner at Iowa?
Andretti Autosport has three wins at Iowa, including the last two and Ganassi Racing has won the other two races at Iowa. Both Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti have looked very strong since Indianapolis and Andretti Autosport have two drivers in the top 5 in points, the winner of the most recent race and the defending Iowa race winner. Andretti and Ganassi have actually been dominating short ovals in last few season, having won 10 consecutive races on short ovals. The last race won by a team other than Andretti or Ganassi was Ryan Briscoe winning for Penske at Milwaukee in 2008. Best shot to knock these teams off would by Tony Kanaan and KV Racing Technology because he has run very well at Iowa in the past, but he will have some work to do Saturday as he and his teammate EJ Viso have to serve 10 spot grid penalties for engine changes. Penske is always a safe bet; others to look out for are Oriol Servia and Dreyer & Reinbold, JR Hildebrand and Panther Racing, Alex Tagliani and Bryan Herta Autosport and Ed Carpenter with his own team. Surprisingly, Carpenter has actually never had a top five on an oval one mile or shorter, his best finish being a 6th at Iowa in 2007.

Prediction:
I see the Andretti/Ganassi Iowa streak continuing and James Hinchcliffe winning, holding off Franchitti who gets second. It seems Hinchcliffe is bound to win but it won't be easy. Franchitti and Dixon have both have been very strong only to have accidents or a black flag end great races the last two weeks. I think the top 10 is split 5-5 between Chevrolet and Honda. Marco Andretti gets a top 10, his first of 2012, Tagliani gets a top 10 and Kanaan drives his way into the top 10. Sleeper: Graham Rahal.