James Hinchcliffe Captures Second Win at Iowa Speedway
James Hinchcliffe’s Casey’s General Store’s Victory Lane celebration (Photo Credit: Jennifer Coleman Photography)
Speedway prepares to host final race weekend of 2018, July 27-28
NEWTON, Iowa (July 8, 2018) – For much of Sunday’s Verizon IndyCar Series Iowa Corn 300, it looked like a repeat of 2016 for Josef Newgarden. Newgarden, then driving for Ed Carpenter Racing, dominated the field to record his first career win on an oval.
He led 282 of the 300 laps, breaking the record for most laps ever led in an INDYCAR race. The previous record was Ryan Hunter-Reay’s 250-lap mark at Milwaukee. Newgarden threatened another virtuoso performance leading 229 of 300 laps before Canadian James Hinchcliffe seized control.
Hinchcliffe passed Newgarden with just over 40 laps left to win the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series Iowa Corn 300, his first victory of the season.
“This is IndyCar racing. We had a great No. 1 Hitachi Chevrolet for the first half of the race,” said Newgarden. “We had the car to beat. And it just fell away from us. Sometimes you can’t predict exactly what you’re going to need at the end of these things.”
Hinchcliffe, a popular veteran who failed to qualify for this year’s Indianapolis 500, picked up his sixth career victory and first win since Long Beach in 2017. This is his second win at Iowa Speedway. Hinchcliffe drove to Casey’s General Store’s Victory Lane in 2013, his first-ever repeat win at a racetrack on the circuit.
“Man, what a way to do a win,” said Hinchcliffe. “Man, it feels good to do a double here at Iowa.”
It also gives him renewed confidence after a rough season and enhanced momentum heading to Toronto next weekend, not far from his hometown of Oakville, Ontario.
Sunday Iowa Speedway Notebook
Notebook Items:
Indy Lights Mazda Iowa 100
Up Next
INDY LIGHTS MAZDA IOWA 100
One of the three steps on the Mazda Road to Indy open-wheel development ladder – Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires – converged this weekend on Iowa Speedway in support of the Verizon IndyCar Series.
On Saturday, Patricio “Pato” O’Ward earned the Sukup “First in the Field” Award and his sixth Indy Lights pole of the season after edging out his Andretti Autosport / Andretti-Steinbrenner Racing teammate Colton Herta for the pole.
O’Ward completed a display of sheer dominance at Iowa Speedway on Sunday, leading all 100 laps of the Mazda Iowa 100 to take his fourth win of the 2018 Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires season.
“It was a great race for us,” said O’Ward. “We came here to get the win. A day like this is good, where I can show that I have strong pace and that I’m ready for IndyCar.”
O’Ward, who entered the weekend 17 points in arears of championship leader Colton Herta, rocketed away when the green flag waved and was never challenged, winning by just under three seconds.
With O’Ward setting a torrid pace in front, the battle to watch was between Belardi Auto Racing’s Santi Urrutia and Andretti-Steinbrenner’s Colton Herta.
Urrutia managed to keep Herta at bay for over 90 laps, with Herta consistently trying to close and pass at every lap, but Herta was eventually able to work his way around with five laps remaining to secure second place and his eighth podium of the year.
“After I got around Santi [Urrutia], we really ran down Pato in those last five laps,” said Herta. “Wish I made the pass sooner, I might have gotten to him.”
It meant that the Andretti stable went 1-2, with O’Ward (Andretti Autosport) and Herta (Andretti Steinbrenner Racing) finishing first and second. O’Ward’s fourth win of the season clawed him up to just eight points behind Herta, who also has four wins.
Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires is the third and final rung on the Mazda Road to Indy ladder. The 2018 Indy Lights champion will earn a Mazda scholarship package valued at $1 million toward a drive in three 2019 Verizon IndyCar Series races, including the Indianapolis 500.
UP NEXT
Later this month, Iowa Speedway will host the final weekend of a phenomenal year of racing. The NASCAR K&N Pro Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series will close the 2018 race season on July 27-28.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series will make a second visit to the Fastest Short Track on the Planet, its traditional weekend under perennial sponsorship – U.S. Cellular. The wireless provider extended its partnership with Iowa Speedway through 2019 and has served as the U.S. Cellular 250 title sponsor since 2009. The relationship goes back even further… U.S. Cellular has been the speedway’s official wireless partner since 2006.
The NAPA Auto Parts Concert Series will close out in style on Friday, July 27, highlighted by rising country music star Dylan Scott. Scott’s friendly charm and rhythm and blues-inspired music will be on full display at the Party Pavilion following the NASCAR K&N Pro Series Casey’s General Store 150.
Anchoring the 2018 season is the NASCAR Xfinity Series U.S. Cellular 250 presented by The Rasmussen Group on July 28. After the roar of the engines has subsided, Iowa Speedway will host its fifth annual Post-Race Party on the Frontstretch. A tradition born in Iowa – opening the catchfence for fans to party on the track – has become universally revered by everyone.
