Scott Dixon will attempt to make his 316th and 317th consecutive start, the second-longest streak in INDYCAR SERIES history as the NTT IndyCar Series heads to the Iowa Speedway and a double-header weekend.
Saturday sees the Hy-Vee Homefront 250 presented by Instacart: 250 laps/223.5 miles race while Sunday drivers will compete in the Hy-Vee One Step 250 presented by Gatorade 250 laps/223.5 miles race.
The Hy-Vee Homefront 250 presented by Instacart and Hy-Vee One Step 250 presented by Gatorade will be the 11th and 12th races of the 2023 season. There have been six different winners in 10 NTT INDYCAR SERIES races this season. Marcus Ericsson (Streets of St. Petersburg), Josef Newgarden (Texas Motor Speedway and Indianapolis 500), Kyle Kirkwood (Streets of Long Beach), Scott McLaughlin (Barber Motorsports Park), Alex Palou (Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course-1, Streets of Detroit, Road America and Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course) and Christian Lundgaard (Streets of Toronto) have all won in 2023. The modern record (1946-present) for most different winners in a season is 11 in 2000, 2001 and 2014.
Hy-Vee INDYCAR Race Weekend, featuring the Hy-Vee Homefront 250 presented by Instacart and Hy-Vee One Step 250 presented by Gatorade, will be the third and fourth oval races of the 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES schedule.
Scott Dixon is the only driver to have competed in every NTT INDYCAR SERIES race at Iowa, and although he has 11 top-five finishes in his previous 17 starts on the oval, he’s never won at “The World’s Fastest Short Track.”
Twelve drivers entered have led laps at the track (Josef Newgarden 1,506, Helio Castroneves 644, Will Power 234, Dixon 130, Pato O’Ward 97, Takuma Sato 64, Graham Rahal 32, Ed Carpenter 18, Conor Daly 17, Felix Rosenqvist 7, Alexander Rossi 4 and David Malukas 1).
Andretti Autosport has won seven of the 17 previous races at Iowa Speedway (Dario Franchitti 2007, Tony Kanaan 2010, Marco Andretti 2011, Ryan Hunter-Reay 2012, 2014 and 2015 and James Hinchcliffe 2013). Team Penske has five wins (Helio Castroneves 2017, Josef Newgarden 2019, 2020 Race #2 and 2022 Race #1 and Simon Pagenaud 2020 Race #1). Chip Ganassi Racing has two wins (Dan Wheldon 2008 and Franchitti 2009).
Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dario Franchitti and Josef Newgarden are the only drivers to win at Iowa Speedway and win the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship in the same season. Newgarden accomplished the feat in 2019, Hunter-Reay in 2012 and Franchitti in 2007 and 2009.
Hy-Vee INDYCAR Race Weekend presents the first chance for Alex Palou to complete the PeopleReady Force For Good Challenge. The 2021 NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion has already scored wins on a street course (Streets of Detroit) and a road course (Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Road America and Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course). He would become the second driver to claim a $1 million bonus to be split among his team and chosen charity – The American Legion – should he win on an oval. Josef Newgarden won the bonus last season.
Milestones: Tony Kanaan holds the INDYCAR SERIES record with 318 consecutive starts…Ed Carpenter will attempt to make his 200th career INDYCAR SERIES start in Sunday’s Hy-Vee One Step 250 presented by Gatorade
The Hy-Vee Homefront 250 presented by Instacart (250 laps/223.5 miles)is timed to go at 2:06pm Saturday local time (7:06 Sunday NZ time) while the Hy-Vee One Step 250 presented by Gatorade is timed to go at 1:30pm local time on Sunday (6:30am Monday NZ time).
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