Iowa Thoughts

This weekends Iowa event.

Some thoughts to ponder on as  we head towards this weekends event at Iowa.

• There have been six different winners in the 10 previous Verizon IndyCar Series races in 2018: Sebastien Bourdais (Streets of St. Petersburg), Josef Newgarden (ISM Raceway, Barber Motorsports Park and Road America), Alexander Rossi (Streets of Long Beach), Will Power (INDYCAR Grand Prix and Indianapolis 500), Scott Dixon (Raceway at Belle Isle-1 and Texas Motor Speedway) and Ryan Hunter-Reay (Raceway at Belle Isle-2). Dixon's win at Texas on June 9 gave him sole possession of third on the all-time Indy car victory list with 43 wins.

• The Iowa Corn 300 will be the fourth oval race on the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series schedule. The previous three races were won by Josef Newgarden (ISM Raceway), Will Power (Indianapolis 500) and Scott Dixon (Texas Motor Speedway). The remaining two oval races will take place at Pocono Raceway (Aug. 19) and Gateway Motorsports Park (Aug. 25).

• The Iowa Corn 300 will be the 12th Verizon IndyCar Series event at Iowa Speedway. Ryan Hunter-Reay is the only active driver to win at Iowa Speedway more than once. Hunter-Reay has three wins (2012, 2014 and 2015). Past winners Josef Newgarden (2016), James Hinchcliffe (2013), Marco Andretti (2011) and Tony Kanaan (2010) are also entered in the event.

• Andretti Autosport has won seven of the 11 previous races at Iowa Speedway, including six of the last eight races (Dario Franchitti 2007, Tony Kanaan 2010, Marco Andretti 2011, Ryan Hunter-Reay 2012, 2014 and 2015 and James Hinchcliffe 2013). Chip Ganassi Racing has two wins (Dan Wheldon 2008 and Franchitti 2009). Ed Carpenter Racing, which won the event in 2016 with Josef Newgarden, and Team Penske, which won last year's race with Helio Castroneves, have each won at Iowa once.

• Ryan Hunter-Reay and Dario Franchitti are the only drivers to win at Iowa Speedway and win the Verizon IndyCar Series championship in the same season. Hunter-Reay accomplished the feat in 2012 and Franchitti in 2007 and 2009.

• No driver has won the Verizon IndyCar Series race at Iowa Speedway from the pole.

• Four drivers have competed in every Verizon IndyCar Series race at Iowa: Marco Andretti, Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan. All but Castroneves are entered this year. Fifteen drivers entered have led laps at the track (Kanaan 523, Josef Newgarden 394, James Hinchcliffe 245, Dixon 126, Andretti 94, Will Power 57, Ryan Hunter-Reay 54, Graham Rahal 19, Ed Carpenter 18, Charlie Kimball 17, Simon Pagenaud 13, Takuma Sato 7, Sebastien Bourdais 6, Alexander Rossi 4 and Max Chilton 4).

• Ryan Hunter-Reay finished on the podium in five of the last six Iowa Speedway races (2012-2015 and 2017)... Josef Newgarden has finished on the podium in three of the last four races at Iowa (2014-2016)...Tony Kanaan has finished on the podium in five of his last eight races at Iowa... Marco Andretti has finished on the podium in four of his 11 starts at Iowa Speedway...Scott Dixon has started on pole three times (two earned) and has nine top-10 finishes at Iowa in 11 starts, but he has never finished better than third.

• Five drivers - Spencer Pigot and rookies Zachary Claman De Melo, Matheus Leist, Zach Veach and Robert Wickens - will be competing at Iowa Speedway for the first time in the Verizon IndyCar Series. All but Wickens raced at Iowa in Indy Lights. Leist won at Iowa in 2017.