Iowa Speedway News

Ryan Hunter-Reay wins Iowa Corn Indy 250

Jun 24, 2012

Ryan Hunter-Reay wins Iowa Corn Indy 250

NEWTON, Iowa -- Ryan Hunter-Reay's second consecutive short track victory was reason enough to celebrate. Closing to three points of IZOD IndyCar Series championship front-runner Will Power was a bonus.

Hunter-Reay, who prevailed at the Milwaukee Mile a week earlier following a 90-minute rain delay, won the Iowa Corn Indy 250 at Iowa Speedway under caution. The start was delayed 40 minutes because of a thunderstorm.

Hunter-Reay, driving the No. 28 Team DHL/Sun Drop Citrus Soda car, led Andretti Autosport teammate Marco Andretti by 1.2223 seconds on Lap 247 of 250 when the yellow flag flew the next lap for the No. 6 car driven by Katherine Legge making contact with the SAFER Barrier exiting Turn 2.

"That was very challenging," said Hunter-Reay, who started seventh. "We were sliding around a little bit more today. I have to thank Marco. They came here and tested. Marco put the setup on the car. When we came here, we tweaked it just a little. From there, we basically raced with what he tested. 

"Marco and I raced really hard out there, really clean. It’s great to have a teammate like that and we’re just so happy to be in Victory Lane twice in a row."

Andretti, the 2011 race winner, earned his first podium finish of the season. Tony Kanaan followed his runner-up finish to Hunter-Reay at Milwaukee with a third place and Scott Dixon was fourth. Simon Pagenaud, who started last in the 25-car field, climbed to fifth in his fourth oval race.

"The car came alive in the second stint," said Andretti, driver of the No. 26 Team RC Cola car. "I think we, in hindsight, could have taken another turn of the front wing and been really hard to beat at the end, but we kept the car how it is and I kind of ran out of tools at the end and had a lot of understeer. Great team effort, definitely a statement from Andretti Autosport and congrats to Ryan."

Andretti Autosport drivers have won the past four short track oval races (Hunter-Reay three of them).

Hunter-Reay was running third on Lap 234 when he overtook Andretti. He reeled in Dixon (trailing by 0.0507 of a second on Lap 237) and made the pass for the lead on Lap 238. Andretti followed Hunter-Reay around Dixon, who was losing tire grip.

Hunter-Reay moved to second in the IZOD IndyCar Series championship standings -- three points behind Will Power, who was involved in a crash on Lap 68. Dixon is 12 points behind Hunter-Reay.

Pole sitter Dario Franchitti was not credited with a lap run as smoke trailed from his No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car on the final pace lap.

Franchitti, who won twice previously at Iowa Speedway, had earned his 28th Indy car pole start (passing Al Unser for eighth all time) a day earlier on the .894-mile oval. Castroneves inherited the point and led the initial 51 laps (a field-high 133 total).

"It was making a very strange noise," the four-time IZOD IndyCar Series champion said. "I’d actually just come on the radio to say 'Is this thing making an odd noise?' And then it let go. Really disappointed. I believe this was our Indy-winner engine. A real shame that it let go."

The race started under yellow for the stalled No. 98 Team Barracuda-BHA car driven by Alex Tagliani on the backstretch.