Iowa Corn 300 entry list || Tickets, information

Following a ninth-place finish at Toronto in mid-June, Graham Rahal said the upcoming three-race stretch on three distinctively different ovals would be telling in Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s season performance.

Two down – a victory and third-place finish – and the 26-year-old Ohioan is encouraged. Now it’s on to Iowa Speedway, where he’s earned five top-10 finishes in seven starts, for the Iowa Corn 300 under the lights July 18.

“I absolutely still think that the biggest thing for us as a team is to try to carry momentum through these races because it’s not only important to us for our season, but because these are areas where we struggled as a team the past couple of years,” said Rahal, who advanced three positions relative to his qualifying spot in the ABC Supply Wisconsin 250 at Milwaukee on July 12. “They are areas that are proving to be pretty good to us right now but we’ve got a little bit of work to do still."

Through three-fourths of the Verizon IndyCar Series season, Rahal is tied with Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves for third in the championship standings. His career season best is fifth in 2007.

“I really think we can continue to be competitive in Iowa,” added Rahal. “We found some things for our short track set-up in Milwaukee that is really going to help us going forward.”

Of note

Luca Filippi's wife Elisa gave birth to the couple's first child, a girl named Mia, July 14. Both mother and daughter are doing well. ... Tristan Vautier, who won the 2012 Indy Lights race at The Mile, picked up four positions relative to his qualifying spot and finished 16th in the No. 19 Dale Coyne Racing Honda. In his only other Verizon IndyCar Series start at the track, he qualified 10th and finished 21st. … Austin Cindric, 16, a 2014 USF2000 competitor and son of Team Penske president Tim Cindric, will make his ARCA debut July 17 at Iowa Speedway. AutoZone will be the primary sponsor of the Cunningham Motorsports entry. It also will be an associate sponsor of the No. 2 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet driven by Verizon IndyCar Series championship points leader Juan Pablo Montoya.