NEWTON, Iowa – Following Verizon P1 Award qualifying at Iowa Speedway, all that stood between the Verizon IndyCar Series field and Sunday’s Iowa Corn 300 was a final 30-minute tune-up session on the 0.894-mile oval – a hectic session paced by 2010 race winner Tony Kanaan.
Kanaan’s fast lap of 17.9695 seconds (179.103 mph) sets him up nicely for Sunday afternoon’s 300-lap race (5 p.m. ET, NBCSN and Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network). Driving the No. 10 NTT Data Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet, Kanaan also was fastest in this morning’s first practice and will start Sunday’s race sixth.
Kanaan has finished on the Iowa podium in five of the last six races. Josef Newgarden, who will start the race on the outside of Row 1, was second fastest in the final practice in the No. 21 Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka/ECR Chevrolet (18.0191 seconds, 178.610 mph).
CLICK HERE: Iowa Corn 300 practice 2 results; Combined session results
Series points leader and pole sitter Simon Pagenaud was third quick in the session, with a best lap of 18.0412 seconds (178.392 mph) in the No. 22 Menards Team Penske Chevrolet.
The final practice featured intense racing as drivers sought to find the balance of their cars in traffic, with plenty of side-by-side racing and close-quarters battling. It included a close call between Schmidt Peterson Motorsports teammates. Mikhail Aleshin, in the No. 7 SMP Racing Honda, made a bold inside pass of James Hinchcliffe, in the No. 5 Arrow Honda, taking the air off Hinchcliffe’s car and nearly forcing him into the wall.
“I haven’t had a chance to talk to him yet, but not entirely sure how to say ‘clear’ in Russian,” Hinchcliffe said. “Either way, I don’t think it was spoken. You don’t want to race anyone like that ever, especially in practice, especially a teammate.
“It’ll be fine. I heard from the (No.) 7 (timing) stand that he knows he screwed up and he apologized. It’s just that it could have ended a whole lot worse.”
Hinchcliffe, who qualified last in the 22-car field, felt better about his car after the final practice.
“We’re still a little mystified about what happened in qualifying,” said the 2013 Iowa winner. “We think we know what it was and, when we got back out there in warmup, everything felt like it did in practice. It’s really killer unfortunate that it happened. This isn’t the worst track to start last in, but when we’re racing at the time of day that we are and the grip level seems to be a little bit down, it’s not going to make our job any easier.
“A lot can obviously change here, a lot can happen. Big fuel windows and a lot of strategy options, so we’ll see what kind of rabbit we can pull out of the hat there.”
Final practice results are below:
|
Rank
|
Car
|
Driver Name
|
C/A/E/T
|
Time
|
Speed
|
Diff
|
Gap
|
Best Lap
|
Total Laps
|
|
1
|
10
|
Kanaan, Tony
|
D/C/C/F
|
00:17.9695
|
179.103
|
--.----
|
--.----
|
5
|
47
|
|
2
|
21
|
Newgarden, Josef
|
D/C/C/F
|
00:18.0191
|
178.610
|
0.0496
|
0.0496
|
7
|
57
|
|
3
|
22
|
Pagenaud, Simon
|
D/C/C/F
|
00:18.0412
|
178.392
|
0.0717
|
0.0221
|
50
|
54
|
|
4
|
3
|
Castroneves, Helio
|
D/C/C/F
|
00:18.0432
|
178.372
|
0.0737
|
0.0020
|
67
|
70
|
|
5
|
5
|
Hinchcliffe, James
|
D/H/H/F
|
00:18.0685
|
178.122
|
0.0990
|
0.0253
|
23
|
57
|
|
6
|
7
|
Aleshin, Mikhail
|
D/H/H/F
|
00:18.1325
|
177.493
|
0.1630
|
0.0640
|
34
|
68
|
|
7
|
11
|
Bourdais, Sebastien
|
D/C/C/F
|
00:18.1585
|
177.239
|
0.1890
|
0.0260
|
6
|
40
|
|
8
|
12
|
Power, Will
|
D/C/C/F
|
00:18.1833
|
176.998
|
0.2138
|
0.0248
|
28
|
62
|
|
9
|
15
|
Rahal, Graham
|
D/H/H/F
|
00:18.2185
|
176.656
|
0.2490
|
0.0352
|
58
|
63
|
|
10
|
83
|
Kimball, Charlie
|
D/C/C/F
|
00:18.2417
|
176.431
|
0.2722
|
0.0232
|
7
|
50
|
|
11
|
27
|
Andretti, Marco
|
D/H/H/F
|
00:18.2483
|
176.367
|
0.2788
|
0.0066
|
22
|
37
|
|
12
|
28
|
Hunter-Reay, Ryan
|
D/H/H/F
|
00:18.2597
|
176.257
|
0.2902
|
0.0114
|
26
|
40
|
|
13
|
26
|
Munoz, Carlos
|
D/H/H/F
|
00:18.2725
|
176.134
|
0.3030
|
0.0128
|
36
|
45
|
|
14
|
20
|
Carpenter, Ed
|
D/C/C/F
|
00:18.2835
|
176.028
|
0.3140
|
0.0110
|
39
|
51
|
|
15
|
2
|
Montoya, Juan Pablo
|
D/C/C/F
|
00:18.3082
|
175.790
|
0.3387
|
0.0247
|
16
|
43
|
|
16
|
14
|
Sato, Takuma
|
D/H/H/F
|
00:18.3281
|
175.599
|
0.3586
|
0.0199
|
9
|
58
|
|
17
|
19
|
Chaves, Gabby
|
D/H/H/F
|
00:18.3357
|
175.526
|
0.3662
|
0.0076
|
27
|
71
|
|
18
|
8
|
Chilton, Max (R)
|
D/C/C/F
|
00:18.3652
|
175.244
|
0.3957
|
0.0295
|
37
|
47
|
|
19
|
9
|
Dixon, Scott
|
D/C/C/F
|
00:18.3835
|
175.070
|
0.4140
|
0.0183
|
16
|
47
|
|
20
|
98
|
Rossi, Alexander (R)
|
D/H/H/F
|
00:18.4051
|
174.865
|
0.4356
|
0.0216
|
14
|
39
|
|
21
|
41
|
Hawksworth, Jack
|
D/H/H/F
|
00:18.4266
|
174.661
|
0.4571
|
0.0215
|
9
|
58
|
|
22
|
18
|
Daly, Conor (R)
|
D/H/H/F
|
00:19.0970
|
168.529
|
1.1275
|
0.6704
|
32
|
32
|
(R) Rookie (C)hassis: D=Dallara | (A)erokit: C=Chevy, H=Honda | (E)ngine: C=Chevy, H=Honda | (T)ire: F=Firestone
Total Laps: 1136