Practice 1 results

NEWTON, Iowa – Tony Kanaan, who’s earned podium spots in the past five Verizon IndyCar Series races at Iowa Speedway, topped the speed chart in the initial 45-minute practice session for the Iowa Corn 300.

Kanaan, driving the No. 10 Fusion Chevrolet, turned a fast lap of 17.9580 seconds (179.218 mph) in the 90 degree ambient (130 degrees track) heat of mid-afternoon on the .894-mile, variably-banked oval. A companion session will be conducted at 6 p.m. CT. Watch it on Racecontrol.indycar.com.

“The second practice will be more of an indicator of what we’ll face the next night,” said two-time race Iowa Speedway winner Ryan Hunter-Reay, who was third on the speed chart at 178.490 mph.

Verizon IndyCar Series drivers will participate in single-car qualifications at 3 p.m. CT July 18, with NBCSN’s telecast of the 300-lap race at 7 p.m.

Scott Dixon set the track two-lap qualifying record of 186.256 mph on July 11, 2014, and started the race from the pole three times. Dixon was second-fast at 179.11 mph in the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.

Charlie Kimball, driving the No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen Chevrolet, was fourth at 178.210 mph and Josef Newgarden, the pole winner July 11 for the 250-lap race at Milwaukee, was fifth (177.157) in the No. 67 Wichita State University/CFH Racing Chevrolet.

Eighteen-second laps in traffic is a test of endurance for drivers and the crew’s preparation.

“I know what I want from the car and I know what it feels like on old tires and I know what it feels like on new tires,” said Hunter-Reay, driving the No. 28 DHL Andretti Autoport Honda. “I know how it needs to feel in traffic, so I know the target. Working to get it that way with the set-up is the hard part.

“It's one where you have to have the car right in that perfect window to get it all right all the way through the stints from the beginning of tires till the end.”