Largest crowd of season expected for NASCAR Nationwide race
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Saturday night at Iowa Speedway will mark the second year that the NASCAR Nationwide Series will race around the Rusty Wallace designed 7/8-mile oval.
In 2009 it was a record crowd of 56,087 that witnessed Brad Keselowski defeat Kyle Busch as they swapped the lead the last 10 laps in a thrilling finish.
I wouldn’t expect anything less for this year’s U.S. Cellular 250. The Nationwide Series will bring several Sprint Cup Series drivers, including Keselowski, the current Nationwide Series points leader and defending race champion, and his rival Carl Edwards, who have had a couple of “incidents” this season.
Other Cup drivers appearing will be Kevin Harvick and Busch, who won the Nationwide race this past Saturday in Indianapolis at O’Reilly Raceway Park. We also will see Des Moines native Michael Annett in his No. 15 car. Annett is currently 13th in Nationwide series points.
Keselowski is the series points leader coming to Iowa Speedway, 228 points ahead of second-place Carl Edwards.
Keselowski and Edwards have been taking advantage of the new NASCAR unwritten rule to allow drivers to police their own rough driving amongst themselves.
Two weeks ago at the Nationwide race at Gateway International Raceway, on the final lap, Edwards was leading at the white flag, but as they headed to turns one and two Keselowski “bumped” Edwards and took the lead coming off turn two, but as they came back around to the front stretch and raced to the checkered flag, Edwards intentionally wrecked Keselowski and caused several cars to crash coming to the finish line.
Keselowski was hit by another car while spinning that pushed him over the finish line. Earlier in the season, Edwards wrecked Keselowski at Atlanta in a nasty crash that sent Keselowski high into the catch fence. Edwards was several laps down at the time and felt pay back was necessary for an “incident” earlier in the race.
Both drivers have been placed on probation for the remainder of the season, and Edwards was docked 60 points in the series point standings.
Keselowski released a statement after the penalties were handed out.
“The incident at the end of Saturday night’s race at Gateway was unfortunate not just for Penske Racing and the No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge team, but for all of the teams that were caught up in the aftermath,” Keselowski said. “There was unnecessary damage done to a lot of race cars as a result of the incident, including one of our best cars.”
While Edwards has become the new bad guy in NASCAR, the sport is used to this kind of controversy. In fact, those kinds of incidents is what grew the popularity and legend of Dale Earnhardt.
There will be a lot of media and fanfare for these two drivers, so we’ll see who is cheered and jeered during the driver introductions Saturday night. And with Keselowski being last year’s winner, Edwards running competitively in fourth a year ago and the fact that the race will finish under the lights, there is little doubt this will be a thriller once again.
Friday night marks the fifth time that the USAR Pro Cup Series will race at Iowa Speedway. The very first race at Iowa Speedway on September 15, 2006, was for the USAR stock cars.
The series was founded in 1997 by the late Bob Brooks, founder of Hooters, as a memorial and tribute to his son Mark Brooks and 1992 Winston Cup Champion Alan Kulwicki, who were killed in a plane crash in 1993.
Hooters sold the series after the 2008 season to a group of car owners and investors. The new ownership of USAR has shortened the series from 21 races to only 14 the last two seasons and has combined the north and south divisions into one series.
USAR still promotes itself as a grassroots series and will certainly enjoy the extra attention that comes with partnering up with the Nationwide Series on the weekend.
Former race winners in the USAR Series at Iowa Speedway are Woody Howard, Matt Carter, Benny Gordon and J.P. Morgan.
Gordon is a two-time series champion and is currently fourth in USAR points, while Morgan is seventh. Morgan is excited to return to Iowa and defend his win from a year ago.
“That track is about the perfect size,” Morgan said. “It’s not so big that on the straightaways you’re resting. Every time you can go fast, that’s what it’s about. The garage is awesome and everyone treats you great. Fans come out in droves and that makes everything special.”
USAR also is having an open test for their teams on Thursday evening.
The current USAR points leader is Clay Rogers of Mooresville, N.C. Rogers was the 2004, 2006 and 2009 series champion.
Through seven races this season, Rogers has won five races and claimed five poles. Rogers lead the first 22 laps last year at Iowa before mechanical problems relegated him to a 12th place finish.
So I would look for the 29-year-old Rogers in his red No. 16 to be the man to beat Friday night at Iowa Speedway.
The Hauler’s Parade will kick off the weekend Thursday night in downtown Newton at 6 p.m.
The USAR Pro Cup Iowa 150 event with start Friday night at 8, and the NASCAR Nationwide Series U.S. Cellular 250 will start Saturday at 6:30 p.m. and will be televised live on ESPN2.
