Kind of a big deal

Interestingly enough, Peters couldn’t defend his win from a few months earlier and actually slipped behind Ty Dillon in the overall points standings that night. Iowa Speedway giveth, Iowa Speedway taketh away.

Now take a quick breath. That was just two races on the track’s schedule in the past year. Before getting into the NASCAR Nationwide Series races, which are widely considered the track’s biggest draws each season, let’s also take a look at all that was accomplished during the weekend for the Iowa Corn Indy 250.

Although Iowa Speedway doesn’t exactly fit the perfect mold for open-wheel racing, the IndyCar Series seems to love it in Newton. Nearly all of the IndyCar Series drivers, and drivers of almost every series, describe the track as short track racing with a superspeedway feel. And with downforce adjustments placed on IndyCar drivers for this year’s race, it made things just a bit more challenging for everyone.

But enough technical talk for now. Looking simply at the weekend’s events, IndyCar invested some serious thought into Iowa Speedway this year. The track was the site of the series’ first-ever heat race qualifying, which was deemed a success by the track, series and drivers for its originality and larger-than-normal attendance for a qualifying session.

Race day turned out to be a stormy one that shifted the schedule a bit, but the title card didn’t disappoint for the fans that stuck around. Not only did pole-sitter Dario Franchitti get knocked out of the race before the first lap was even completed, but Ryan Hunter-Reay held off local favorite and 2011 champ Marco Andretti to earn his second of three consecutive victories that helped him clinch his first IndyCar Series championship with a spectacular come-from-behind effort.

Even with the overall success of those three races, it’s a widely accepted fact that the Nationwide Series still creates the most excitement at the track. It brings some of the sport’s most recognizable stars and biggest up-and-comers each race, and neither one disappointed this season.

The second of the two races, August’s U.S. Cellular 250, almost seemed surreal considering Ricky Stenhouse Jr. didn’t win for the first time in four attempts at the track. That honor went to Elliott Sadler, but speedway fans also got to see Des Moines native Michael Annett take fourth and 19-year-old Grimes native Brett Moffitt finish ninth in an impressive series debut.