Iowa Speedway is back.
After IndyCar announced that the series would not be racing at the track during the 2021 season, asphalt racing fans in the area wondered if they had seen the last race on the 7/8th-mile oval in Newton, Iowa.
However, they learned on Thursday afternoon that they had not.
Iowa Speedway is returning to the NTT IndyCar Series schedule with a doubleheader race weekend in 2022 during the July 23-24 weekend.
It will also be home to a festival-style event weekend, playing up to the big event type settings that IndyCar has tried to implement at places like Nashville.
The return to the track gives the series another pair of ovals for its 2022 schedule, something series owner Roger Penske said was at the top of his to-do list when he took over.
“One of my main concerns when we took over the sport was that we made more ovals,” Penske said. “When we started back in the 70’s, you had to run Trenton and Phoenix before you could even come to the speedway. We don’t want buy-a-ride’s at Indy. We want you to be there because you earned it there because you’re a great driver.”
The pair of races are being supported and sponsored by Hy-Vee, the popular grocery chain in the Midwest.
Saturday’s race will be tabbed as the HyVeeDeals.com 250 while Sunday will run as the Hy-Vee Salute to Farmers 300.
“This is a great part of the piece of the schedule that we’ve been looking for,” Penske said. “To have two races and have it supported by Hy-Vee, it’s a home run for both side.”
Drivers and teams have raved about Iowa Speedway over the years and when Graham Rahal heard the news about the track, he was thrilled.
He even called it a better race than the Indianapolis 500.
“It’s actually probably, from a racing standpoint, better than Indianapolis as far as passing goes and everything else,” Rahal said. “But certainly, the Indy 500 is the crown jewel. I think we’ll put on a tremendous show (at Iowa). We always do and I think we’ll continue to. I think with Hy-Vee’s promotion behind it, it’s just going to elevate the game and just make this even better.”
Penske extended on his talk of the 2022 schedule, saying it will be completed in announced in approximately 30 days.
“We want to have a mix – short ovals, l0ng ovals, Indy, some temporary street circuits and some road courses,” Penske said. “It will be diverse. “We haven’t really made exactly what the number of races will be. It will be somewhere between 15 and 18 races.”
The season will open with Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on March 13, 2022
