Iowa used to have character, but now ‘it’s definitely changed’ – Dixon

Iowa Speedway’s effort to repave a significant portion of its 0.875-mile oval is providing the NTT IndyCar Series an exceptional amount of grip in the corners. It’s also proven to be a new complication for the series’ Firestone tires, which haven’t shown the same kind of degradation that’s made many of Iowa’s recent races hard to forget.

“It’s definitely changed,” said six-time champion Scott Dixon. “From the first few races we had here, you just followed the white line, and it was a pack race. It was kind of chaotic for a short track.

“We went through a good period for the last 10 years, whether it’s multi-lane, high deg, and one of the best short track races that we have had. With the partial repave that they’ve done, it’s taken away a lot of race-ability that we had. Maybe it’s better for other categories.”

Thanks to the spike in grip, the separation in performance between new and old tires that produces passing didn’t appear during Friday’s 90-minute practice session.

“Yeah, I miss last year’s track,” the Chip Ganassi Racing driver added. “I think drivers refer to it as ‘character.’ It had a lot of character. It had a lot of bumps. It was definitely hard work. Qualifying was very tough, then…you had the use of two, three, four lanes in the race, especially on restarts and things like that. We’ll see. I hope it gets back to that. Whether it’s this weekend…it’s going to be tough to get that second lane to come in.”

Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin echoed Dixon’s sentiments.

“It sucks a little bit that the repave is not great for us, but it is what it is,” he said. “Everyone’s got the same track to deal with, so let’s see how we go.”