Guy Rhodes/US Presswire
The close-quarters action IndyCar is famous for is happening more often these days on the short tracks in the series.
With races at Milwaukee, Iowa and Richmond occurring within the space of four weeks, this is definitely the "short track" portion of the IndyCar Series schedule.
So far in 2009, the races at Milwaukee and Iowa featured better racing than superspeedways like Kansas and Texas that used to be the trademark of the Indy Racing League. Now the IndyCar Series heads to Richmond International Raceway which, at 0.75 miles in length, is the shortest track in the IndyCar Series.
I'm increasingly becoming convinced that the short ovals are the best places to witness an IndyCar Series race in person. Obviously the view of the track is unbeatable, which makes it easy to follow the leaders and what is happening in the race.
The short ovals are also inspiring for the drivers. Road racing, with its variety of corners and terrain changes, may require more overt skill than oval racing. But a short oval requires a driver -- and his team -- to operate at their peak in terms of race craft. Drivers need to make split-second reactions to traffic, and teams need to be nearly perfect in determining their pit stop strategy -- especially in a race with long periods of green flag racing, like the Iowa Corn 250.
Dario Franchitti's Target Chip Ganassi Racing pit crew gained him positions during a round of yellow-flag pit stops in the Iowa race, and their perfectly timed and executed final stop under green-flag conditions vaulted Franchitti ahead of Team Penske's Ryan Briscoe and into the lead. From there, Dario cut through traffic with precision and won by a comfortable five seconds.
"I guess I'm lucky enough to be in good cars, and I've got kind of maybe a different way of setting the car up here [in Iowa] than normal," Franchitti said. "It seems to work very well, and that was the case again. With the team having fast cars and great pit stops, it's a team effort. You cannot do it on your own."
The IndyCars lapped Iowa Speedway in less than 18 seconds, and lap times at the even shorter Richmond oval are two seconds faster. Seemingly always turning left, the bullrings place enormous physical demands on the drivers.
Even after the Victory Lane celebrations, Franchitti had to catch his breath to analyze his latest IndyCar Series triumph.
"It's all a blur at the moment," he said. "It was a very, very physical race with the massive G loads we pull here, and the heat or the humidity. I'm pretty tired, actually. I was a little bit dizzy when I got out of the car, and it's been a while since I felt that."
With a third-place finish at Milwaukee and a win at Iowa, Franchitti will head to Richmond as one of a trio of clear favorites. His teammate Scott Dixon was placed first and fifth in those races, while Penske's Briscoe came second at both venues.
Franchitti, who led 242 of 250 laps to triumph at Richmond in 2007, expects a close event.
"Milwaukee was a good race," he said. "Texas wasn't up to the standard we definitely expect from that place. But today I thought [Iowa] was a good race. We got a good green-flag run at the end and the traffic was very tough. That kind of dictated the race a little bit, as it did in Milwaukee.
"I think one of the keys is to make sure we keep the track swept during the yellows to make sure we have a two-lane track," he added. "[At Iowa] towards the end it kind of went almost to one lane or one-and-a-half lanes. When you went down underneath someone it made the exit pretty interesting."
John Oreovicz
