Daly leads 21-car Iowa Speedway test

Conor Daly was fastest among the 21 IndyCar Series drivers in attendance on Wednesday at Iowa Speedway. Rain slowed the start of the test, but once it cleared, running was extended until 8pm and the Juncos Hollinger Racing driver produced an unofficial best lap of 181.315mph in the No. 76 Chevy ahead of Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou, who turned a 181.118mph lap in the No. 10 Honda.

“I love this track but just a really good learning experience for us today,” said Daly. “Not really sure what to say when it comes to race trim stuff, but it is nice to be P1, and fast cars are fun to drive for sure around here. We'll see what happens when we come back for the race.”

Last year’s Iowa doubleheader suffered from a mismatch between the hardened hybrid-spec tires, which didn’t degrade, and the newly paved lower track surface, which provided ample grip on the bottom lane. It led to the field running around the lower lane in a lead-and-follow scenario where lap times at the end of stints were remarkably close to those at the start of stints when tires were new, and with the general inability to pass, it made for the opposite of Iowa’s traditionally stellar IndyCar show.

Daly told RACER the offseason work by Firestone made the tires sampled at the test a “better match for the bottom lane,” but noted the second lane wasn’t an option and surmised the technical specification for the July race could benefit from some additional tweaks by the series.

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Elsewhere, Andretti’s Kyle Kirkwood – Palou’s closest championship contender – was ninth at 180.305mph in the No. 27 Honda, and the Iowa specialists at Team Penske had Josef Newgarden as its fastest representative in 11th at 180.222mph with the No. 2 Chevy. Indianapolis 500 polesitter Robert Shwartzman was 12th at 180.186mph in the No. 83 Chevy.

Penske’s Scott McLaughlin, winner of the first Iowa race last year, was 15th at 179.429mph in the No. 3 Chevy and teammate Will Power, winner of the second race, was 14th at 179.535mph in the No. 12 Chevy.

Nearly 3000 laps were turned on Wednesday, and with the extended evening run, IndyCar decided to scrap the second day of the teams test on Thursday.