NEWTON, Iowa — When Ryan Hunter-Reay replaced Conor Daly at Ed Carpenter Racing, he was expected to help elevate the level of performance for the operation, especially with the No. 20 Chevrolet.
But despite Hunter-Reay’s feedback, a variety of situations have affected that progress.
He was 17th at Road America, 19th at Mid-Ohio and never got to complete a lap at Toronto after he was involved in the massive pileup at the back of the field on the opening lap.
Friday was the only practice session for the NTT IndyCar Series at Iowa Speedway before Saturday morning’s qualification session that will set the field for both races in this weekend’s Hy-Vee IndyCar Race Weekend.
The 0.894-mile short oval is a place where IndyCar has seen the best of Hunter-Reay. He is a three-time winner at Iowa Speedway with victories in his IndyCar Series championship season in 2012, a dramatic come-from-behind race through the field on the final restart in 2014 and a second-straight Iowa win in 2015.
Hunter-Reay returned to Iowa Speedway on June 21 for a test session and was the second fastest driver that day. One month later, Hunter-Reay was eighth-fastest in Friday’s 90-minute practice session with a fast lap at 174.204 mph.
“It was quite a bit different than the test, that’s for sure,” Hunter-Reay said. “I started the session pretty loose and then just had to work on kind of getting that in check. I made the decision let’s just bail on focusing on anything qualifying. ‘Let’s just focus on the race car the whole time.’ It’s different phases of the tire through the life of the tire, and you kind of figure out what you can get away with and what you can’t. It’s tough.”
Hunter-Reay is one of a few veteran drivers who have seen the evolution of the racing surface at Iowa Speedway. With the current configuration of IndyCar, along with the current Firestone tire for this event and an aging track surface, the short oval is even more challenging.
“It’s amazing how much different this place is then it was back in my first run in 2012. Totally different race car, but it’s challenging,” Hunter-Reay said. “It’s tough to keep the tire under you. You have to be smart about it. It will be a tough one, but I think we made the right changes towards the end of the session in practice. We had a good direction at the end, which is important.”
Hunter-Reay realizes Friday was just practice. Saturday is even more challenging with an early-morning qualification session that will set the starting lineups for both the Hy-Vee Homefront 250 presented by Instacart and Sunday’s Hy-Vee One Step 250 presented by Gatorade.
“The practice results that you see are not indicative at all of who is fast in race trim because the practice results are based on a solo lap by themselves with no interference, no dirty air and all that stuff,” Hunter-Reay explained. “What’s really going to pay this weekend is a car that is consistent over the long run that uses the Firestone tire in a balanced manner through the stint. We have no idea who that is yet.
“We do have a good idea based on history and based on who I ran around tonight. I think Josef Newgarden and Pato O’Ward were probably some of the best out there. That’s what’s most important. Really the practice session really doesn’t matter. Folks that know really what to look for, we’ll go back and look at average pace or average lap times over a stint of 20, 30 laps and that will kind of tell a story.
“But, yeah, it wasn’t a bad day. I think we made some good changes. I’m cautiously optimistic on hopefully we can just make a consistent run to the first two stints. If we do that, I think we’ll be good.”
One of the most dramatic victories for Hunter-Reay was in 2014.
Tony Kanaan was dominating that race, but when Hunter-Reay and Newgarden came into the pit during the final caution to put on fresh Firestones, Kanaan stayed on track to maintain his track position. The tactic worked as Hunter-Reay and Newgarden sliced through the field with Hunter-Reay taking the checkered flag.
“We hadn’t had the best night,” Hunter-Reay recalled. “Tony (Kanaan) was leading the whole time, and we knew tires were going to be the way to go. We didn’t know if we had enough time to do. At the time, Michael Andretti made the call. I wasn’t sure about it because we had to give up 10, 11 spots to do it, something like that. I don’t remember what it was.
“The great thing was that all the guys that were on used had to use the higher lane because they were just forced there. They couldn’t run the lower lane. So, Josef Newgarden and I both had new tires, and we just ran around the bottom just passing everybody like it was a video game.
“It was really incredible. I would like to do that again actually.”
As Hunter-Reay returns to Iowa Speedway, this may be the first time back in an Indy car that the driver has felt like the old Ryan Hunter-Reay.
“It’s different every track we go to,” Hunter-Reay said. “I felt good at Mid-Ohio. Just didn’t really have the balance that I wanted or needed or what I kind of was striving for. At Toronto, timing just never really went right. Not getting the tires in before it rained in qualifying type of thing. It was just one of those deals.
“This is the first place I’ve come back to that I’ve been on the track with the team, and we had a test day. This place, it either seems like, bar a few cars here or there, it seems like maybe Newgarden and Pato, I’m not sure, but it seems like you’re either under-steer or over-steer. There’s kind of no happy medium.
“It is difficult. I’m not sure what we’ll have tomorrow, but like I said, I think we went in the right direction. This place I have a certain affinity for short track racing, and it’s been a big part of my career.
“Yeah, we’re back here at Iowa, which has been a place that has been really good to me. So hopefully that trend will continue.”
Keyword: Hunter-Reay Anxious To Move ECR In The Right Direction