After celebrating Independence Day with a parade, a family cookout, plenty of red, white and blue and fireworks, it feels appropriate to choose an all-American foursome for this week’s #INDYCAR Fantasy Challenge driven by Firestone team. It also doesn't hurt that five of the last seven winners of the Iowa Corn 300 have the American flag beside their name.
The most recent winner at Road America, Josef Newgarden ($31), is my first choice. Team Penske’s reigning Verizon IndyCar Series champion has one win, a pair of seconds and a sixth-place finish in his last four races at the Iowa Speedway bullring. The Tennessee native has led 394 laps in action at the Newton, Iowa, oval, trailing only Helio Castroneves.
Conversely, Ryan Hunter-Reay ($32) – who was born in Texas but calls Florida home – has only led 54 laps on the 0.894-milve oval, but his three wins and five podiums are tops in both of those categories for any driver. It doesn’t hurt that 2012, ‘14 and ‘15 Iowa winner is part of Andretti Autosport. The team has won seven of the 11 races at Iowa Speedway, and its 14 podiums are eight more than Chip Ganassi Racing, the closest competitor in that category.
In the last four Iowa Corn 300 races, Ed Carpenter Racing has a win with Josef Newgarden in 2016 and second-place results from Newgarden (2014, ’15) and JR Hildebrand (2017). Through the first thee oval races of 2018, team owner Ed Carpenter ($20) has collected the fourth-most points. Combine the team’s Iowa Speedway prowess with the Paris, Illinois, native’s oval results this year and Carpenter’s four top-10 finishes in the last half-dozen races at the track, and you find a high-value pick.
Andretti Autosport’s Zach Veach ($14) is the final member of our squad this week. The Stockdale, Ohio, driver will be making his first Verizon IndyCar Series start at Iowa Speedway, but Veach does have stellar Mazda Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires short-oval results. The rookie collected one win, six podiums, eight top-fives and 10 top-10s in a total of 10 MRTI short-oval starts.
That brings my four-driver team total to $97, just under the $100 maximum allowed in the #INDYCAR Fantasy Challenge. Be sure to get your selections in before the green flag waves at about 1:40 p.m. ET Sunday.
Even though we’re past halfway through the season, don’t hesitate to join the fun today at http://fantasy.indycar.com. There are still plenty of fantastic weekly prizes to be won.