WEEPERS CANCEL QUALIFYING; VISION RACING'S CARPENTER TO START 13th AT
IOWA
NEWTON, Iowa (June 20, 2009)- On-track weepers producing surface
moisture at Iowa Speedway this afternoon, forced the starting grid for
Sunday's Iowa Corn Indy 250 to be set by the IndyCar Series entrant
point standings. Thus, Vision Racing driver Ed Carpenter will start 13th
in the No. 20 Menards/Vision Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone machine. It
is the second consecutive year that the starting grid has been set by
the point standings at Iowa.
Carpenter's best lap in practice today came in at 179.620 mph. He
completed 110 laps overall and was 15th fastest among 20 total cars.
Carpenter holds the team's best starting position at Iowa when he took
the green flag in fifth in 2007. After a rough race, he persevered that
year to finish in the sixth position. Last year Carpenter started in
ninth and was running in eighth when a mechanical failure on lap 39
crashed him out of the race and left him in the 23rd spot.
Most recently, making his eighth IndyCar Series start at Texas,
Carpenter drove from the tenth spot to the head of the field as he was
credited leading lap 59, and eventually to a ninth place finish. It was
Carpenter's fourth career-leader lap in the IndyCar Series and his third
ninth place finish at Texas.
Overall, Vision Racing returns to Iowa Speedway for the third time. The
team's best finish at Iowa came last season when A.J. Foyt IV finished
fifth.
The Vision Racing Wellness Tour, supported by team sponsor Lilly USA,
will make an important pit stop for a second consecutive year at Iowa
Speedway providing racing fans with free diabetes screenings with A1c
testing and risk factor assessment, along with cholesterol and blood
pressure testing. The Wellness Tour mobile unit (bus) will be located
behind the main grandstands and will be open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on
Sunday, June 21, race day at the Iowa Speedway.
Saturday's 250 lap/218.75 mile Iowa Corn Indy 250 at Iowa Speedway will
air live on Sunday, June 21 at 1 p.m. ET on ABC as well as IMS Radio
Network, XM IndyCar Series Racing Channel 145, XM Sports Nation Channel
144 and on the web at www.IndyCar.com.
Ed Carpenter - No. 20 Menards/Vision Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone
"I'm pretty confident we would have qualified better than the points
will allow us to start Sunday's race so it's disappointing. There's not
much we can do about it. If the track is wet, then the track is wet and
there's not much we can do. So we'll approach the race the same way
that we would have had we been able to qualify, but you still would
always like a chance to go out and qualify a gain a better position.
It's going to be tough out there tomorrow so we'll need to take care of
our equipment and put ourselves in a position to advance in the race
whenever possible."
-credit: vr
