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Iowa Corn Indy 250 Preview

Jun 24, 2007 - 10:33 AM

June 24, 2007 
Iowa Speedway 
Newton, Iowa 
Race 8 of 17 in the 2007 IndyCar Series season

TV: ABC, 1 p.m. EDT

Length: 250 laps 
Track length: 7/8 mile 
Race length: 218.75 miles

DRIVERS TO WATCH
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Helio Castroneves 
Team: Marlboro Team Penske 
2007 Earnings: $1,075,803

Crashed early at Texas en route to a 16th-place finish last
week; slipped to sixth in the standings, 51 points behind leader
Dario Franchitti; also finished 16th two weeks ago in
Milwaukee; Indy 500 pole winner finished third in the
rain-shortened race; claimed four poles this season, which leads
the circuit; took the checkered flag at St. Petersburg on April
1, leading 95 of 100 laps in the road-course race to collect
his 12th career win.

Scott Dixon 
Team: Target Chip Ganassi Racing 
2007 Earnings: $1,185,767

Finished 12th in Texas to remain in third place, 19 points
behind Franchitti; ran fourth at Milwaukee, his third fourth-
place finish of the season; also has three runner-up finishes
this season, including the Indy 500; looking for seventh career
win and first since Nashville last July.

Dario Franchitti 
Team: Andretti Green Racing 
2007 Earnings: $2,120,783

Followed up his landmark Indy 500 victory by finishing second
behind Tony Kanaan at Milwaukee and fourth last week at Texas;
checkered flag at Indianapolis continued a progression up the
leaderboard that began with a seventh in the season opener in
Miami and has included a fifth, a third and a runner-up; has yet
to start on the pole this season but leads the series standings
with 253 points, just 12 ahead of Tony Kanaan.

Tony Kanaan 
Team: Andretti Green Racing 
2007 Earnings: $991,069

Followed up his disappointment at the Indy 500 by winning at
Milwaukee, his second victory in as many events at the mile-long
track; then took second in Texas to move into second place, 12
behind Franchitti; finished fifth, third and first in the
opening three races, but struggled in the next two despite his
best starting spots of the campaign; won the pole in Kansas but
finished 15th and started second at the Indy 500 but came home
12th.

Danica Patrick 
Team: Andretti Green Racing 
2007 Earnings: $625,355

Switch to Andretti Green Racing has not produced the anticipated
performance; series starlet has run in the middle of the pack,
but may be turning that around after posting a career-best
third-place finish at Texas; finished eighth at Milwaukee but
made headlines after the race by confronting Dan Wheldon, who
brushed wheels with her earlier in the race; also finished
eighth in the Indy 500; her showing at Texas moved her to
seventh in the standings with 133 points, well off the pace set
by Franchitti and the rest of the leaders; owns just five
top-five finishes in 37 career starts.

Dan Wheldon 
Team: Target Chip Ganassi Racing 
2007 Earnings: $815,055

Bounced back from a poor performance at the Indy 500 by running
third at Milwaukee, but slipped again at Texas by finishing 15th
after being involved in an accident; one of the favorites
heading into the Indy 500 but came up with his worst showing of
the season, finishing 22nd due to an accident; by comparison,
his finishing spots in the season's first four races totaled 13;
won the season opener at Miami from the pole and also won at
Kansas, where he started fourth; started and finished second in
Japan; fourth in the standings, just a point behind third-place
Dixon; has been no lower than second in the final standings each
of the last three years, taking the series title in 2005.