With four of the six oval races on the 2018 IndyCar schedule in the books, how do the sport’s oval drivers stack up against one another?
The Iowa Corn 300, which was the fourth of six oval races on the 2018 IndyCar schedule, ended with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports’ James Hinchcliffe taking the checkered flag and earning his first victory in a oval race so far this season.
Hinchcliffe won the 300-lap race around the four-turn, 0.894-mile (1.439-kilometer) Iowa Speedway oval in Newton, Iowa to become the fourth different driver to win one of the four oval races that have been contested so far this season.
Technically, because he did not compete in the Indianapolis 500, as he failed to qualify for that race, Hinchcliffe has the best winning percentage among all drivers in oval races so far this season with one win in three attempts.
Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden and Will Power as well as Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon all have one victory in four oval races so far this year. They won the races at ISM Raceway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Indianapolis 500) and Texas Motor Speedway, respectively.
In the other two oval races in which Hinchcliffe has driven so far in 2018, he has not finished lower than sixth place, so it was not like he was struggling in oval races coming into the Iowa Corn 300. That said, his win in that race was his first win in an oval race since he won at Iowa Speedway in the 2013 season.
How did Hinchcliffe’s first oval race victory in more than five years affect the IndyCar Driver Oval Power Rankings? Here are the formulated IndyCar Driver Oval Power Rankings and the non-formulated IndyCar Driver Oval Power Rankings following the action from Iowa Speedway.
To see how the formulated IndyCar Driver Oval Power Rankings are calculated, click here.