IndyCar: Notable omission from the Iowa entry list

After missing last weekend’s race in Toronto, the #11 Chevrolet is also set to be sidelined for the upcoming doubleheader IndyCar weekend at Iowa Speedway.

For the first time since the 2020 season (pictured), IndyCar is set to return to Iowa Speedway this weekend, and like it did in 2020, the track is scheduled to host a doubleheader.

The four-turn, 0.894-mile (1.439-kilometer) oval in Newton, Iowa hosted IndyCar from 2007 to 2020, and it hosted a doubleheader for the first time in 2020 because so many other tracks lost their race dates as a result of COVID-19-related restrictions. However, it was left off the calendar in 2021.

But it has returned in 2022 in a big way, with the Hy-VeeDeals.com 250 scheduled to take place on Saturday afternoon and the Hy-Vee Salute to Farmers 300 scheduled to take place on Sunday afternoon. These races are set to consist of 250 and 300 laps, respectively.

One of the 26 full-time entries won’t be competing in either race, however.

For the second race weekend in a row, the #11 A.J. Foyt Enteprises Chevrolet will not be entered. Its absence comes as a result of ongoing sponsorship issues.

Prior to its absence from last Sunday afternoon’s race on the streets of Toronto, there had been talk for several weeks that the #11 Chevrolet could be sidelined, perhaps for the rest of the season.

Now that it is out and will have missed three straight races by the end of the upcoming weekend, there is no telling when it might return, as the current situation with primary sponsor ROKiT isn’t exactly promising. Just five races remain on the 17-race 2022 schedule after this weekend.

J.R. Hildebrand, who finished in a career-high second place at Iowa Speedway in 2017, had been slated to drive the #11 Chevrolet in this weekend’s doubleheader, as he is the car’s oval driver.

Hildebrand finished in 14th place at Texas Motor Speedway in March and 12th in the Indy 500 in May. Rookie Tatiana Calderon drove the car in the season’s first seven road and street course races and finished as high as 15th at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in May.

The entry lists for both races, however, still feature 26 cars, and these cars are the same 26 cars with the same 26 drivers for both races.

Ed Carpenter Racing are running a third entry in addition to their full-time entries for Conor Daly (#20 Chevrolet) and Rinus VeeKay (#21 Chevrolet). This third entry is the #33 Chevrolet for team owner Ed Carpenter.

The team ran this entry for Carpenter in the two oval races that were contested earlier this year, and Carpenter finished in 13th place at Texas Motor Speedway and 19th in the Indy 500.

NBC is set to broadcast the Hy-VeeDeals.com 250 live from Iowa Speedway beginning at 4:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, July 23, and it is set to broadcast the Hy-Vee Salute to Farmers 300 live beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 24. Make sure to start a free trial of FuboTV now if you have not done so!