In a little more than a month the Iowa Speedway will host the first of five racing weekends and it will be capped off on June eighth by the Dupont Pioneer 250, the first of two NASCAR Nationwide series events this season. Spokesman Craig Armstrong says Iowa Speedway officials requested the race be move from May to June for this season.

“It really was all about the graduation weekend that we were inadvertently on in May of previous years,” Armstrong explains. He says fans were torn because there were lots of graduation events to attend, so they asked NASCAR to move the event to June to avoid conflicts.

The Indy car series returns for the seventh straight year with the running of the Iowa Corn Indy 250 on June 23rd. “This year in order to make it much more interesting to qualify with the three heat races format that they did last year, they increased the laps of each heat race from 30 to 50, and now they are paying points as well as money. So it does count toward the championship to be in those heat races,”Armstrong explains.

He says the races are fun to watch and says “It’s kind of like watching bees fly around a Ball jar.” The season begins later and will end earlier this year. The final race, a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race is on September eighth.

Armstrong says the reason for that is the Iowa-Iowa State football game is the weekend after they finish up and they do not want to compete with that game. The Nationwide Series will return on August third with the U.S. Cellular 250.

Around 50,000 people are expected in central Iowa this weekend for one of the biggest events yet at the Iowa Speedway. The NASCAR Nationwide Series makes it’s second stop of the season in Newton with the U.S. Cellular 250 Saturday night.

Iowa Speedway  C.E.O. Doug Fritz says additional, temporary seating has been added to accommodate the big crowd. The race will be televised live on ESPN2. “That’s great exposure,” Fritz said.

“ESPN does a great job and reaches all parts of the country. It gives us an opportunity to promote Iowa, the businesses here and the culture here. It’s just a great opportunity to showcase this area all over the country.” The U.S. Cellular 250 begins at 7 p.m. Saturday.

The NASCAR K-and-N Pro Series, a 150-lap race, will be held tonight (Friday) at 8 p.m. There’s one more race weekend at the Iowa Speedway this season. The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series returns to the track with the A-S-A Midwest Tour September 14-15.

By Randy Van, KCOB, Newton

The biggest crowd of the season will be on hand Saturday night at the Iowa Speedway when the NASCAR Nationwide Series makes its second stop of the season with the running of the U.S. Celluar 250.

Iowa Speedway C.E.O. Doug Fritz says tickets are going very fast, and he encourages people to not wait to get tickets. Fritz says they will try to accommodate as many fans as possible.

“We’ve got some temporary seats under construction, that tells you how good the demand is right now,” He says. Saturday night’s race will be carried by ESPN2.

Fritz says it’s great exposure for the track to be on national TV, and he says it also allows them to showcase the state as well. The racing action begin on Friday night with a NASCAR K&N Pro Series race.

Another busy weekend is ahead at the Iowa Speedway and it begins Friday night with the ARCA Racing Series with the running of the Prairie Meadows 200. Iowa Speedway president Doug Fritz says the ARCA Series always features some of the future stars of stock car racing.

Fritz says they are excited to have ARCA back as it only makes one stop in Newton and should be a good show for the fans. On Saturday the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series makes the first of two stops this season at the Iowa Speedway with the running of the American Ethanol 200.

Fritz says ticket sales are going very well and there are still tickets available for both races at IowaSpeedway.com.

A West Des Moines teenager is a step closer to his dream of driving at the top level of NASCAR racing. Mason Mitchell is joining Eddie Sharp Racing as a developmental driver in the Automobile Racing Club of America Racing Series and will make his debut at Iowa Speedway on July 13th.

The 18-year-old Mitchell has been racing since the age of five and says he will begin racing full time in the ARCA Series next year. He has six races on the schedule and is looking for sponsorships and then next year he wants to go fulltime in the ARCA series.

Mitchell says for now he will continue to live in West Des Moines but hopes to eventually move to North Carolina where the racing team is located. He says it all depends on how things go, but moving to North Carolina lets him be close to the shop and focus more on racing.

Marco Andretti

Indycar driver Marco Andretti is looking forward to defending his title at next months Iowa Corn Indy 250 at the Iowa Speedway. The grandson of racing legend Mario Andretti claimed his second Indycar Series victory in a race that featured five lead changes in the final 60 laps.

“Obviously it brought me some success, you know being selfish, but I really like driving there, It think it’s a real driver’s track and it’s trick to get right, because it’s about finding that balance between super speedway setup and a oval setup. And I’ve been in a race where it’s kind of raced like both,” Andretti says.

Andretti says the Iowa Speedway changes as the rubber builds up on it. “Obviously under the lights is a lot of fun as well and the fans make that race what it is and it’s very special to come here every time,” Andretti says.

The focus right now for Andretti is the Indianapolis 500. The track opens for practice on Saturday and the race for the pole is May 19th. Andretti says, “You know the race there is always different from qualifying, so if I qualify 33rd we can win that race. So that’s what we are showing up to do is to win that race, not so much put it on the pole. But it’d be great.”

Andretti was in Iowa shooting and recording promotional material for the Iowa Corn Indy 250, which is June 23rd.