Kanaan and Carpenter are hoping for some more success at Iowa this weekend

Ed Carpenter and Tony Kanaan are two Verizon IndyCar Series drivers that have had large amounts of success at Iowa Speedway through the years, with various top ten runs by Carpenter and Kanaan earning a win at the Newton track in 2010.

Both drivers have a liking to the facility, but for different reasons.   

“I enjoy short track racing, this is the most unique short track we go to because it’s short track and high downforce racing which is kind of like how our speedway races used to be with close races and multiple lanes,” Carpenter said.

Kanaan, on the other hand, appreciates the challenge that Iowa Speedway gives him.

“It’s the biggest challenge, it’s the track that feels the quickest as far as speed.  Obviously we’re not going as quick as Indy or Pocono or Texas, but because it’s so short and so fast, the feel of [the] speed is actually extremely higher than anywhere else.”

Carpenter has had a mixed bag of results, but has been quick throughout his tenure as an IndyCar driver since the series started visiting Iowa in 2007.

“I’ve always enjoyed racing here, I’ve had a lot of fast cars here. I’ve had a lot of bad luck here to be honest.  I was running third with a suspension failure one year, I was running top five the first year and my teammate and I were passing Danica and she kind of caused a big crash that hurt us that year, so I think the fact that I’ve gotten better over the years can be a little misleading because I’ve been competitive here most years,” Carpenter said.

Kanaan, however, is looking to continue his run of recent success.

“We’ve finished on the podium the past four years in a row, so we’re looking for a better weekend than last weekend for sure and to get our first win of the season here.  You can’t say just because we’ve had such good results in the past four years here, we’re going to do it again.”

Kanaan and Carpenter were at opposite ends of the timing sheet in the shortened first practice session with Kanaan going second fastest and Carpenter wound up 16th.  In the second session, however, it was a different story as Kanaan finished the second session in eighth while Carpenter ended up thirteenth.  Both will have an uphill climb if they are going to repeat the form they had in previous outings at Iowa.