Ryan Hunter-Reay has had his learning cap on for the last month. He knew when he signed up for this opportunity with Ed Carpenter Racing, that this was going to be a journey, not a sprint. This past May’s Indy 500 was his first NTT INDYCAR SERIES start since Sept. 2021. Granted that was with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, not ECR.

It was a few weeks later that he signed on with ECR to drive the No. 20 Dallara-Chevrolet for the remainder of the season.

If this car and this team were operating well on a consistent basis, then there’d be no need for Hunter-Reay in general. So, it’s not like he was coming into a race winning, or really even a top 10 contending situation.

With ECR backsliding, they needed Hunter-Reay’s guidance on helping them through this and getting them back towards the front half of the field on a regular basis. However, that takes time.

Road America was his first start with the team and also his first start on a natural road course since Sept. 2021. This was a true learning experience for that race weekend.

They then took what they learned from Road America and then to apply it over to Mid-Ohio. Those were at least similar tracks with a similar package. Last week was his first street course start since Aug. 2021 in Toronto. He did so with an ECR program that has largely struggled over the last few years too.

Now though, he’ll head to a place to where he’s expecting to lead the team to a potential season best result.

Hunter-Reay returns to Iowa Speedway this weekend as not only one of the most experienced drivers in the field, but one of the most accomplished. Hunter-Reay competed in every NTT INDYCAR SERIES race at the track from 2008-2020 for a total of 14 starts. Not only did he earn a podium finish five times in six years, he won three races in four years. In a recent test at Iowa Speedway that featured 20 cars, Hunter-Reay set the second-fastest lap of the day.

“Iowa Speedway has always been one of my favorite races on the schedule, I just love short track racing,” said the 18-time victor in the series. “We had a very productive test here a few weeks ago. With that said, this track is very challenging and can be extremely difficult to nail a balanced setup over a long run on tires. It seems its always changing year to year.”

Hunter-Reay, recognized as one of the most successful American open wheel racing drivers, has brought a wealth of knowledge to the team with an INDYCAR career that spans two decades. 

That’s paying dividends to teammate Rinus VeeKay who too should be strong this weekend.

VeeKay has competed in two doubleheader weekends at Iowa Speedway to date, 2020 and 2022. He narrowly missed out on a podium finish in Race 1 last year, crossing the finish line side-by-side with another driver and ultimately placing 4th.

Iowa Speedway is also the site of VeeKay’s very first oval track experience. In 2017, while competing in USF2000, he finished 2nd in his oval debut.

“Two races this weekend! That’s going to be very exciting,” he says. “I’ve done well at Iowa Speedway in the past and had a pretty nice race there last year, 4th place. We can do very well, this is one of those tracks that will provide a lot of opportunities for us. The Hy-Vee INDYCAR Race Weekend is always so fun with the concerts and everything else going on in addition to our races, it’s going to be a nice couple of days!”

VeeKay has spent his entire NTT INDYCAR SERIES career with Ed Carpenter Racing and is the team’s longest-tenured full-time driver, now in his fourth season behind the wheel the No. 21 BITNILE.COM Chevrolet. Earlier this year, the 22-year-old made his 50th career start and qualified on the front row of the Indianapolis 500 for the third consecutive time.