NEWTON, Iowa — Sometimes having the right strategy in an NTT IndyCar Series short oval race pays off, and that helped Jacob Abel and Rinus VeeKay to finish 11th and 12th, respectively, in Sunday’s (July 13) Farm to Finish 275 at Iowa Speedway.
VeeKay and Abel started near the back of the 26-car field. While VeeKay was able to pass a few cars during the race, Abel ran at the back of the field for much of the 275-lap race, the third oval race of his IndyCar career.
When Callum Ilott spun in turn 3 on lap 176, that set the field up for a final lengthy green flag run to the finish. Several drivers pitted during the green flag stint, but Abel and VeeKay remained on track.
“For a second there, we were going to try and just get home after that last caution, so we were trying to hit a big (fuel) number,” Abel told Frontstretch after the race.
“We were losing a lot of time, like a lot of time, so that ultimately allowed us to go further. We ended up bailing on that because we would have gone two laps down if we really tried to hit that number the whole way home.
“But we ended up bailing on that strategy and started pushing and holding track position and ultimately it kind of worked in our favor because it allowed us to go longer a little bit and then we were able to dip in for a fresh set there at the end.”
A tire issue for Colton Herta then changed everything.
When Herta hit the wall on lap 254, VeeKay was running seventh and Abel was 14th. Both drivers were only one lap down at the time of the accident and got back onto the lead lap after the wave-around.
Despite the wave-around, several drivers were stuck one lap down, including Conor Daly, Kyle Kirkwood, Alexander Rossi and Santino Ferrucci. VeeKay remained seventh while Abel was 13th after making a pit stop under yellow.
The race restarted on lap 264 and Abel moved around Kyffin Simpson to get up to 12th place on lap 266 and then barely got 11th from VeeKay on the last lap of the race as VeeKay didn’t make a pit stop under the yellow.
“I got him basically right at the line, kind of drag racing to the line there,” Abel said on pit road.
“Me and Santino, were going back and forth. Rinus was on older tires, he didn’t come in. So it was kind of tough because I think Santino and I both knew we were kind of battling side by side, and then Rinus was honestly helping me out a lot there, kind of dipping low when I was on the high side and helping to keep me in front. And then I was able to just get a good run on the outside of [turns] 3 and 4 coming to the line.”
VeeKay started 25th and finished 16th in Saturday’s race and gained 14 positions on Sunday. It was a good weekend for the Dutch racer.
“Our plan was whatever happens, stay out as long as possible at any time for when the yellow comes out and that’s exactly what happened,” VeeKay told Frontstretch.
“We cycled up to seventh there, decided to stay out on 80-something-lap tires for the restart, which was one of the scariest things I’ve ever done. I couldn’t really race hard, had a lot of new tires around me, so yeah, that was just hard.”
Christopher DeHarde has covered IndyCar racing and the Road to Indy for various outlets since 2014. In addition to open wheel racing, DeHarde has also covered IMSA and various short track racing events around Indiana. Originally from New Orleans, DeHarde moved to the Indianapolis area in 2017 to further pursue a career as a motorsports writer.