Iowa Speedway announces compact 2016 schedule

NEWTON — The 2016 racing schedule for Iowa Speedway is set.

After NASCAR released its schedules for the top three national touring series Oct. 26 and IndyCar released its schedule Oct. 27, Iowa Speedway has released its full schedule for the three race weekends in 2016.

Two Xfinity Series races, a Verizon IndyCar Series race, a Camping World Truck Series and an ARCA Racing Series race will once again fill out the bulk of the schedule for the 7/8-mile track in Newton, though now with a much more compact timeline.

Iowa Speedway goes from four race weekends in 2015 to three, as it was in 2014. It begins June 18 with the first NXS/CWTS combo weekend in track history. Then IndyCar headlines on the July 10 weekend, with the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards serving as the opener on July 9. Iowa Speedway also hosts Pro Mazda and Indy Lights Series races July 10, which will run before the IndyCar race that Sunday night in primetime.  The schedule finishes with an Xfinity headliner on July 30, preambled by the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East/West (which cuts from two races in 2015 to one in 2016) on July 29. The IndyCar date moves that race from a Saturday night to a Sunday, to avoid conflict with the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Kentucky Speedway on July 9.

It compresses a schedule once ranging from May to August down to a 42-day span in midsummer. It's a schedule Small didn't necessarily envision originally, but is quite happy with now.

'It came out better than we hoped, in my opinion,' Small said Monday evening. 'Pairing up the Xfinity Series and Camping World Truck Series is a long time coming for Iowa Speedway, even in its short history. We certainly think the schedule, at least what we've announced so far on the NASCAR side, is better than we originally anticipated or expected.

'Three race weekends is what we're going to focus on this year. Our focus is putting as much power in each event weekend as possible and delivering the most value we can, based on the time our fans dedicate to the racetrack. We think we have that.'

It obviously remains to be seen if the shortened timeline will boost or hurt attendance at Iowa Speedway, given the financial investment it takes for many to attend live events and how quickly fans can turn around getting to the track.

But ultimately Small and the Iowa Speedway staff want to put race weekends at a time of the year when there's not any other major events going on in the state. The last few years of the first Xfinity date coming in the third weekend of May conflicted with high school and college graduations, which affects attendance in the grandstands and in part time workers for the track itself. The May date also conflicts, for many, with planting season, which takes out a large number of farming families who also love racing.

On the back end of the schedule, pushing into August creates conflict with the Knoxville Nationals and the state fair after that. There's also the time-tested variable of May weather in Iowa, which can be — to put it lightly — unpredictable. Being the only show in town, so to speak, is what Small and Iowa Speedway are after.

'I think it's an asset,' Small said. 'Looking at how Iowans spend their summer, there's so much to do in such a small amount of time. We don't want to go past the end of July because school starts up, there's football season and leading into Knoxville Nationals and the state fair is how we want to continue our schedule.

'Based on the other options and everything else going on in this market, we think our fans are going to really respond well to this.'

The third date hasn't been announced by Iowa Speedway, but all indications point to it once again being a weekend headlined by the Verizon IndyCar Series, with the possibility of the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards as the opener.

The Indianapolis Star reported on Sunday the date for the IndyCar race at Iowa Speedway would by July 9 — its traditional weekend for Iowa — but industry sources said Monday the anticipated date would be July 10, so as not to conflict with the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Kentucky Speedway on July 9.

Small couldn't comment on the exact date or series left on the schedule, but said a full Iowa Speedway race schedule is expected soon. The IndyCar Series schedule is expected in the next day or so.

Perhaps the biggest short term disappointment for race fans who either attend or pay attention to Iowa Speedway was NASCAR's announcement of five-year sanction contract agreements with all of its tracks. That means the tracks on the schedule now are locked in for a date or dates through 2020 with the series they have scheduled now.

Iowa Speedway, then, is not in line for a Sprint Cup date in that time. What that leaves is time for fans to show NASCAR and its schedule-makers it's worthy. Drivers and car-owners have long gushed over how enjoyable it is to race in Newton, but — as was the case with North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham — NASCAR pays attention to attendance and market opportunity when awarding dates.

Small, for his part, still hasn't tired of the Sprint Cup questions from fans because he wants one too. He and Iowa Speedway would love a Sprint Cup date as much as anyone else, but it's not within his power to make that happen. He said he sees the treatment Iowa Speedway has been given in the five-year contract plan as a positive indication about where his track is in line for the next new date.

'The opportunity hasn't changed. We don't get tired of answering the question, because we all get it. We know what the fans want. They want better racing and a more diverse set of tracks,' Small said. 'This announcement, to us, is a really good sign of how NASCAR views Iowa Speedway. For NASCAR to give two Xfinity dates to us and be the only stand-alone track with two Xfinity event dates, we think that's a really good sign about where we stand with respect to being in line for the next available Sprint Cup date.

'It's up to all of us collectively to send a message, loud and clear, to NASCAR and the industry that this place deserves the next available opportunity.'

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com