Iowa corn, global cast

NEWTON - Amid potted corn stalks at the winner's podium here Sunday were the champion Scotsman of Italian descent, the runner-up from Australia, and the third-place finisher from Japan.

Welcome to Iowa.

A crowd of 40,000 or so packed Iowa Speedway's stands for the Iowa Corn Indy 250 though it rained much of the morning and the skies offered no promise the afternoon would be better.

Officials of the Series and the Iowa track announced before Sunday's race that they were on the verge of signing a two-year extension of their deal with each other.

Why not? You keep selling more tickets than the year before, you're a pleasant surprise in the auto racing world.

"It's just great to come out here and see a packed house," said Ryan Briscoe, the Australian who trailed only Dario Franchitti Sunday. "We wish we had that everywhere we go."

Franchitti should have a higher regard of this place than any of his peers, since he's 2-for-2 here. He won the inaugural Iowa Corn race in 2007, then was missing in action on the NASCAR Sprint Cup circuit last year before finding his way back home.

"I'm so glad I made the choice to come back," Franchitti said, "and I'm loving it."

Though he didn't show it outwardly two years ago, Franchitti felt like his win here was one of the last exclamation points on a career in IndyCar that was capped by his Indy 500 win the month before.

He sought something new. His wife, Ashley Judd, reportedly encouraged it because of IndyCar's inherent danger. Maybe Franchitti's two scary flips in the second-half of the 2007 season convinced her.

So Franchitti joined Chip Ganassi's NASCAR team after 18 wins in CART and IndyCar, and immediately found the elite stock car organization a tough place for a newbie.

In the 10 Sprint Car Series races in which Franchitti did make the 43-car field, he finished better than 32nd just once. Due to lack of sponsorship, Ganassi disbanded the team in July.

Franchitti could be a cautionary tale for Danica Patrick, who was ninth here Sunday and has one IndyCar win in her five years on the circuit. Patrick will be a free agent at season's end, and supposedly is mulling staying put or switching to NASCAR.

Some think the NASCAR option is simply a bargaining chip, and her real decision is whether to stay with Andretti Green Racing or jump to the Ganassi Racing team that employs Franchitti.

"I don't regret anything about the NASCAR move," Franchitti said here. "But this is where I should be. This is what I grew up doing and this is what I enjoy doing. This is kind of my home."

It's also home for Hideki Mutoh, who was third here after placing a career-best second at Newton a year ago. Not bad for someone in his second year in IndyCar.

Mutoh's English is progressing almost as well as his racing. He was asked if he enjoys generally avoiding the attention that goes to his three Andretti Green teammates, Patrick, Marco Andretti and Tony Kanaan. He didn't really answer the question, and no one cared.

"Danica sometimes seems, you know, angry, but she's not," Mutoh said, getting a laugh from the assembled media. "She's really focusing on winning races. But I like her very much, too.

"And with Marco, I go out to dinner or sometimes I have night life with him."

Asked if he had introduced Andretti to sake, the rather strong Japanese alcoholic beverage. Mutoh said "I don't know what he's drinking because I'm so drunk every time."

The descendant of three generations of Tokyo fish-market operators looked quite pleased he had made reporters laugh again, and said he was kidding.

Mutoh and the Aussie and the Scotsman on a podium, celebrating what they did in a race that promotes Iowa corn.

No translator was necessary.