Championship leader Montoya crashes out at Iowa

Just ten laps into the Iowa Corn 300, Verizon IndyCar Series championship leader Juan Pablo Montoya suffered some kind of mechanical (suspension?) failure and slammed the Turn 2 wall. He finished dead last in his first DNF of the year.

“We had a good car. It was a little loose the first couple of laps, so I was just really taking it easy, biding my time,” said Montoya, who qualified third. “Something broke.”

Dixon's missed opportunity

This was a massive opportunity for Scott Dixon to cut into that 54 point lead of Montoya's, but he too encountered issues that sent him back to the garage for a period of time. He finished 18th, 37 laps down. He was able to bring the margin down to 48 points, but lost second position in the process.

Rahal makes big gains at Iowa ... But it was far from easy

The new man in second is none other than Graham Rahal. He battled great adversity throughout the race, starting with a three-wide situation that nearly ended with him in the fence. He then lost two laps with a flat tire, which he got back.

Gearbox issues then plagued the RLL Racing team, costing him another lap, which he also got back. In the end, his up and down night ended inside the top five. Rahal and company will head into the final three just 42 points back of Montoya after entering Iowa 69 behind.