Mikhail Aleshin came into Iowa Speedway, a weekend where the Hondas were falling behind. The manufacturer has just one top 10 finish on the season. He left as the Top Honda and a 5th place finish in the Iowa Corn 300.
Indy Car: Aleshin the ‘Top Dog’ for Hondas at Iowa
“I think today was a pretty decent race, the car was pretty good over the [it]. I just managed to overtake guys, the team did a great job,” Aleshin said. “I feel good to be in this race, I did not compete in 2014 due to my mistake.”
Aleshin fought through plenty of traffic trying to chase down Josef Newgarden for the win.
“I did not have any mistakes, the team didnt have any mistakes, add some luck, and here we are – top Honda. It’s definitely a great result for our team, Great job for SMP Racing and the #7 team, these guys did a great job.”
Indeed Aleshin had a great result this time around at Iowa, a track that a lot of the drivers marveled post-race.
“The small tracks are one of my favorites, its a lot of fun to drive that, its always intense,” Aleshin said. “I had plenty of [close calls] as did everybody, everyone was all over the place. You can never have a perfect car here, because the track is so [difficult].”
Iowa brings physicality and aggressiveness all the time, like the Karam-Carpenter fight a year ago, and it brings out some different driving styles that some drivers do not like.
“I did not enjoy racing with Rahal at all, he was chopping me, and doing really, not nice things. I’m not the kind of person that is going to remember this until the end of his life, but it was just dangerous.”
Aleshin and the Indy Car Series return next week when they visits the Streets of Toronto. The race kicks off at 2:30pm ET and will be televised by CNBC.
Main Photo Credit: Getty Images, Brian Cleary
