NEWTON, Iowa — It was a great day to be a driver named Andretti or Foyt at Iowa Speedway.
Not only did Marco Andretti lead 26 laps and seriously contend for his second IndyCar Series victory before finishing third in Sunday’s Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by Pioneer, but it was a pretty good effort for his second-cousin, John Andretti.
Although the elder Andretti finished 11th, he ran inside the top 10 for most of the race.
But the IndyCar “name game” didn’t end there as A.J. Foyt IV finished fifth in his best effort of the season for Vision Racing.
The most famous IndyCar names of the past are converging as the next generation of the sport and in the Andrettis’ case, they have both ends of that spectrum covered with 21-year-old Marco and 45-year-old John.
 “He’s not just having fun, he’s actually doing a very good job,” Marco said of John. “It’s good to see. Obviously, he has talent and it’s going to show. He’s a fighter, so he is going to make the car finish wherever it possibly can. I’m a very big supporter of him as well.”
John Andretti was a full-time IndyCar competitor before leaving for NASCAR in 1993. After two Cup victories for Petty Enterprises in 1997 and 1999, his opportunities in NASCAR began to wane.
Andretti came to the Indianapolis 500 this year hoping to find a ride. When team owner Marty Roth decided to pull rookie Jay Howard out of the No. 24 car, he offered it to Andretti, who has driven it ever since, enjoying a rebirth of his career.
“Nobody belongs in NASCAR,” Marco Andretti said. “He’s an Andretti, he knows how to drive open-wheel cars. He feels right at home here. The more experience he gets, the more of a pain he is going to be.
“Hopefully, he can sign on here for the rest of the year.”
That is beginning to be a real possibility for John Andretti because it’s obvious Roth and team leader Larry Curry want Andretti’s experience, ability and wisdom on the team.
After all, while Roth continues to crash his own car in practice, like he did Saturday morning, knocking him out of yet another event, at least Andretti is able to race to the finish.
“Marty and Margaret Roth are going to come to North Carolina this week, and we’ll sit down and talk,” John Andretti said. “Who knows? I’m having a good time with the team and with Larry Curry running it. Marty and Margaret are nice people to be around.
“I’m having a good time. I didn’t know what to expect. It’s better to be naïve than to have experience sometimes, and I’m kind of like a rookie feeling his way out there. As a team, we are going through the logical steps to help the car. Some are not very logical because I like to try things and some are from NASCAR, so I’m pulling from a lot of different things to see what works.”
The Andrettis know the most fun in racing is at the front of the field, and that’s where Marco was for most of the race.
“It was a lot of close racing,” Marco Andretti said. “That was one of the best races of the year, I thought. It was good fun, very enjoyable. It’s not like we are at ridiculous speeds, wheel to wheel. It’s about right. The cars are sliding this year where last year it kind of just stuck and was pretty easy for everybody.”
And then there is Foyt, who is nicknamed “IV.” His confidence level continues to grow, and, along with teammate Ed Carpenter, he has helped elevate Vision Racing to a team that is getting closer to a victory.
Foyt drove with poise, and it paid off with his best finish of the season.
“We had a car that could actually contend for the lead if I could get there,” Foyt said. “But this track is hard to actually get there. We tried our hardest, and the crew did a hell of a job in the pits. This is a really fun track. It’s small, but has a lot of grip and is really fast.
“If your car is good, you can have a lot of fun here. Between our two teams, we work really well together, and we keep building up and getting closer to the front.”