Jimmie Johnson is nearly two years into his IndyCar adventure, but is still working to overcome two decades of knowledge gained during his time in NASCAR.
He continually has to unlearn the things that brought him so much success in his racing career in order to be competitive in an open wheel car.
When racing at Iowa, however, the 46-year-old is able to drive instinctively on account of the driving style the track demands matching his previous experience.
The short and bumpy track forces the drivers to muscle their cars around every corner, closely simulating the needs of a big and bulky stock car.
“I think there are more similarities to driving an IndyCar here than anywhere else I’ve been so far,” said a smiling Johnson after finishing 11th on Saturday. “The inputs in the car are much more aggressive.
“I felt like instinctively I could just drive the car and didn’t have to think about things so much. At Texas and Indy, speed is higher, you’re more precise with your inputs. Here it was down and dirty, short track driving. Fits my style really well.
“I had so much fun out there today. The first two-thirds of the race I really felt like we had a car competitive enough to win. Then there at the end it kind of slipped away from us.”
Johnson was one of only three drivers to lead during the race, and logged 19 circuits in the top spot before making his second pit stop.
He was also able to recover from an early mistake that sent him spinning down the front stretch and brought out the day’s first caution.
Johnson is hopeful that he can put together an even better result for Sunday’s race, when he is scheduled to start from 13th.
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