After IndyCar ditched Iowa from its schedule for this year, grocery chain Hy-Vee will be paving the way to bring the open wheel series back to the short 0.875 mile oval in 2022 for a new multi-year deal. The banked D-shaped short oval is generally regarded as among the more fun IndyCar ovals. It’s certainly better than that shit show they put on down in Texas every year.

Over the last year and a half Hy-Vee has been increasingly involved in IndyCar, sponsoring one Rahal Letterman Lannigan car for the full season, and a second car for a few select races. For 2022 the company wants to get more involved in a big way and a local way. Next July both races of the Double Header weekend will be presented by the chain, with the Hy-VeeDeals.com 250 on Saturday the 23rd and the Hy-Vee Salute to Farmers 300 going down on Sunday the 24th.

The race even has support from Iowa governor Kim Reynolds, who said: “The state of Iowa made a commitment to the sport of racing when the Iowa Speedway was built, and today’s exciting announcement of Hy-Vee’s partnership with the NTT IndyCar Series reaffirms that.

“Iowa is well suited to be an IndyCar destination for racing fans nationwide, and I encourage Iowa businesses and organizations to support the success of this event in whatever way they can.”

I really like the Iowa races, and was more than a little bummed to see them disappear from the schedule this year. IndyCar is doing a lot of good things, and I think one of the things it is doing really well is to reduce the number of ovals on the schedule. But if you’re going to get rid of ovals, at least keep the good ones around. Gateway is meh, Texas sucks, keep Indy and Iowa and ditch the rest.

I went to a Hy-Vee gas station yesterday in the middle of Iowa, and it was a nice clean establishment.