Fans of the IndyCar race at Iowa Speedway got some good news on Wednesday – this year’s race is starting four hours earlier than 2017.

The Iowa 300 on July 8 will get a 1 p.m. green flag local (2 p.m. ET) instead of the much later start of last year (5 p.m. local) because Iowa Speedway president Jimmy Small listened to the paying customers and was able to restore some common sense to a Sunday race in the heartland.

“We draw people from 20 states and last year after the race we heard from them that it was a struggle to get back to work for Monday, so we listened to them loud and clear,” said Small. “We went to IndyCar and asked if there was anything we could do to move up our starting time and we were able to work things out with NBCSN as well.

“NASCAR runs at Kentucky on Saturday night, so we’re the only show on Sunday and I think [title sponsor] Iowa Corn deserves that and we’re happy to have an earlier starting time for the people who support our race.”

For most of its 10 years of existence, the Iowa Corn 300 ran on Saturday night and that’s where Small wants to be again.

“When we signed our two-year extension we knew NASCAR was coming to NBC and NBCSN and that would bump up against Kentucky on the Saturday night we usually ran,” he continued. “I like our Sunday race but I thought our Saturday night races were the best and we want to get back to that (Saturday) in the future.”