For the first time in history of the NASCAR Cup Series, the best of the best in stockcar racing headed to the Hawkeye State to take on the Iowa Speedway. Winning the pole on Saturday was none other than Kyle Larson who captured his fourth pole on the year. Other fast drivers included Josh Berry who started third and Brad Keselowski. Heading into the race, it appeared that the Fords had the best overall speed for the weekend.
So, who reigned supreme in the Cup Series debut at Iowa Speedway? Who struggled? Who had fast cars and who got caught up in incidents? Let’s discuss it. Here’s everything that went down in the NASCAR Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway.
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Nobody in this race really had a stranglehold on the competition. In the first stage, Larson and Blaney swapped the lead back and forth. It was more of the same in the second stage. And while Kyle Larson had the best car, he didn’t have a monumental advantage over Blaney or anyone else. After his incident to start the final stage, Josh Berry rocketed out front after an intense battle for the lead with fellow Ford driver, Chris Buescher. Buescher then fell down to the fifth position and, with 90 laps to go, he had a right front tire go down. He got into the wall and, lucky for him, the damage was minimal.
During the caution, drivers came down pit road for what could have been their final stops of the race. Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. took only right-side tires. Josh Berry, who came off pit road in 4th, took 4 fresh Goodyears. Upon the restart, Berry had a slow jump and ultimately fell down to the back half of the top-10. Blaney resumed the lead with Stenhouse and Logano following from behind.
The Hendrick Motorsports duo of William Byron and Chase Elliott were able to work their way up to the second and third positions respectfully. Initially, Blaney expanded his lead to nearly 3 seconds as he worked his way through lapped traffic. However, towards the end, William Byron slowly but surely started to reel in the 12 of Blaney. With 5 laps to go, Byron cut into Blaney’s lead to six tenths of a second. He was able to hold the 24 at bay, though, as he went on to win the Iowa Corn 350.
This win marked his first of the 2024 season (ending a 17-race winless streak) and it came as he led and impressive nearly 200 laps (a personal race high for Blaney). It also came in front of over 80 Ryan Blaney family members cheering from the grandstands. Congratulations to Ryan Blaney and Team Penske for winning the first ever Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway!
Per Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports, the layout for the inaugural Iowa Corn 350 was as follows:
Teams were given a total of 10 sets of tires and it was interesting to see how much the tires fell off in the course of tonight’s race. The fuel window was estimated to be between 100 and 110 laps. Drivers who were forced to start at the rear of the field were Christopher Bell and Austin Cindric who both crashed in Friday’s practice.
Then track is a D shaped trioval that measures out at about 0.875 of a mile, similar to Richmond Raceway.
The first caution of the race came at Lap 4 with a spin by Corey Lajoie. As you can see in the replay below, Lajoie’s number 7 Chevy for Spire spun around and gently tagged the wall with the rear end. What ultimately set the incident into motion was a stack up which saw Lajoie get hit from behind by his two teammates in Carson Hocevar and Zane Smith. Lajoie pitted to get some fresh rubber and restarted in the back. He was, however, able to work his way up through the field with his fresh Goodyear rubber.
The second caution of the race fell on Lap 52 when, like yesterday, A. J. Allmendinger had a right front tire go down. The tire failure had him get out of the groove and into the wall. Thankfully, unlike yesterday, the hit wasn’t too hard and he was able to continue.
During the caution laps, many drivers, including the leaders, pitted for fresh rubber. A handful of drivers stayed out but, once the race restarted, fell through the field like a stone.
For the first 54 laps of the race, Kyle Larson led. He led over second place Ryan Blaney by 2 seconds at one point and over 3rd place Josh Berry by 10. When the caution came out for an incident involving A. J. Allmendinger, Larson and the other leaders pitted with about 6 drivers staying out. The race restarted with 11 laps left in the stage and Larson made his way back out to the front in a hurry. His lead didn’t last too long this time, however, as he was passed by 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Champion, Ryan Blaney.
Blaney went on to win the stage. It was his second stage win of 2024. With it, he was awarded 10 points and 1 playoff point. In the clip below, you can watch Blaney’s stage-winning pass on Larson.
On Lap 80, NASCAR threw a caution yet again for an incident involving Noah Gragson and John Hunter Nemechek. Watching the replay, Nemechek entered the corner very low under Gragson and couldn’t make his number 42 Dollar Tree Toyota stick on the bottom. He drifted up the track and made contact with Gragson who was then turned. Gragson was able to save his car, somehow, from spinning out completely.
During the caution, Kyle Larson who took the lead from Blaney laps prior relinquished the lead, believing the he was having a tire issue. He came down pit road for a change of tires and restarted on the tail-end of the lead lap. Further inspection saw no damage to the tires which came off his left side. The concern stemmed from contact the 5 and the 12 cars made while battling for the lead at the beginning of the second stage.
The stage kicked off with an intense battle between Stage 1 winner Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson. The two of them made contact before Larson retook the lead from Blaney. However, following a caution for an incident involving Noah Gragson and John Hunter Nemechek, Larson relinquished his lead believing that he was having a left rear tire go down. From there, Blaney inherited the lead. He maintained that lead until Lap 172 when he relinquished the lead to make his green flag pit stop.
A phantom caution came out on Lap 182 after Daniel Hemric got into the wall but was able to keep going at speed. Leader at the time of caution was Brad Keselowski with Bubba Wallace in second. 7 drivers had yet to pit at the moment of caution. Six of the seven pitted during the caution and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. inherited the lead with William Byron filing into second. He didn’t stay there long, however, as he stalled on the restart and Kyle Larson resumed his lead.
The driver of the HendrickCars.com Chevy went on to win the stage with Josh Berry finishing 2nd and Chase Elliott 3rd. This stage win marked Larson’s 8th of 2024. With it he was rewarded 10 points and 1 playoff point.
There were several drivers throughout this stage who had a tire go down. Michael McDowell lost a tire on Lap 114. On Lap 132, Zane Smith pitted with a flat tire. Kyle Busch never had a tire go down in this stage but did pit from 9th after losing the handling of his number 8 RCR Chevy and reporting a worsening vibration. Also losing tires were Ross Chastain on Lap 165 who pitted from 8th and Erik Jones on Lap 174. Thankfully, no cautions came out due to incident over tires and everyone was able to nurse their cars safely back to pit road without major damage.
Earlier in the race, Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin made contact with one another which shot Larson up the track and out of the groove. Cliff Daniels urged Larson to keep a cool head and think of the big picture so Larson let it go. However, the two tangled again to cause the 7th caution of the race on Lap 220. Larson forced a 3-wide situation between Daniel Suarez on the bottom and Denny Hamlin up top. As a result, Suarez got loose and made contact with Larson’s left rear. Larson attempted to save it but rather cut across the nose of Denny Hamlin, sending him head-on into the outside wall. The result of the incident was a bent toe link on the 5 car. You can watch the incident unfold in the video clip below.
Here’s an image of the contact between Larson and Hamlin earlier in the race.
After meeting minimal speed, the 5 car went behind the wall to make some adjustments. He returned to the race on Lap 262, 31 laps off the pace.
This win marks the 11th of Ryan Blaney’s NASCAR Cup Series career. He dominated the night, especially after Larson had his issues. We at the Daily Downforce would like to congratulate Ryan Blaney once again on this impressive showing.
Modelo Maniac posted this rather humorous picture of what they think of Spire Motorsports following the stack up on Lap 4.
Fans are thrilled that coverage has shifted over to NBC Networks as opposed to FOX. Peter and GreatLuckByron both applauded NBC’s coverage tonight. I concur, the race was well covered!
Aaron has his conspiracy theory that Blaney “stole” the race from Byron with, what? Illegally inflated tires? Preposterous!
It was a headscratcher at first but, yes Tyler, 2 tires ended up being the right strategy in the end.
Well, Daily Downforce readers, what do you make of the inaugural Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway? Do you think it was a good race, average, or just plain bad? Were you surprised by Ryan Blaney’s dominant win? How did your driver fare? Let us know your thoughts and more by commenting on all of our social media platforms!
That does it for our coverage of NASCAR’s debut in the Hawkeye State! Be sure to keep tuning back into DailyDownforce.com for all the latest news, discussion topics, and much, much more in the world of NASCAR. See you next week for our coverage of the race weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway!
EchoPark Speedway, or Atlanta Motor Speedway, is often touted as the most exciting track on the NASCAR circuit. What was first seen as a Frankenstein experiment, Marcus Smith’s idea to turn AMS into a baby Daytona worked out in the end. We’ve gotten great race after great race and tonight was no different as fans saw Tyler Reddick power by Carson Hocevar to go two in a row to start the season.
But not everyone had a season to remember. Many drivers and teams had a season that they’d sooner forget. These are the biggest losers of the 2026 EchoPark Speedway racing weekend.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race officials rightly got blasted online by fans after they made the extremely questionable decision to put the Truck race on Saturday on the weather clock. That would have been an understandable move if circumstances were different. But they caught flak because 1.) EchoPark Speedway has lights, 2.) the weather had moved out for the weekend, and 3.)…umm…they were only 10 laps shy from the scheduled distance anyway.
Now, we know who the defenders are. The O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Race was slated to follow, but NASCAR has pushed races off in the past. And really, how much time would the CW have lost? Ten minutes? Twenty? If that? That, in my book, makes the NCTS officials some of the biggest losers on the weekend. They owe us fans ten more measly laps for racing!
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Of any driver currently in the Chevy ranks, none has had the support thrown behind them like Corey Day. Day, a protege of proven NASCAR champion Kyle Larson, apparently has turned some heads on the dirt scene. Makes sense, since Larson himself said that he’d rather win the Chili Bowl than the Daytona 500. But unlike other drivers, such as Connor Zilisch, who have excelled in other racing disciplines outside of NASCAR, Day’s career so far has been lukewarm at best. And his race yesterday was the epitome of a rookie race, ladened with senseless mistakes.
The incident that hurt the most was the one where he wrecked his fellow HMS/JRM teammates, Carson Kvapil and Justin Allgaier. He simply just took them out while racing for the race lead. Though he was, somehow, able to rebound to finish the race in the 4th position, yesterday was a sloppy performance that even Corey himself acknowledges that he’d rather put behind him.
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Chastain did it again! And now, the feelings are mixed. Remember when Ross Chastain used to just send drivers willy-nilly, and it really got on fans’ nerves? Well, thankfully, he’s calmed down in recent years and has become a more respectable veteran of the sport. That is not to say that he still doesn’t have his…moments. Saturday night at the O’Reilly Auto Parts race, Ross Chastain, going for the win, entered turn 1 and sent leader Austin Hill.
Hill was the overwhelming favorite to win this race, and fans have grown sick of him. So, really, this was a welcome return to form for Chastain, a version of him that used to be loathed by fans. Thus, while fans might have won out by Chastain doing what he does best and slaying Austin Hill, the RCR team, and really, anyone who has Chastain in their rearview mirror in the closing laps, are the real losers this weekend.
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There were a couple of drivers who ended 2025 on a sour note and were looking to turn things around and start 2026 strong. One of those has to be Josh Berry and his entire Wood Brothers team. After floundering around with Harrison Burton for a few seasons, the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford got the shot in the arm that they needed with a new crew chief and Josh Berry as their new driver. They led a bunch of laps at Atlanta in 2025, only for a wreck with 10 laps to go to take them out of contention. Not to worry, though: they followed it up with a win at Las Vegas.
But since that win, the team suffered a steep decline heading into the summer months. By the time the postseason rolled around, they had the single worst Playoff performance in history with three straight last-place finishes. Though he had a promising start to the season with a 9th-place run in the Daytona 500, it was the same old same old tonight. Berry showed some speed in the first stage but ultimately crashed after Christopher Bell forced the issue in the beginning of Stage 2. It’s a familiar routine for the Wood Brothers. Yet another last-place finish. That makes them one of the biggest losers of the weekend. If only they could have capitalized.
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This one’s a tired subject, so I won’t dwell on it too long. Kyle Busch’s late career decline at Richard Childress Racing should be studied. Though he showed speed early on, it was yet again a single-car spin that ended his day prematurely. Granted, he didn’t spin completely on his own. He was tagged from behind by Noah Gragson. But, that was after he checked up twice and recklessly pulled up in front of him in a hole that was barely there. Yet another disappointing outing for Rowdy Nation.
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The checkered flag has flown in the second race of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Season. And, at the end of the day, it was Tyler Reddick who went back-to-back to win at EchoPark Speedway. Tonight, Reddick became the sixth NASCAR Cup Series driver to win the first two races of the season. He is the first since NASCAR Hall of Famer Matt Kenseth did it to kick off the 2009 season.
But, of course, Reddick wasn’t the only one to have a great start to the season. Several drivers leave Atlanta with a great points day, including Carson Hocevar, Bubba Wallace, William Byron, and Ryan Blaney. Here are the highlights of tonight’s race:
From an awful showing in the 2025 Playoffs to yet another last-place finish, Josh Berry’s 2026 season is off to a rough start. Today, he got together with Ty Gibbs after Gibbs had an awful start to the year last year. The No. 54 was able to turn it around later in the season, though. But, for their 2026 outing, there’s a lot left to be desired. Check it out.
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Kyle Busch’s 2025 season was abysmal. But, after he put his No. 8 RCR Chevy on the pole for the 2026 Daytona 500, things seemed to be looking up. He smartly survived last week by lying back on the last lap and safely navigating through the crash, finishing 15th. And he was a contender early in this race. However, late, Kyle Busch continued his dismal legacy at RCR by spinning after contact with Noah Gragson. His day ended prematurely. Check it out:
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We got our first big crash of the race at Lap 224 when both Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano got loose in front of the field. You can read all about that incident with the link below:
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Things started to get real for the NASCAR Cup Series drivers as we got inside 40 laps to go. We got our first Big One of the afternoon at Lap 224. It was triggered as the field came out of Turn 4 and entered the dogleg. Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin, both whose cars were upset by the dirty air, got together. Logano was able to scoot on virtually unscathed. However, Hamlin turned in front of the pack, collecting several stars and heavy hitters. Here’s what happened:
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