After a week off, Byron heads to Iowa with confidence

In a season of struggle and with The Chase approaching, William Byron could use a turnaround, and Iowa Speedway may be the perfect place to find it. After a rare week off, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to the 0.875-mile short track for Sunday's Iowa Corn 350 (3:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). RELATED: Iowa weekend schedule | Cup Series standings Byron is the defending race winner, but after six straight seasons with at least one victory, the driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet has yet to post a win this year. Iowa might be the ideal place for Byron to end the dry spell, which has reached 23 races. In 2016, he won there in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. The following year, he picked up his first NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series victory at the track in Newton, Iowa, that was the brainchild of leading designer and NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace. In 22 races this season, Byron has posted just five top-five finishes and nine top 10s. The 28-year-old from Charlotte, North Carolina, is 12th in the Cup Series standings, a relatively comfortable 88 points above the current cutline for The Chase, with the next four races providing an opportunity to improve that position. "Iowa is just a track that has always clicked for me and that I really love," Byron said. "I've had success there in all three series, and last year's win really felt great to complete the sweep. "I think having the off time, and this being the next track we go to, really gives our team confidence in what we can accomplish. I'm looking forward to it." [caption id="attachment_521231" align="aligncenter" width="1300"]James Gilbert | Getty Images[/caption] Sunday's race is the fourth of seven short-track contests this season. Byron is the only driver to have won twice in the last 10 short-track races, at Iowa and Martinsville last year, but the last six short-track races have been won by six different drivers. In the two Cup races held at Iowa, five drivers have finished in the top 10 in both events: Byron, who was second in 2024; Ryan Blaney, the winner in 2024; Brad Keselowski; Alex Bowman; and Joey Logano. Blaney, who was fourth last year, boasts the best average running position at Iowa of 3.9, with Byron second at 5.6. Blaney and Byron each led the most laps in their respective victories, with Blaney leading 201 of 350 in 2024 and Byron leading 141 of 350 last year. Kyle Larson is another driver who could use a turnaround at Iowa, but to break his 46-race winless streak, he'll have to make a quantum improvement at the track. Larson's average finish there is a dismal 31.0. MORE: William Byron driver page Among the top three drivers in the standings, third-place Blaney holds a decided edge over series leader Denny Hamlin and second-place Tyler Reddick. Hamlin finished 24th in both Iowa races. Reddick, who trails Hamlin by 84 points, posted respective finishes of 22nd and 19th. Blaney is 120 points behind Hamlin as the Cup Series heads to Iowa, Richmond, New Hampshire and Daytona to complete the regular season. Following a review of the NASCAR weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in late July, all three NASCAR national series will use a new stage-break procedure for the rest of the season. If a caution occurs with 10 or fewer laps remaining in a stage that precedes a scheduled stage break, the stage will be deemed official at the time of caution. The leader will return to the start/finish line to receive the green-and-white checkered flag along with the yellow, and the caution process that follows will serve as the stage break. The stage finishing order, with the top 10 receiving points, will be determined using all available resources, just as it is whenever points are awarded.