Posted on by Reid Spencer

NEWTON, Iowa — An extraordinary spate of cautions in Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol allowed William Byron to save an extraordinary amount of fuel, and that proved the difference in Byron’s second victory of the season and first since the Daytona 500.

Squeezing 144 laps out of his fuel cell at an Iowa Speedway track where the fuel window is roughly 100 laps, Byron crossed the finish line ahead of a trio of pursuers — pole winner Chase Briscoe, first- and second-stage winner Brad Keselowski and defending race winner Ryan Blaney — all on different strategies.

Byron’s margin of victory over second-place Briscoe was 1.192 seconds, with Keselowski in third and Blaney in fourth both within a car length of the runner-up at the finish line.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

Byron’s No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet ran out of fuel during his celebratory burnouts on the frontstretch, forcing him to cut the smoke show short.

“Man, how about that for some fuel mileage?” Byron asked rhetorically after climbing from his car. “We’ve had our fair share of things not go our way with fuel mileage, and just super thankful for (crew chief) Rudy (Fugle), all these guys, all the engineers, all the engineers back at the shop.

“Just this whole race team, we’ve been through a lot this year. It’s been a lot of growing pains. It’s been tough on us. But it feels really good today to get a win.”

After running in the top five for most of last Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Byron ran out of fuel in overtime while running third. With Fugle coaxing him repeatedly to save fuel at Iowa, Byron conserved just enough.

And at last, the result of the race matched the speed he has shown consistently this season.

“Honestly, I felt like we had a good car and just kind of raced it and just tried to be there at the end, and we were,” said Byron, who led the first 67 laps and the last 74. “And luckily, the fuel was enough there at the end.

“I think I ran out right there (during the burnout). That’s why I stopped.”

With his first victory at the 0.875-mile short track and the 15th of his career, Byron regained the series lead by 18 points over teammate Chase Elliott, who finished 14th after pitting for fuel on Lap 283 of 350.

What enabled Byron to stretch his fuel to 144 laps was a series of seven quick cautions within 65 laps of the start of the final stage. All told, 12 cautions slowed the race for 72 laps.

SHOP: Winner’s gear

Briscoe got close to Byron during the final 64-lap green-flag run but couldn’t challenge for the lead.

“There at the end, I was running William down,” Briscoe said. “I thought I was really in the catbird seat there, and I just got there and kind of stalled out.

“I kind of experienced that when I was leading earlier. I caught the back of the field, and same thing; as soon as I got there, I just kind of died.”

Needing a victory to qualify for the Cup Series Playoffs, Keselowski won the first two stages, but his fuel advantage on the final run was negated by the abundant cautions.

“Just the way the yellows fell,” Keselowski said. “We had so many yellows there in Stage 3 that it got the 24 (Byron) and the 19 (Briscoe) to where they could make it on fuel pitting way outside the window, and we just couldn’t get back by them.

“Got back by a lot of guys; restarted I think 24th there after we pitted and got all the way up to third, but that was as far as I could get.”

Ryan Preece ran fifth and trimmed the lead of Roush Fenway Keselowski teammate Chris Buescher from 42 to 23 points in the battle for what could be the final berth in Cup Series Playoffs.

Brickyard 400 winner Bubba Wallace rallied from two laps down and overcame damage to his No. 23 Toyota to finish sixth. Alex Bowman was seventh, solidifying his hold on a potential playoff spot by maintaining a 63-point edge over Preece.

Carson Hocevar came home eighth, followed by Joey Logano and Austin Dillon.

Byron led 141 laps to 81 for Briscoe and 68 for Keselowski.

The quest for the final playoff spots continues in next Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen on the road course at Watkins Glen International (2 p.m. ET on USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

NOTE: Post-race technical inspection concluded without issue, confirming Byron as the race winner. The Nos. 1, 11, 12 and 48 cars will be taken back to the NASCAR Research and Development Center in Concord, North Carolina for further inspection.

Posted on by Staff Report

When Larry Carrier opened what would become Bristol Motor Speedway in 1961, this image never crossed his mind: an MLB player standing at home plate near the racing surface waiting on a fastball from the mound 60 feet, six inches away.

Baseball? At Bristol?

Why not? The place built for stock car racing also has hosted professional football, college football, concerts, worship services and boxing, among other events.

RELATED: More info about Bristol, MLB Speedway Classic

With the MLB Speedway Classic presented by BuildSubmarines.com, baseball officially joined the ranks Saturday evening, where the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds, two historic National League teams, locked horns for a one-of-a-kind battle at the “Last Great Colosseum.”

The game was a first for MLB in the state of Tennessee, and it attracted a crowd of 85,000-plus, a baseball attendance record that surpassed the mark established more than 70 years prior, when Cleveland Stadium hosted 84,587 on Sept. 12, 1954.

Jeff Hayes was one of the Thunder Valley attendees. A Nashville resident, he brought two friends and two cousins with him to what he said was his first MLB game. Like many — perhaps most — in the crowd, he had never visited Bristol.

“I wanted to see the game but almost as much to see this place,” Hayes said. “I’ve seen it on TV a lot, but you don’t get the full picture until you’re here. An amazing place. I don’t know how they put a full-scale baseball field in here, but it looks great.”

Years of planning for the game, the latest in a series designed to spread MLB’s reach, culminated Saturday, despite rain factoring into the equation. Showers fell several times during the day, and the start of the contest was delayed two hours and 17 minutes by a downpour that started during pregame ceremonies.

The first pitch was finally thrown at 9:41 p.m. ET, but rain intensified, and the game was suspended in the bottom of the first inning with the Reds leading, 1-0. The game resumed Sunday at 1 p.m. ET, with the Braves prevailing, 4-2.

Even as jerseys were traded for ponchos due to Mother Nature, fans enjoyed plenty of NASCAR/MLB crossover, as did the athletes themselves.

Reds pitcher Andrew Abbott wore a modified version of a Rusty Wallace Miller High Life uniform onto the field in pregame. Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson sported “Talladega Nights”-themed catching gear. Before the first pitch, the players were paraded around the 0.533-mile track in pickup trucks, NASCAR-style. Several NASCAR sponsors, including BuildSubmarines.com, are also MLB sponsors, so the prominent display of its logo seemed doubly appropriate.

MORE: Top moments from MLB Speedway Classic before suspension

Although the crowd seemed to be heavily oriented toward baseball — with Reds and Braves jerseys aplenty across the grandstands — some fans wore apparel representing both sides of the coin, creating a unique blend for two separate pastimes.

Celebrities in attendance included Hall of Famers Johnny Bench, one of the Reds’ all-time greats, and Chipper Jones, who held down third base for the Braves for most of two decades. Bench, 77 years old and a baseball immortal, looked like he still might cut you down stealing second base.

NASCAR drivers joined in on the spectacle. Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch, dressed in Reds gear, and Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott, in an Atlanta jersey, arrived from Iowa Speedway to participate in opening ceremonies.

Brexton Busch (L), Kyle Busch (C) and Chase Elliott (R) pose for a photo at Bristol Motor Speedway during the MLB Speedway Classic.
Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Digital Media

A few minutes before the ceremonial first pitches were thrown, heavy rain began falling, bringing the white infield tarp out once more. Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Who’ll Stop the Rain” was played over the PA system, but none of NASCAR’s track-drying equipment was put in play. The grounds crew spent more time on the basepaths than the players.

The baseball field was the result of weeks of toil by dozens of workers. Adjacent to the diamond were the other niceties needed for an MLB game — first-class clubhouse facilities, meeting rooms, training rooms and batting cages.

“My first thought is I can’t believe they did all this for one game,” Braves first baseman Matt Olson said. “To be able to set all this up, get a playing surface ready, the stands up in order to have the proper viewing. It’s pretty incredible.”

The planning took years. The idea first crossed someone’s desk in 2021, and it wasn’t a massive surprise because Bristol has hosted other major events and has one of the world’s biggest seating capacities.

“Major League Baseball had some executives in town visiting some of the Appalachian (collegiate summer league) teams,” Jerry Caldwell, president of Bristol, said. “We let them know we’d love to give them a tour of the race track. They came over, and it occurred to somebody that, hey, you know, we could fit a baseball diamond in here.

“We had batted it around before (so to speak), but we dug it back up. It led to some pretty quick conversations, and a bigger group of people came down to check it out. Then it went to engineers. So, it was years’ worth of conversations and planning. We had to make sure it was really something we could do because we don’t ever want to take our eyes off the ball (so to speak, again) of what we are, a motorsports facility. We can accommodate these other things, but then we have to know that we can get back to what our core business is.”

That “core business” could pick up, thanks to the baseball game. Although rain dampened what should have been a spectacular evening, thousands were exposed to the speedway for the first time. More than half of the tickets sold went to addresses new to the Bristol customer list.

Caldwell said there were some key observers at the speedway Saturday night to watch the game, “with the idea that we might bring some other major events here.” There was a rumor between dugouts that NHL representatives were looking on.

So, what’s next for Bristol? Soccer? Swimming? Springsteen?

“Just call me,” said Caldwell, smiling.

Posted on by Pat DeCola

Editor’s Note: Sunday’s projected finish has been updated after Saturday’s practice and qualifying sessions. 

With just four races remaining in the regular season, Iowa Speedway takes center stage in a NASCAR Cup Series campaign marked by increasingly tense battles and shifting fortunes (3:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

The top four drivers chasing a hotly contested Regular Season Championship — the Hendrick Motorsports trio of Chase Elliott, William Byron and Kyle Larson, alongside Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin — are separated by just 20 points, the slimmest margin at this stage since 2012. The playoff elimination line, currently a 42-point buffer between RFK Racing teammates Chris Buescher (16th) and Ryan Preece (17th), is the widest it’s been all year, offering both a minor cushion to one perennial playoff contender and a steep climb for his compatriot attempting to make his first postseason.

Yet Iowa is no place to settle in for either — or anybody else without a solid playoff foundation, for that matter.

In the Next Gen era, every season has featured a surprise, win-and-in driver from below the elimination line in the closing month, making no one without a victory truly safe. Last year, three drivers above the elimination line at this point or later in the regular season ended up missing the playoffs (Chris Buescher, Ross Chastain, Bubba Wallace).

RELATED: Iowa schedule | Cup Series entry list

That said, the shocker may not come this weekend as Racing Insights’ predictive metrics model has the projected Iowa Corn 350 results sending early-season stalwart Christopher Bell back to Victory Lane for the first time since his raucous, three-race win streak in the spring. The No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing driver has a tremendous shot to regain momentum before the playoffs spark up, boasting nine top 10s in his last 11 short-track starts, including a gritty fourth from the back of the field in a backup car at Iowa last year.

Bell’s streak of dominance — and Hamlin’s that followed soon after — seemed to indicate we were set for a year of heavyweights dominating Victory Lane, but parity has since surfaced and redefined the season. Five of the last seven oval races have introduced a first-time winner, and each of the previous three short-track events showcased a different manufacturer claiming the win. Poise and experience matter, though, and the last six short-track winners have all been more than 30 years old, and six of the last nine times, the driver with the most laps led has gone on to win.

Hamlin, the tour’s short-track master, with 15 wins and five consecutive top fives on them, seeks redemption after a rare stumble here last season and will have a heightened motivation this weekend, with his penchant for wanting to check every conceivable box in his racing career. Byron aims to rediscover his form after an early-season surge and could add a sixth top 10 in his last nine short-track starts, while Kyle Busch — outside of the playoff picture at the moment but an all-time short-track standout — enters mired in one of the toughest stretches of his career: no top 10s in the past 11 short-track events and no laps led for 10 straight 2025 races, the longest drought ever for the two-time champ. (Following a wreck during practice, Busch will go to a backup car for Sunday’s race, making Iowa all the more challenging for the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing driver.)

Brad Keselowski, after a sluggish start by his championship standards, now carries six top 10s in his last 10 events — his only six top 10s of the year. Chase Briscoe’s rise in speed rating per NASCAR Insights — a plus-16 difference from the first half to the second half of the regular season, tops among the field — highlights him as a sleeper to add a second 2025 win. Teammate Ty Gibbs has found late rhythm as well, bagging three top 10s in his last four starts on his way to winning the $1 million In-Season Challenge prize.

Meanwhile, Josh Berry, nearly absent since a playoff-clinching win at Las Vegas earlier this year, returns to a scene of past power — a seventh-place finish and 32 laps led last year in a soon-to-be-folded ride at Stewart-Haas Racing  — and could remind the field of his short-track prowess as he looks to build pre-playoffs mojo.

Strategically, Iowa’s fresh pavement and tire management promise a chess match in what will be just the second Cup Series race on the popular Midwest track. Teams able to adapt on pit road and control long green-flag runs will have the advantage — only once in the last 15 short-track races have there been 10-plus cautions, with recent races featuring extended green stretches.

The repaved corners, playoff permutations and walking-on-eggshells unpredictability that amplifies with each week ticking off the calendar will guarantee another dramatic, meaningful weekend in corn country. Expect tire calls, veteran savvy and late-race composure to weigh as heavily as raw speed on this seven-eighths-mile wildcard, and perhaps Bell to strike for victory No. 4.

FANTASY: Set your lineup | Make a 36 for 36 pick

DRIVERS TO WATCH

CHRISTOPHER BELL: The analytics favorite and possibly the race’s top threat, Bell boasts two prior Xfinity Series wins at Iowa. He rallied from the rear for fourth here last year. After three straight Cup wins earlier in 2025, Bell is overdue for a regaining of momentum.

RYAN BLANEY: Last year’s Iowa winner, thanks to a bold two-tire strategy and 201 laps led, Blaney has found his short-track stride with three wins in his last nine such starts.

DENNY HAMLIN: The most consistent short-tracker in the field, with five consecutive top fives, 15 career short-track Cup wins (five in the Next Gen era) and a series-leading 104 short-track points in 2025. He’s seeking redemption after a rare Iowa misstep last year.

CHASE ELLIOTT: The current points leader with a 10.14 average finish (best in series), Elliott has completed all but one lap this season and secured eight top 10s in his last nine short-track races. He finished third at Iowa in 2024.

BRAD KESELOWSKI: After a slow start, Keselowski is back in form with six top 10s over his last 10 races, and has four such finishes in his last nine short-track events. His Iowa experience is deep, with three Xfinity wins and a 10th-place Cup finish here last year.

CHRIS BUESCHER: Right on the playoff bubble (16th in points), Buescher has 11 top 10s on the year but none in his last seven short-track events. He led laps at Iowa last year but was hampered by a cut tire. He also owns an Xfinity win at the track.

ROSS CHASTAIN: Despite a rocky recent stretch, Chastain is playoff-secure thanks to his Coca-Cola 600 win and looking for momentum where he can find it. He’s delivering on short tracks, with five consecutive top 10s on them and a double-duty weekend ahead. Last year at Iowa, he finished just outside the top 10.

KYLE LARSON: The Next Gen short-track laps led king, Larson sits third in points after a series-best 14 top 10s in 2025. He dominated early at Iowa last year (pole, stage win), but late issues stopped his charge for victory.

TYLER REDDICK: Aggressive and quick on short/intermediate ovals, Reddick is the most playoff-secure driver without a win. He finished 22nd at Iowa last season but could be a strategic contender if things line up late, but something has been missing from the No. 45 team in 2025. Perhaps the spark of seeing a teammate win the Brickyard 400 will turn things around.

RACING INSIGHTS’ PROJECTIONS FOR THE IOWA CORN 350

Racing Insights’ advanced statistical formula incorporates current track, track type, recent performance, team data and pit-crew data to predict a projected winner and provide full race results. Updated on race day with practice and qualifying factored in.

FinishCar No.Driver
120Christopher Bell
224William Byron
39Chase Elliott
412Ryan Blaney
511Denny Hamlin
648Alex Bowman
76Brad Keselowski
85Kyle Larson
922Joey Logano
1017Chris Buescher
1123Bubba Wallace
1219Chase Briscoe
1321Josh Berry
1445Tyler Reddick
151Ross Chastain
1677Carson Hocevar
1754Ty Gibbs
187Justin Haley
1999Daniel Suárez
202Austin Cindric
2171Michael McDowell
2247Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
233Austin Dillon
2460Ryan Preece
2534Todd Gilliland
264Noah Gragson
2743Erik Jones
2816AJ Allmendinger
298Kyle Busch
3042John Hunter Nemechek
3188Shane van Gisbergen
3238Zane Smith
3310Ty Dillon
3441Cole Custer
3535Riley Herbst
3651Cody Ware
3766Joey Gase

Posted on by Staff Report

The NASCAR Cup and Xfinity series stay in the Midwest for the second consecutive race as they head to Iowa Speedway for a doubleheader weekend. Bookmark this page and come back often for your race-week essentials — from links to qualifying order, average practice speeds, results and more.

RELATED: Full weekend schedule | TV listings

NASCAR Cup Series

Race day: Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network. The categories listed below will be filled out with links as the information becomes available.

Tires: Eleven sets (nine race sets plus one set transferred from qualifying). Teams will also have one set for practice and four sets of wet-weather tires, if needed. 

Entry List
Qualifying Order
Practice Results
Practice Lap Averages
Practice Lap Times
Qualifying Results
Pit Stalls
Stage 1 Results
Stage 2 Results
Race Results

NASCAR Xfinity Series

Race day: Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET on The CW. The categories listed below will be filled out with links as the information becomes available.

Tires: Six sets (four race sets plus one set transferred from qualifying). Teams will also have one set for practice and three sets of wet-weather tires, if needed. 

Entry List
Qualifying Order
Practice Results
Practice Lap Averages
Practice Lap Times
Qualifying Results
Pit Stalls
Stage 1 Results
Stage 2 Results
Race Results

Posted on by Cameron Richardson

NEWTON, Iowa — The one-day show at Iowa Speedway couldn’t have gone better for Harrison Burton.

It may not have been the victory he and the No. 25 AM Racing team were looking for to lock into the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs, but Burton returned to the top 12 in the playoff standings with a fifth-place run Saturday afternoon, his second top five of 2025.

Off the hauler in the morning, the No. 25 Ford was quick. Burton put down the second-quickest single lap in practice. He qualified 17th, but Burton was confident in the short-run speed he had to take advantage on restarts.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Iowa

“I fired off really well,” Burton said. “I could get aggressive, go three-wide kind of at the end there and make that work, but I kind of fell off as a subsequent cost of that. That was kind of our story all day. I had to manage our car a lot, keep the right-front tire on it all day, and, man, it’s rewarding. I feel like this package and this car, even though it’s a single-groove track and hard to pass, there’s a lot you can do as a driver, so it’s rewarding to see the results of that, and the results of all of our team’s hard work.”

Burton found himself outside the top 10 late in the final stage after losing multiple spots on pit road following a Daniel Dye caution on Lap 202.

Trying to work his way back inside the top 10, a key moment and call from veteran spotter Kevin Hamlin put Burton in a spot to get to the front.

With 27 laps to go, Matt DiBenedetto ran into the back of Corey Day entering Turns 1 and 2, causing the front end of the No. 99 Chevrolet to cave in and billow smoke. On the following lap, Ross Chastain slid up the track, and Brandon Jones spun due to oil in the high groove that came from DiBenedetto’s car.

Before entering the corner, Hamlin emphasized to Burton to keep the car as low as possible, and the No. 25 was able to skate through without issue before the caution came out for Jones.

“It was awesome,” Burton said of Hamlin’s spotting. “Ross, he ran in there and ran high. We got him, the 20 (Jones). That’s two spots, and that’s a whole row you gain on a restart and gives me the chance to go get three-wide, pass up to third and kind of defend from there. Just a huge, huge moment for us in the race.”

The top five moved Burton to 12th in the provisional playoff standings, 17 points above Ryan Sieg at the elimination line as both passed Harrison’s cousin Jeb Burton, who entered with a 10-point advantage on Harrison before Iowa in what was the final provisional spot in the 12-driver playoff field. However, Jeb’s No. 27 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet struggled from qualifying and couldn’t find speed during the race, resulting in a 29th-place effort, one lap down and falling to a 19-point deficit outside the postseason grid.

Getting back above the elimination line isn’t the goal for Burton. With two road courses and Daytona International Speedway looming before the playoffs begin, he knows a surprise winner is potentially in the cards and that he can find himself quickly back outside of the postseason picture.

MORE: Xfinity Series standings | Xfinity Series schedule

“This isn’t it. There’s a lot of racing left to go, so we have to just stay status quo and stay hungry,” Burton said. “I’ve been in these situations before, and you can never guess on what’s going to happen. The 18 [William Sawalich] was fast today. He could have won. There’s all kinds of things that could happen where the cutline could get moved. We have to go try and win one of these things, and it’s nice to be getting closer, but we just have to keep pushing.”

But a complete, clean day with a lot of speed will have Burton smiling on the flight back to North Carolina. He won’t credit himself as much as all the crew members on the single-car AM Racing organization that put the 24-year-old driver in a position to be successful at Iowa.

“Just really proud of our race team. We are doing a lot with the little number of people that we have,” Burton said. “Gosh, they work their butts off and they’re [up] late, loading up and try to get going. When they put their heart and soul into it, this is what we see, and I’ll try and do the same for them. It’s really, really fun.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

NEWTON, Iowa — Sam Mayer took control of Saturday’s Hy-Vee Perks 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Iowa Speedway after a Lap 221 restart and maintained it the rest of the way to record the first victory for the Haas Factory team and the first in the series for Ford this season.

Mayer won at Iowa for the second straight year, having triumphed in a JR Motorsports Chevrolet last season. The eighth victory of his career ended Sunoco rookie Connor Zilisch’s three-race winning streak.

Driving the No. 41 Haas Factory Team Ford, Mayer edged ahead of pole winner and runner-up Jesse Love on Lap 223 before Brandon Jones spun in oil from Matt DiBenedetto’s Chevrolet to cause the eighth caution of the afternoon.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

On the subsequent restart on Lap 234, Mayer streaked away and left Love and other pursuers in his wake. After taking the white flag, Mayer was cruising to the victory when Garrett Smithley’s spin caused the ninth and final caution and froze the field, with Mayer in the winning position.

“This one’s everything right here,” Mayer said. “First win for Haas Factory Team — that’s awesome. This car was fast all day long. I tried to botch it on pit road, but we didn’t.

“I can’t believe it. This is one of the most special wins I have. These guys (Mayer’s team), they love me to death, I love them to death, and we’re just some good ol’ boys trying to go racing.”

After finishing fourth in the first stage, Mayer overshot his No. 1 pit stall, which sits at a difficult angle around a curve near the exit from pit road. Mayer restarted 16th on Lap 71 but worked his way back through the field and regained the fourth spot by the end of Stage 2.

“I missed my pit box, but the car was so good it didn’t even matter,” Mayer said. “We ran up through there — no problem. It was great.”

Ross Chastain finished third behind Mayer and Love, with Zilisch running fourth and Harrison Burton fifth.

For practical purposes, Zilisch’s bid for a fourth straight Xfinity Series ran into immediate trouble during the first stage break. After winning Stage 1, Zilisch brought his No. 88 Chevrolet to pit road for service, but the front tire changer failed to get all lug nuts tight on the left-front wheel.

Zilisch restarted 25th on Lap 71 and initially made rapid progress through the field. As the second stage progressed, Zilisch stalled out in traffic, with his Camaro getting increasingly loose behind other cars.

The 19-year-old phenom finished the stage in 17th place and restarted the final stage in the same position on Lap 130. He climbed as high as third in the running order but couldn’t find a way to prevail during a succession of late restarts.

In fact, Zilisch’s car broke loose in a three-wide scenario with teammates Chastain and reigning series champion Justin Allgaier on Lap 214. Contact from Zilisch’s car knocked Chastain sideways into Allgaier’s Chevrolet.

With Allgaier finishing 16th, he and Zilisch are now tied for the series points lead with four races left in the regular season.

Burton took a major step toward the playoffs with his second top-five finish of the season. He’s now 11th on the current playoff grid, 17 points ahead of 12th-place Ryan Sieg and 19 points ahead of cousin Jeb Burton, the first driver below the elimination line.

MORE: Harrison Burton jumps back into provisional Xfinity Series Playoffs

Jeb Burton finished 29th and one lap down Saturday after dealing with a cracked track bar and suffering through the afternoon with an ill-handling car.

Driving the No. 11 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet after the abrupt release of Josh Williams from the ride, Carson Hocevar finished sixth, followed by Sheldon Creed, Ryan Sieg, Carson Kvapil and Christian Eckes.

The Xfinity Series returns to action next Saturday for some road-course racing at Watkins Glen International (3 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

NOTE: Post-race inspection in the Xfinity Series garage concluded without issue, confirming Mayer as the race winner. The No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, driven by Taylor Gray, had one lug nut not safe and secure, which will result in a monetary fine.

Posted on by Cameron Richardson

NEWTON, Iowa — “I like him less and less every year.”

Ryan Blaney couldn’t help but throw another verbal jab at best friend Bubba Wallace, the perfect example of their ongoing banter as they continue to experience professional success together in the NASCAR Cup Series.

The pair celebrated the latest milestone with each other at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last Sunday when Wallace won the Brickyard 400, his first Cup win since 2022 and breaking a 100-race winless drought. The victory signified both drivers owning crown-jewel triumphs with Wallace joining Blaney, who won the Coca-Cola 600 in 2023.

Their history dates back two decades as Blaney and Wallace crossed paths as kids beginning their respective racing journeys.

RELATED: Iowa starting lineup | At-track photos: Iowa

“It’s been super unique,” Blaney said. “We started racing bandoleros together when we were 9 and raced together for a long time. Then our career paths kind of separated a little bit. He went a different form of late-model racing than me and then ran K&N East [now ARCA Menards Series East] for a while, while I was still late-model racing and figuring out what we could do. Then our paths crossed back again a little bit in K&N and then Trucks and all the way up to Cup. I don’t think either of us, when we were 9 or 10 years old, would ever think we’d be where we are 20 years later.”

In the transition from childhood to adulthood, the meaning of friendship can change and be undervalued as individuals focus on career and family.

However, the proximity of the racing world keeps drivers close to each other on the weekends. And in Wallace and Blaney’s case, they even live near one another.

“In such a masculine and competitive sport, friendships kind of get lost,” Wallace said. “But that’s the cool thing about motorsports and us in general. There’s still six or seven of us that grew up racing together since we were kids and you kind of feel that bond from the get-go because of those moments. Blaney and I, we live 10 minutes apart from each other. We see each other all the time. He’s there for me and I’m there for him, and through the good, through the bad, you always try to be like that shoulder to lean on. I truly appreciate him and what he’s been able to do for me in my career.”

As Blaney has collected 14 Cup wins and a series championship in 2023, one could think it would make a friend loathe the success. But that’s not the case for Wallace. That goes back to their days as kids where he says he used to get the better of Blaney.

“You watch him and all the success that he has here, and what he’s been able to do in his career has been super cool,” Wallace said. “I can easily get jealous and not want to be a part of it, but it’s cool as hell to see us all where we came from. The thing that also kept me going is I do look back on the days when we were kids and I used to kick his ass. It’s like, you did it then. Why can’t you do it now, you know? I kind of kept that as fuel too, so we are super competitive.”

wallace and blaney hug
Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

It’s not just the career milestones the two to get to celebrate together.

Wallace and his wife Amanda now have a son, Becks, who was born last September, while Blaney and wife Gianna are expecting their first child later this year.

From chartering planes to the track together to now beginning their journey as fathers, the bond between Blaney and Wallace continues to evolve and they hope they’ll be able to pass down that friendship to their kids.

“It’s just cool to have that relationship,” Wallace said. “You have your family here at the race track and when you have people you can lean on, it makes the bad weekends a little bit easier.”

“It’s an interesting dynamic,” Blaney said. “You’re competing with everybody out there, but you’re happy when your friends are successful and they win. I went over to Bubba’s house Sunday night after Indy to celebrate that. Couldn’t miss that one. So, yeah, it’s cool and then next stages of your life, right? Marriage and his kid’s nine months, mine’s on the way, and hopefully they’ll have the same friendship that he and I had growing up together. We’re both really lucky that [we’ve] been able to do what we’ve been able to do and stay really close through the years.”

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

Track: Iowa Speedway
Location: Newton, Iowa
Track length: 0.875 miles
When: Sunday, 3:30 p.m. ET
Where to tune in: USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App
Race purse: $9,797,935
Race distance: 350 laps | 306.25 miles
Stages: 70 | 210 | 350
Defending winner: Ryan Blaney, June 2024
Starting lineup: Chase Briscoe earns sixth pole of 2025

RELATED: How to watch on USA Network, NBC

Unique stretch of tracks to settle playoff grid runs through Iowa

A quartet of races is all that separates the NASCAR Cup Series from its 2025 playoff campaign. That journey starts in the cornfields at Iowa Speedway.

The 0.875-mile tri-oval is short, high-banked and action-packed, the only track on the Cup schedule that measures in at 7/8-mile. In fact, none of the four tracks that close the Cup Series’ regular season are quite alike. Next week brings the sport to Watkins Glen International, a 2.45-mile road course with sweeping elevation changes in Upstate New York. That’s followed by a Saturday night showdown at the 0.75-mile Richmond Raceway — the track that Iowa was inspired — before propelling to the superspeedway high banks of Daytona International Speedway to close the run to the postseason.

With only three playoff spots remaining, starting on the right foot at Iowa can make a world of difference.

MORE: Cup standings ahead of Iowa

Tyler Reddick is currently safe, entering 138 points above the elimination line. But if three other new winners join the fray and Reddick isn’t one of them, Reddick will be left on the outside of the 16-driver postseason party.

Erik Jones is hoping he’s one of those potential new winners to make Reddick sweat. The driver of the No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota has won two Craftsman Truck Series races at Iowa and one Xfinity race there in addition to a Daytona Cup win. But with only one Cup race at Iowa in the books — and one that didn’t go well at all for Jones with a 32nd-place finish — bad notes contribute to making this stretch of the season “challenging,” he said Saturday.

“It’s extra challenging I think for us, just because we weren’t any really good at these places last year, so we’re kind of coming back like (it’s the) first time for us almost,” Jones said. “I sure hope we didn’t bring anything that we had last year here. So it’s kind of just starting over a little bit. It is a tough grouping of tracks to begin with, but for us, just real limited notebook on it.”

A fast-paced short track like Iowa can also play into the hands of drivers in jeopardy. Ryan Preece is currently outside the playoffs by 42 points but has tasted success at Iowa before, launching his NASCAR career forward by winning an Xfinity Series race here in 2017 with Joe Gibbs Racing. Now driving the No. 60 RFK Racing Ford, Preece could propel his career to the next level by earning his first Cup Series win and appearance in the playoffs.

Long runs, patience and team execution will all be imperative Sunday afternoon.

MORE: Full Saturday recap

From atop the pit box …

What do crew chiefs have in focus to win Sunday’s race?

NEWTON, Iowa — Iowa sets the stage for a string of smaller ovals that will continuously build the notebook for the championship race at Phoenix Raceway in November.

Team Penske has been the dominant organization on such tracks, winning at Iowa, World Wide Technology Raceway (Gateway) and the Arizona finale last year as Joey Logano captured his third Bill France Cup.

Iowa also brings new left and right-side tires this weekend, which could help offer insights for the middle race of the Round of 16 at Gateway.

“This race in particular, I think with the tire change that we’re seeing here, pretty much a very similar change going into Gateway,” Jonathan Hassler, the defending race-winning crew chief at Iowa with Ryan Blaney and the No. 12 team, told NASCAR.com on Saturday. “Good opportunity to build our notebook for that race specifically, and a little bit for Loudon as well. We definitely took a lot last year from here to Loudon, so it’ll definitely be a good building block for those races.”

The age of Iowa’s surface continues to be a hot-button topic, specifically in the corners that were repaved on the bottom last year.

A Goodyear test was held earlier this season to assess the new tire structure and how it would react to the track.

RELATED: Cup standings | Full 2025 schedule

“It was a tire test and then a wheel force tire test with Cup cars here, so a lot of information there,” No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports crew chief Rudy Fugle told NASCAR.com. “Then, the IndyCar race, just to kind of see where they ran and the biggest thing was the color of the corners lightening up so quickly. Last year, they stuck out. They were really, really dark, and this year, they lightened up almost the same color as the rest of the track. So that was super interesting. We’ll just see what the grip level is. I think the grip level is similar, but I’m sure it’s down from last year. So it’ll lend to some good racing.”

The last few race weekends and back at the team shops in the Charlotte, North Carolina area have packed a punch in the summer heat, but there will be some relief from the temps in the “Hawkeye State” as highs are expected to remain in the 70s through Sunday.

“The drivers and the teams are going to enjoy the fact that when they get their fire suits on, this is going to be a little less brutal,” Fugle said, referring to the forecast. “They get a little bit of a break, so we’re thankful for that.”

— Cameron Richardson

RELATED: See where drivers will pit for Sunday’s race

NASCAR Cup Series pit stops at Iowa.
Jonathan Bachman | Getty Images

History tells us …

Short-run speed isn’t key on short tracks. Being quick over just a few laps doesn’t seem to pay off on short tracks. According to Racing Insights, the last four short-track races have ended with a green-flag run of at least 75 laps, the longest streak on short tracks since at least 1978. That logic holds up for qualifying, too — no polesitter has won a short-track race since Denny Hamlin went to Victory Lane at Bristol back in August 2019.

He may not be the favorite to win, but watch out for …

JOSH BERRY. Berry has just one top-10 finish since winning at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March, that top 10 coming at Kansas Speedway in May. But Iowa seems like exactly the track Berry could use to right the ship for the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford. Team Penske has been strong on short ovals like Iowa, Richmond and Phoenix in recent years, and Berry’s No. 21 car is an affiliate of the Team Penske fleet. In the inaugural Iowa Cup race last year, Berry led 32 laps and finished seventh driving the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. Perhaps he can find momentum before the playoffs begin with a strong run at Iowa.

Fantasy update

NASCAR Fantasy Live expert Dustin Albino provides insight for your Sunday lineup.

Not much movement in my lineup from earlier in the week, though I’ve replaced Joey Logano with Chase Elliott. Long-run pace mattered in the inaugural Iowa race, and Elliott was in command over 20-, 25- and 30-lap averages in practice. Meanwhile, Logano tanked to 36th on single-lap speed in practice and was the slowest of the 33 cars that made a 10-lap run. The Hendrick Motorsports cars looked to be the best across the board, though Joe Gibbs Racing driver and polesitter Chase Briscoe barely missed the cut to be in my lineup. Another change this weekend is benching Ryan Preece in 36 for 36 as the No. 60 RFK Racing team also struggled mightily on Saturday. I’m playing the conservative route with Cole Custer, earning a 19th-place starting spot, his best effort on a traditional oval in 2025.

Lineup: William Byron, Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell.

Garage: Chase Elliott.

MORE: Lineup advice in Fantasy Fastlane

Speed reads

Our biggest pieces of the week — get covered for race day from all angles.

• NASCAR at Iowa: Key info, practice reports and more from doubleheader weekend | Read more
• It’s baseball, baby!: Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds face off in historic MLB Speedway Classic at Bristol | Read more
• Williams out at Kaulig: Josh Williams, Kaulig Racing president Chris Rice on Xfinity split | Read more
• Hauler Talk: Inside the decision to suspend Xfinity driver Austin Hill; Cup Series Playoffs committee to reconvene | Read more
• Racing Insights: Where your favorite driver is projected to finish Sunday | Read more
• Field of 16: RFK teammates Buescher, Preece in spotlight before Iowa | Read more
• Turning Point to Iowa: What’s next for Bubba after Brickyard triumph? | Read more
• At-track photos: Scenes, sights from Iowa’s corn country | View gallery
• Paint Scheme Preview: See full field of schemes set for Iowa | View gallery
• Power Rankings: Will Blaney match best bud Bubba and go back-to-back? | This week’s top 20

Posted on by Reid Spencer

NEWTON, Iowa — Three Hendrick Motorsports drivers are 1-2-3 in the NASCAR Cup Series standings with four races left in the regular season, the closest competition for the 15-playoff-point bonus that goes to the regular-season winner since the current system was installed in 2017.

Chase Elliott has a four-point lead over teammate William Byron in second, with Kyle Larson 15 points in third ahead of Sunday’s Cup contest at Iowa Speedway (3:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

RELATED: Starting lineup for Iowa Cup race | At-track photos

Byron finished second in last year’s Iowa race, and Elliott ran third, but Larson, despite his 34th-place finish, arguably had the fastest car in the field.

Larson won the pole for the inaugural Cup race at the 0.875-mile track and scored a stage win before contact from Daniel Suarez’s No. 99 Chevrolet spun Larson’s No. 5 Camaro into the outside wall, putting a damper on the latter’s day.

“I feel like our team was really, really strong to start the year (this season),” Larson said. “We had those five or six weeks where we had fallen off a bit, but these last two have gone well. We were competitive here at Iowa last year …”

In all probability, the teammates will battle for the regular-season title until the final regular-season race at Daytona International Speedway. If there’s a spoiler, it’s likely to be Denny Hamlin, who trails Elliott by 20 points despite missing the race in Mexico City for the birth of his son.

MORE: Cup Series schedule

“It’s great to see Hendrick Motorsports atop the standings right now — at least three of us are — with just a few races left till the end of the regular season,” Larson said. “That’s something to be proud of, but there’s still a lot of racing left, and the playoffs can be crazy.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

NEWTON, Iowa — The new pavement at Iowa Speedway has aged for only a year. Still, NASCAR Cup Series drivers can expect a different track when they line up for Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol (3:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

Strips of new asphalt in the corners provided more grip in last year’s race, won by Ryan Blaney. But with a year of weathering, Blaney expects the advantage of the “grip strips” to have dissipated to some degree.

RELATED: Briscoe soars to sixth pole | At-track photos: Iowa

“The asphalt definitely looks a lot lighter than last year, like it’s taken some wear,” Blaney said. “And in the Xfinity practice (on Saturday), it was nice. They were in the second groove immediately. So I think it’s going to be pretty racy.

“Honestly, this race track was pretty racy last year when the second lane came in. It kind of had two-and-a-half, three lanes, really, at the end of the day. I’m curious to see what the tire does.

“Talking to some Xfinity guys after practice, they thought it was a little less grip than what it was last year, and I think that’s just going to get worse and worse as the weekend goes on and rubber gets laid down, and the track continues to lose a little grip.”

Brenden “Butterbean” Queen, winner of Friday’s ARCA Menards Series race at Iowa, can attest to some of Blaney’s suppositions. Queen picked the outside lane for restarts at the 0.875-mile short track, expecting to find more grip in the repaved strips.

“It makes it really fun to drive, ‘cause we like to be able to slip around and have to manage it,” Queen said. “The thing that caught me off guard was I thought the top was going to be so dominant on a restart, and it was, if you could maintain into Turn 1.

“The problem was that long patch to the restart line I thought was going to be extra grip, but it was kind of like a sandy dust, and I had a ton of wheel-spin issues, and even worse when I transitioned to the old pavement versus that patch.”