Cup drivers universally praise new stage-break procedure: ‘Two thumbs up’

Posted on August 8, 2026August 9, 2026 by Dustin Albino

NEWTON, Iowa — Unanimity is a rarity in the NASCAR garage. But when it comes to the sanctioning body’s new stage-break procedure, drivers seem to be all on the same page.

“Two thumbs up,” said 2023 Cup champion and Iowa pole-sitter Ryan Blaney, stamping his seal of approval.

Denny Hamlin had a similar reaction on X, using an applause GIF from the film, “The Wolf of Wall Street.”

“Certainly, if you want more green-flag racing, this will give you that,” Hamlin said Saturday.

MORE: Iowa starting lineup | At-track photos

The new procedure will apply when a caution occurs within the final 10 laps of the opening two stages. When the field returns to the start/finish line, the top 10 cars in the field will be awarded points for their running position. The finishing order of the top 10 at the time of caution will be determined using all available resources, including scoring loops and video replay, just as it is whenever stage points are awarded.

The rule change comes after the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where the conclusion of each of the opening two stages had a natural caution in the closing laps, leading to an extended yellow-flag period followed by a stage break moments later.

“I’m not sure what the intention was other than maybe not having two cautions back-to-back from an overall race time, but it seems logical,” 2020 Cup champion Chase Elliott said. “If you’re going to have a caution with a handful of laps to a stage and then having to stop again and doing the whole pit procedure again and opening it up for lead-lap cars and then lap-down cars, all of that ends up being lengthy. I think it could also open up some potential strategy options.”

The strategy could vary across all types of race tracks. At high-tire-wear tracks or venues where fuel mileage plays a major role, teams could push their fuel window to potentially score stage points, as three-time Cup Series champion Joey Logano alluded to. The change could even help eliminate fuel-saving strategies at superspeedways, though, as William Byron noted, teams typically go all out coming to the end of the opening two stages at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.

It will throw an added dynamic at crew chiefs, which Byron believes is the only downside.

“Those guys plan all week planning what the fuel strategy is going to be based on how long the stage caution is going to be,” Byron added. “You will have a change on that on the strategy side, so I’m sure the crew chiefs aren’t as happy about it, but I don’t really care. For us drivers, say you’re leading the stage with 10 to go, caution comes out, you will feel a sigh of relief that you’re going to win the stage and you don’t have to do that one-lap shootout and fight it out.”

Jeremy Bullins, crew chief for Brad Keselowski, confirmed the new procedure could throw a wrench into crew chiefs’ plans, forcing them to adjust strategies they had mapped out after studying past races ahead of the weekend.

“The biggest thing that could change is let’s say you get the full 10 laps that the second stage gets longer by,” Bullins pointed out. “A lot of weeks, the second stage ends up playing out a little bit shorter than the first stage, so adding a little bit of length there could change some strategies and the fuel windows and sorts of things like that.”

Those curveballs force teams to adapt on the fly. And the teams that do it first — and best — are usually the ones in the strongest position.

“Strategy’s cool – and I think strategy is awesome when it gets changed on you in an instant,” two-time Cup champion Kyle Larson said. “It’s like whatever teams can adapt to it the quickest can have a good race and get off-strategy. It may open more opportunities at times. I think it’s a step in the right direction.”

“It’s similar to short-track Late Model racing,” said Carson Hocevar, who saw the news while living on X earlier this week. “I like it, and I think it will probably change the game soon and allow for crew chiefs to make mistakes or flip the field if you catch people off guard. Ultimately, just not make the race as predictable.”

Spending long stretches riding around under caution wasn’t ideal for the drivers, either. They are pleased to see a portion of that waiting game eliminated.

“I think it’s good because, dude, it sucks for all of us when we’re out there and we get a caution with five to go until the end of the stage, and they are going to try to do a one-lap shootout,” the always blunt Larson said.

“We spend too much time under yellow, so the more race laps will be good,” Shane van Gisbergen said.

Blaney added: “Sitting behind the wheel of the thing when the caution does come out with four or five laps before the end of the stage, you know you’re not going to restart it, and you ride around for double the time — that’s no fun for anybody. That’s no fun for anybody watching, not fun for us either, sitting around and cruising around for extra laps and taking time up.”

While stage breaks remain part of the format, the change brings more rhythm back into the race weekend. The uncertainty of when a particular stage could end adds another layer of intrigue without completely reinventing the way teams approach the event.

“In my mind, it’s leaning back in the direction of a natural race progression,” Elliott said. “I know the stages are still there, but it feels less fabricated than knowing you’re going to have that on an exact, specific lap. At least it’s in a little bit of a window, and I don’t see anything bad.”

The first encounter with the new procedure in the Cup Series will come during Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350 (3:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Posted on August 8, 2026August 9, 2026 by Dustin Albino

NEWTON, Iowa – After two trips to the bumpy Iowa Speedway, Goodyear officials scheduled a tire test at the track in May. The two-day session provided valuable insight ahead of the NASCAR Cup Series’ return to the Hawkeye State.

Tyler Reddick, Austin Dillon and Noah Gragson took to the 0.875-mile layout, with Gragson being the first Front Row Motorsports driver to participate in a Goodyear test in multiple years. The No. 4 team used 23 different sets of tires, totaling four different compounds and three separate constructions.

“That was huge for us,” Grant Hutchens, crew chief of the No. 4 Ford, told NASCAR.com on Saturday morning. “From a company standpoint, we’ve got a loose alliance with Penske, but there’s not a lot of data transfer. For us to just go test, it was a pretty big step to work out all the bugs, collect data.”

Throughout the different sets of tires tested, some featured extreme wear. Goodyear ended up returning the same right-side tire from 2025, but pairing it with a new left-side compound, designed to withstand the track’s high speeds and heavy loads while still promoting increased tire wear and fall-off.

“The short-track tires that we tested, everything behaved as we expected,” Hutchens stated before practice. “We did have to change the balance a little bit to be able to get it to drive good. Hopefully, that’s a step, but you don’t jump the fence and end up having a bunch of failures and get painted into a corner.”

By Day 2 of the May test, the preferred groove was painting the white line. However, a recent wheelforce test last month provided optimism that the tires will wear more throughout the course of a run than in the previous two visits to Iowa.

“I would guess we’re going to have about double the fall-off we had last year,” Hutchens added. “We saw in 45 laps, three-quarters of a second to a second, depending on which cars you were looking at.”

Saturday’s practice session, however, saw little tire fall-off, putting an added emphasis on track position entering race day.

One team that nearly perfected last year’s race was Brad Keselowski and the No. 6 bunch. Keselowski swept the opening two stages, leading 68 laps on the way to a podium finish when William Byron stretched his fuel tank to the checkered flag.

MORE: Weekend schedule: Iowa

With Iowa being the 11th race of the season using the 750-horsepower package, there are different factors entering this season’s race compared to last year.

“Obviously, the power change, but the tire is probably the biggest variable because we’ve run so many races with the new power,” Jeremy Bullins, crew chief of the No. 6 car, said. “You just look at how the race last year played out, and the strategy got interesting because we ran long at one point and the caution trapped a bunch of guys a lap down.

“That’s the kind of thing you find here. It’s a racey track, you can move around, and you will get some long runs, but you will get some strings of cautions as well. It just all depends on how the race plays out.”

A new stage-break procedure will go into effect this weekend as well, which could throw a curveball to teams. Should a yellow flag fall in the final 10 laps of one of the opening stages, that stage will be deemed complete and the same caution period will serve as the scheduled stage break.

While the magnitude of the change could be track-dependent, starting it at Iowa could add a wrinkle in strategy. The word interesting was used among both crew chiefs of the No. 4 and 6 teams.

“It will be a unique one,” Hutchens concluded. “I’m looking forward to that being a little bit of a difference, and maybe it changes up some of the strategies, too.”

Keselowski qualified fourth for Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350 (3:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) but wrecked entering Turn 1 on his second lap and will need to start the race at the rear of the field. Gragson will take the green flag in 15th, his best starting position of the 2026 season at a non-drafting track.

Posted on August 8, 2026August 8, 2026 by Reid Spencer

NEWTON, Iowa — Ryan Blaney continued his mastery of Iowa Speedway on Saturday, putting his No. 12 Team Penske Ford on the pole for Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol (3:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

On his second of two qualifying laps, Blaney navigated the 0.875-mile Iowa track in 23.474 seconds (134.191 mph) to knock Kyle Larson off the provisional pole. Blaney’s margin over Larson (134.088 mph) — and over Team Penske teammate Joey Logano, who later posted an identical time — was 0.018 seconds.

The Busch Light Pole Award was Blaney’s first at Iowa (where he won the inaugural Cup Series race in 2024), his third of the 2026 season and the 15th of his career.

RELATED: Starting lineup | At-track photos: Iowa

Only once before has Blaney converted a pole earned through qualifying into a race win. That was after his most recent pole, at EchoPark Speedway near Atlanta in July.

“I had a lane in mind that I wanted to run, and I missed it on my first lap,” said Blaney, whose average running position in two Iowa races is a series-best 3.9. “I tried to adjust a little bit the second lap, and the car got a little bit better for me my second lap.

“Between the car getting a little better, and I kind of sneaked my lane down a little bit and hit a better lap, it was kind of a perfect storm of a couple of things coming together. I wouldn’t say I pushed it anymore — I hit my line a little bit better.”

Defending series champion Larson gets the nod for the second starting spot over Logano on an owner points tiebreaker. Brad Keselowski qualified fourth at 134.025 mph on his first lap, but on his second circuit he spun and backed his No. 6 RFK Racing Ford into the outside wall, damaging the car extensively.

Tyler Reddick (133.911 mph) qualified fifth ahead of Ty Gibbs and Austin Dillon, who posted identical laps at 133.786 mph.

Rookie Connor Zilisch nailed his best Cup Series qualifying effort on an oval track and will start eighth. Ross Chastain and Erik Jones claimed the ninth and 10th positions on the grid.

Series leader Denny Hamlin suffered brake issues in practice, as did teammate Chase Briscoe. Hamlin, who leads second-place Reddick by 84 points in the Cup Series standings, qualified 29th in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

Hamlin’s equipment issues may provide an opportunity for Blaney, who stands third in points, 120 behind the series leader.

“(Crew chief) Jonathan (Hassler) and I have discussed it a little bit through the weeks,” Blaney said of the possibility of securing top seeding for the Chase. “I don’t think we’re out of it, but we don’t really look too much at that…

“Things swing up and down. That group is obviously incredibly good right now. They’re going to work their way through the field. I’m just trying to focus on how the start of the race is going to be tomorrow and what I think the track is going to go to. One lap at a time.”

Erik Jones fastest in practice

Legacy Motor Club driver Erik Jones topped the leaderboard in practice at 132.855 mph over Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs (132.542 mph) and Team Penske’s Austin Cindric (132.475 mph).

Todd Gilliland (132.286 mph) and Ryan Blaney (132.281 mph) rounded out the top five.

MORE: Practice results | Weekend schedule: Iowa

Denny Hamlin (132.026 mph), Joey Logano (131.926 mph), Ross Chastain (131.667 mph), Christopher Bell (131.601 mph) and William Byron (131.524 mph) completed the top 10.

Nearly halfway through the 50-minute practice session, Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott spun in Turn 1 and hit the outside wall with the left side of his No. 9 Chevrolet. Elliott (130.413 mph) was 30th fastest.

Contributing: Staff reports.

Posted on August 8, 2026August 8, 2026 by Cameron Richardson

NEWTON, Iowa — Nine years ago, Iowa Speedway propelled Ryan Preece’s career in NASCAR as Preece earned his maiden national series win in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series at the Midwest short track.

Now, Preece returns to Iowa seeking his first career Cup Series victory at the venue that helped launch his journey to NASCAR’s top level. He’s also chasing down Austin Cindric for the 16th and final spot in The Chase as he trails the No. 2 Team Penske driver by 38 points.

Before addressing his current points situation, the New England native reflected on what that first NASCAR win provided for him.

RELATED: Cup standings | At-track photos: Iowa

“I mean, it changed my life,” Preece told reporters Saturday at Iowa. “I was grinding away at Stafford (Motor Speedway), Thompson (Speedway), Riverhead (Raceway), up in the Northeast, and I remember the call I got because at the time, when I lived in North Carolina, I was living in Kevin Manion’s garage. He had an apartment there, and I moved back to Connecticut because I was like, ‘alright, I’m done chasing this.’ I wanted to go race for Eddie Partridge, chase after wins, feel like I could make a difference, and Kevin actually called me right before Speedweeks and said, ‘Hey, all these dominoes fell, and you need to try and put your name in the hat.’

“I just happened to be one of the lucky ones that I raced for some great people that believed in me and helped me go after this dream because without the funding, I’d still be racing modifieds. I love every bit of that garage. I love every bit of that part of the country, but very thankful that everything came together that day for me because ultimately that’s what changed my wife’s life, our lives, and here we are.”

Daniel Shirey | Getty Images

Short tracks are Preece’s wheelhouse, and the No. 60 RFK Racing driver could find himself in a good spot with a three-race stretch that consists of Iowa, Richmond Raceway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway, all measuring approximately 1 mile or less.

Preece comes off the bye weekend with back-to-back top 10s and appreciates that the full body of work across the 26-race regular season factors into making The Chase.

“Iowa, Richmond, New Hampshire are all places that I would think we should be a threat,” Preece said. “We made sure we put a lot of effort into coming to Iowa and I feel like it’s going to translate. We had a lot of things go our way last year to be able to finish fifth. So we put in quite a bit of time when it came to our simulator, and we’ll see if that translates. But it’s not going to be from lack of effort.

“When it comes to making The Chase, you work all year to be able to be in that final 10-race battle and put yourself in it. So it would be nice to fight our way back in because the month of May and June were just as bad as you can get from a team standpoint. It was really challenging, but those are the moments that really define you. We had a lot of things go our way the past couple weeks and I feel like our group is looking forward to these next three weeks and trying to put it all together. I’ve really enjoyed that we’ve gone to this format again because it’s not just necessarily about winning and then you have one good day and it puts you in the playoffs. It still matters about putting together a good season.”

While only one RFK driver currently sits inside The Chase (Chris Buescher — ninth), Preece says he loves the dynamic between himself, Buescher and teammate/co-owner Brad Keselowski, and the communication and information they share could give the No. 60 team the push they need in the final August stretch to qualify for The Chase.

“We all kind of give our opinions of what we’re looking for and feeling, and we can work in a way together to get us there,” Preece said. “It’s honestly been a lot of fun to work with these guys because Chris is really, for me, I enjoy analyzing his style at mile-and-a-halves and what he does to make speed, and then Brad, he’s really good at chess. It’s like sitting down with somebody that understands your next three moves when we go to these mile-and-a-halves and a lot of these other places. I feel like when it comes to short-track racing, I’ve been doing it for so long as many of us, I just have a good background and feel for what I want on short tracks. So I feel like, especially this week, I’m very hopeful that we have a lot of speed off the truck and we can show that on Sunday.”

Preece will roll off the starting grid 35th in Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350 (3:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Posted on August 8, 2026August 8, 2026 by Staff Report

See where your favorite NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series drivers will pit this weekend at Iowa Speedway.

NASCAR Cup Series

NASCAR Cup Series Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol at Iowa Speedway on Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series

NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series HyVee Perks 250 at Iowa Speedway on Saturday (5 p.m. ET, The CW, ESPN Unlimited, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Posted on August 8, 2026August 8, 2026 by Zach Sturniolo

Dean Thompson will join Haas Factory Team to compete in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series in 2027 as the team expands to three full-time entries next season, the team announced Saturday at Iowa Speedway.

Thompson will move to the Chevrolet-powered program in a departure from Toyota’s Sam Hunt Racing, which he joined full-time ahead of the 2025 season. Through 57 career O’Reilly Auto Parts Series races, Thompson has one top five and 10 top-10 finishes, earning a career-best finish of fifth at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May 2025. Thompson Pipe Group and MCM Transportation will serve as Thompson’s primary partners throughout the 2027 season, Haas Factory Team said.

MORE: O’Reilly Auto Parts Series standings

Ahead of Saturday’s race at Iowa Speedway (5 p.m. ET, The CW, ESPN Unlimited, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), Thompson sits 18th in the points standings with two top 10s, including a season-best sixth-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway in April.

“I’m thrilled to join Haas Factory Team as the next step in my NASCAR journey,” Thompson said in a team release. “I am looking forward to competing for wins and a championship with support from MCM Transportation and Thompson Pipe Group.”

Haas Factory Team currently fields the No. 00 Chevrolet for driver Sheldon Creed and the No. 41 Chevrolet for Sam Mayer. Creed earned his first career win in February at EchoPark Speedway and sits fourth in the standings, locked into the 12-driver Chase field with two races remaining in the regular season. Mayer is 10th, 29 points above the cutline entering Iowa, where he has won each of the last two races.

The car number, crew chief and additional details for Thompson’s 2027 team will be announced at a later date, according to the team.

“We’re excited to welcome Dean to Haas Factory Team. He has shown strong progression throughout his time in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, and we believe he will compete at the highest level,” Joe Custer, president of Haas Factory Team, said in a team release. “Along with our growing affiliate program, the addition of a third full-time entry continues to strengthen our organization.”

In addition to his two O’Reilly Auto Parts Series campaigns, Thompson also competed in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series full time from 2022 through 2024, driving Chevrolets at Niece Motorsports in 2022 before pivoting to Tricon Garage’s Toyotas in 2023.

Posted on August 8, 2026August 9, 2026 by Staff Report

The NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series return to Iowa Speedway this weekend, while the ARCA Menards Series opens on-track action Friday. The Cup Series begins its final four-race stretch at the 0.875-mile oval before The Chase. Bookmark this page and come back often for your race-week essentials — from qualifying orders, practice speeds, pit stalls and more.

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 total sets — nine new sets for the race, one for qualifying, which transfers to the race, and one for practice. Four wet-weather sets will also be available as 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 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series

Race day: Saturday at 5 p.m. ET on The CW and ESPN Unlimited. The categories listed below will be filled out with links as the information becomes available.

Tires: Five total sets — three new sets for the race, one for qualifying, which transfers to the race, and one for practice. Three wet-weather sets will also be available as needed.

Posted on August 7, 2026August 8, 2026 by Dustin Albino

Editor’s note: Keep tabs on this page for lineup advice following qualifying, including changes you should consider.

Fantasy Update: Brake issues plagued Joe Gibbs Racing during Saturday’s practice session, leaving three of its four entries 20th or worse in qualifying. Christopher Bell looked steady in practice, ranking second on the 10-, 15-, 20-, and 25-lap averages. Ryan Blaney was lights out, however, so definitely advise building your team around the No. 12 Ford. The main switch here is adding Kyle Larson, whose results don’t tell the full story of his two Iowa starts, and he will take the green flag from second position. Also swapping my 36 for 36 pick from Ryan Preece to Todd Gilliland, as the No. 60 car failed pre-race inspection twice and will start 35th.

Starting five: Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Ty Gibbs, Christopher Bell.
Garage: William Byron.

Team Penske has set the standard on NASCAR’s short tracks in the Next Gen era, but the wins have become increasingly difficult to predict. Nine drivers have claimed the last 10 short-track races, with William Byron standing as the lone repeat winner. Even so, Joey Logano’s commanding performance at North Wilkesboro Speedway less than a month ago is a reminder that Penske remains the team to beat entering Iowa Speedway.

Returning to Fastlane this year is my weekly NASCAR 36 for 36 pick, and you can play along here. It’s a season-long points battle introduced in 2024 in which strategy is the primary emphasis. With 36 chartered cars and 36 races on the 2026 schedule, players can use each car once during the season.

RELATED: NASCAR Fantasy Live hub | Play 36 for 36

MUST START

Driver: Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford
Selections remaining: 2
Comment: In the inaugural Cup Series event at Iowa in 2024, Ryan Blaney routed the field, leading a career-high 201 laps to victory. He backed that performance up with a fourth-place showing last year. The No. 12 team has 11 finishes of sixth or better in the last 14 short-track attempts.

Driver: William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Selections remaining: 5
Comment: The inconsistency of the No. 24 team has been one of the biggest questions of the 2026 season. Byron could put that notion to rest with a strong run at Iowa, as he and Blaney are the only drivers in the field with top-five finishes in both Iowa races. In five NASCAR national series starts at Iowa, Byron has three victories — one in each series — and four top-two finishes.

Driver: Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford
Selections remaining: 5
Comment: Did you see North Wilkesboro? Logano had a vintage performance, leading a career-high 323 laps. The three-time Cup champion is among five drivers to have top 10s in both Iowa starts, and he has posted consecutive top-five finishes for the first time in 2026.

Sean Gardner | Getty Images

DRIVERS TO AVOID

Driver: Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Selections remaining: 1
Comment: Hamlin could easily buck this narrative, but he considers Iowa to be among his worst tracks on the schedule. The four-time 2026 victor finished 24th in both Iowa starts and hasn’t led a single lap. The No. 11 bunch has the hot hand, though, scoring top fives in the last nine oval starts at a non-drafting track.

Driver: Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota
Selections remaining: 3
Comment: With three consecutive races at tracks 1 mile or shorter, Reddick could very well drop to the No. 3 Chase seed. He has a 20.5 average finish at Iowa, with a single top 10 in the last 11 short-track starts.

Sean Gardner | Getty Images

SLEEPERS OF THE WEEK

Driver: Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford
Selections remaining: 6
Comment: It’s now or never for Keselowski to make a push toward The Chase. The 2012 champion is among three drivers to lead in both Iowa races and has an average running position of 7.6 across the two events, which ranks third in the series. He has four top 10s in the last seven short-track races.

Driver: Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford
Selections remaining: 10
Comment: 2026 has been a disastrous season for Berry, as he won’t return to the famed No. 21 ride in 2027. But he hasn’t forgotten how to ace a short track, with three top 10s in the last six races. Berry has an average running position of 9.1 at Iowa, the fifth-best mark in the Cup Series.

Sean Gardner | Getty Images

FEATURED MATCHUPS

William Byron vs. Ryan Blaney
Pick: Blaney
Comment: The Nos. 12 and 24 cars have been the strongest in the field across the two Iowa races. My hunch is to pick Blaney, knowing how strong the No. 12 team has been historically at short tracks. For Byron to win this matchup, he might need to win the race.

Joey Logano vs. Chase Elliott
Pick: Logano
Comment: Since earning Hendrick Motorsports’ most recent victory at Texas Motor Speedway more than three months ago, Elliott has gone cold with 10 finishes outside the top 10 in the last 11 races. Meanwhile, Logano is heating up at the right time, and he just delivered a masterful performance in the most recent short-track race. On paper, however, Elliott had the second-best car that evening, despite being trapped multiple laps down.

Josh Berry vs. Ryan Preece
Pick: Preece
Comment: Both drivers excel at short tracks, with the final month of the regular season setting up nicely for Preece. The No. 60 team was a legitimate contender for the win last year, rounding out the top five. I would expect this weekend to be among Berry’s best of the 2026 season.

Shane van Gisbergen vs. Austin Cindric
Pick: Cindric
Comment: The last time out at a short track, van Gisbergen was scored inside the top five for 355 of 450 laps, leading a career-high 49 laps on an oval. But racing on the bubble, Cindric needs to put clean finishes together. With Team Penske excelling at short tracks, look for a solid outing from the No. 2 bunch, though Cindric has just three top 10s in the last 10 short-track races.

MY LINEUP

Starting five: Ryan Blaney; William Byron; Joey Logano; Ty Gibbs; Christopher Bell
Garage: Chase Briscoe

36 FOR 36

Pick: Ryan Preece, RFK Racing, No. 60 Ford
Comment: With a trio of shorter venues on the horizon, using Preece anytime in that span could pay off. He placed fifth here last year despite a 33rd-place qualifying effort, while team owner Keselowski won the opening two stages. Preece has six top-10 finishes in the last 11 short-track races, including three of the last four.

Posted on August 6, 2026August 6, 2026 by Reid Spencer

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).

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.”

James Gilbert | Getty Images

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.

Posted on August 6, 2026August 6, 2026 by Reid Spencer

NASCAR Cup Series drivers have raced at Iowa Speedway only twice. For the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, however, Iowa is familiar territory.

The latter series will race at the 0.875-mile short track for the 23rd time in Saturday’s Hy-Vee Perks 250 (5 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

After a four-year absence, the O’Reilly Series returned to the short track in Newton, Iowa, in 2024. Sam Mayer won that race and successfully defended his victory last year, giving him a 100-percent success rate at the track.

That puts Mayer in an elite group of drivers in the series who have “batted 1.000” in multiple starts at a particular venue. Christopher Bell triumphed in all four of his New Hampshire starts and Connor Zilisch has won all three times he has raced at Watkins Glen.

RELATED: Iowa schedule | O’Reilly standings

Other drivers who, like Mayer, have gone 2-0 at a particular track are Shane van Gisbergen at the Chicago Street Course and Chandler Smith at Richmond.

Like William Byron in the NASCAR Cup Series, Mayer is winless this season coming to Iowa as the defending winner. His victory last year was the first for the newly formed Haas Factory Team. In 2024, he took the checkered flag in a JR Motorsports Chevrolet.

Mayer and Justin Allgaier (2018) are the only former Iowa winners in the field for Saturday’s race. Allgaier already has clinched top seeding in The Chase, which begins Sept. 5 at Darlington Raceway after events at Iowa and Daytona International Speedway.

Allgaier may have locked up the No. 1 seed in The Chase, but the race for the final Chase spots is very much in doubt. Three Joe Gibbs Racing drivers surround the current cutline, with Brent Crews and Taylor Gray 11th and 12th in the standings and William Sawalich (13th) the first driver out.

Sawalich trails Gray by seven points, with JR Motorsports’ Rajah Caruth 20 points back in 14th. Caruth, however, returns to his preferred No. 88 JRM ride for the rest of the season after driving the No. 32 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet for the last time at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“I’m really happy to get back with (crew chief) Mardy (Lindley) and everyone on the No. 88 team for the rest of the season,” Caruth said. “I haven’t raced at Iowa since the repave (before the 2024 race), so it’ll definitely be a different challenge than the last time I was there.

“The track has changed quite a bit, so we’ll spend practice learning what it wants and making sure we’re ready for the race. We’ve had speed on tracks like this all season, and if we can execute all day, I think we’ll have a good shot at a strong finish and gaining some ground in the points.”