Posted on by Zack Albert

Many of the photos of William Byron from his first win of the NASCAR Cup Series season showed him beaming in Victory Lane at Daytona International Speedway, holding two fingers aloft. He could have just as easily signaled No. 1 that February day, marking his place atop the scoring pylon or signifying his first scratch of this year’s win column. Instead, the gesture commemorated a rare feat as a winner of two consecutive Daytona 500 crowns.

The accomplishment positioned Byron for a sizable streak atop the Cup Series standings, which he led for 17 out of 18 races through the heart of the season’s first half. But lately, that veneer of peerless performance from the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports group had shown signs of giving way. The start of summer was especially cruel, and questions laced with doubt started to enter in about when — or even if — win No. 2 might arrive.

“Haven’t gotten many good finishes, and you get constantly — we kind of joked about it today — you constantly have these questions of what’s going wrong, what’s wrong, what’s wrong,” said No. 24 crew chief Rudy Fugle. “This year, I don’t know that there’s a ton wrong other than circumstance, and sometimes that’s the way these races play in the summer is that way.”

It took Byron nearly five and a half months to put two and two together in his 2025 campaign, and the 27-year-old driver savored the occasion of Sunday’s fuel-squeezing victory at Iowa Speedway with measures of elation and relief. The 22-race drought that had threatened to become a curious burden for the No. 24 team had finally ended, and Byron was eager to turn that reversal into forward progress with the Cup Series Playoffs approaching.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Iowa

“I really feel like we needed to win a race. I feel like we deserved to win a race based on how we’ve run all year. It just wasn’t happening,” said Byron, who won for the 15th time in his Cup Series career. “I felt like we were trying to — we had to learn how to do basically everything right, and things were still not really working out in our favor. This was just a big relief to have one go our way, and we’ve just been running so well this year, I feel like this is going to be a big momentum boost for our team just to be able to check that one off the list and keep carrying the speed that we’ve had.”

The team’s strength hasn’t been a major question mark, even as the Victory Lane absences began to accumulate. Byron had finished second or third on four other occasions this season, and his race-best 141 laps led in Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350 vaulted him back atop that category in the Cup Series this year.

His earlier brushes with a second 2025 victory came in sometimes heartbreaking fashion as the regular season entered its back half. Byron blistered the Coca-Cola 600 field by leading 283 of the 400 laps, only to place as the runner-up behind a resurgent Ross Chastain. Two weeks later, Michigan also appeared to be within his grasp when his No. 24 Chevy sputtered with a dry gas tank just before the white-flag lap.

That Mitten State misfortune was the first of eight races that Byron endured without a top-five finish, a stretch that included his first three DNFs of the year. Just last weekend, Byron faded from third place to 16th at the end of the Brickyard 400 with an ill-timed fuel fizzle. Memories of those late-race heartaches crept up again Sunday for Fugle, who watched the 350-lap race reach a wide split of pit-stop strategies with a mad rush of yellow flags in the later going.

“Yeah, in two of the races, three to four tenths of a gallon of gas would have gotten us a win in the past couple months, and then just these weird — even today I felt like the hammer was dropping on us,” Fugle said. “We were going to run in the top five and then all these cautions come and I was like, it’s all going against us. Thankfully, that last caution, and thankfully we had a good enough car that we were able to save gas and get there.

“It’s a credit to everybody on the team, but yeah, it’s been tough because you’re just waiting for that next thing to drop, so that’s why we were all sitting up there like, when is something to go wrong today, and it just didn’t. Thankfully, that gives us more confidence, and it’ll give us a boost for sure.”

The bigger-picture benefits from Iowa may not be calculable just yet, but the short-term gain returns Byron to the top of the Cup Series standings. He has good company in those upper reaches with Hendrick Motorsports teammates Chase Elliott (18 points back) and Kyle Larson (minus-45) rounding out a 1-2-3 team monopoly in the points.

MORE: Cup Series standings | Race Rewind: Extended highlights

Byron said the competition at the top hasn’t been a prime discussion topic among his fellow team members, calling it a “strength on strength” scenario that provides motivation to push forward. Even if it’s not a top talking point, the Regular Season Championship and the bounty of 15 playoff points that go with it remain an advantage worth chasing — even when those brief rough patches arise.

“When you get in these times, you just can’t question yourself,” said Jeff Andrews, Hendrick Motorsports president and general manager. “You’ve got to know that you’re putting the very best race cars on the race track you can, and I firmly believe that. The men and women of Hendrick Motorsports do an incredible job and build amazing race cars. We get to come to the race track and execute that great product. It’s been not that far off. It’s incredibly close right now. … It just doesn’t take much to go from top 2 or 3 and a little hiccup here or there and all of a sudden you’re outside the top 10, and once you get back there these days with this car, it’s tough. It’s a struggle to claw your way back up there.

“I love our race teams. I love where our mindset is right now. We’re rolling through the late part of the summer here, which typically hasn’t been our strongest time of year, and I just love what we’ve got going on right now, and we’re focused on that 1, 2, 3 in that Regular Season Championship and getting all those bonus points that are available. That’s another big one for us.”

The outcome was also huge for the collection of drivers competing for the three remaining playoff spots available with three regular-season races remaining, since Byron’s triumph prevented another new winner from narrowing the postseason window. The bad news on the other end is that an invigorated Byron is a dangerous Byron; one who has the realistic potential to reach the Championship 4 round of the playoffs for a third consecutive year.

His veteran crew chief put two and two together in pretty short order.

“I think he’s the best driver all around in the field right now,” Fugle said. “Of course, he’s mine, and I should say that, but I really think he’s maturing and getting the experience to show that off. He’s very well diversified, and then he’s a fighter. He’s got a heart of a lion and fights through everything. There’s no quit. Those are things that he’s gotten better at as well over the years is just rolling with the punches and what happens next, and next thing you know, you’re leading and you’ve got a chance to win.”

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

An incident-filled Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol left Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron celebrating in Victory Lane while myriad drivers found trouble at Iowa Speedway on Sunday afternoon.

RELATED: Official results | At-track photos

A season-high 12 cautions altered strategy throughout the final stage, aiding some drivers to excellent finishes and others to poor ones. Here’s who’s heading to Watkins Glen International with momentum on Sunday (2 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) and who needs a boost heading to Upstate New York.

THREE UP ⬆️

1. Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Started: 16th

Finished: 7th

What happened: Bowman may not have scored the crucially important victory to lock himself into the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, but another stellar day for the No. 48 team kept him firmly in the postseason picture. With his sixth finish of 11th or better in the past seven races, Bowman now sits 63 points ahead of the provisional elimination line with just three races remaining in the regular season. Any number of new winners over the next three weeks could upend any points cushion, but Iowa provided Bowman and Co. a strong performance in which he was inside the top 10 nearly all race long.

What’s next: Crew chief Blake Harris will be tasked with a difficult scenario at Watkins Glen, where Bowman has never finished better than 14th in eight starts — a mark he’s set three times. Will the strategy be to stay out and score stage points? Or will there be another move from the playbook Harris can use to propel Bowman into the postseason?

Alex Bowman drives at Iowa Speedway.
Meg Oliphant | Getty Images

2. Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota

Started: 15th

Finished: 6th

What happened: Contact with John Hunter Nemechek at Lap 242 put Wallace, last week’s Brickyard 400 winner, into the wall exiting Turn 4 and damaged his right-rear toe link. Repairs put the No. 23 Toyota two laps down within the final 80 laps, but a rash of other cautions allowed Wallace two free passes as the first car one or more laps down when future yellow flags waved. Back on the lead lap with fresher tires, Wallace charged through the field to score consecutive top-10 finishes for the first time since June, when he finished sixth and fourth, respectively, at Nashville Superspeedway and Michigan International Speedway.

What’s next: Road courses have never been Wallace’s strong suit, evidenced in part by his Watkins Glen results, where he has just two top 20s in six starts. But those two positives have come in each of the past two trips to Upstate New York, and Wallace has notably improved on the twisting courses through the NASCAR schedule. The good news for him is that, regardless of the result, he’s still locked into the playoffs thanks to his Brickyard victory.

Bubba Wallace shares a laugh before a NASCAR Cup Series race at Iowa.
Brittney Wilbur | NASCAR Digital Media

3. Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

Started: 18th

Finished: 10th

What happened: Dillon was finally able to put a miserable three months of results in the rearview mirror Sunday, scoring his first top-10 finish since Texas Motor Speedway on May 4. The 2018 Daytona 500 winner was a factor inside the top dozen all day long before netting out in 10th place. The result ends an 11-race stretch in which the No. 3 Chevrolet had finished 15th or worse each week, with four top 20s and two DNFs scattered within that span.

What’s next: Watkins Glen has not treated Dillon well. The 2013 Xfinity Series champion has just three top 20s in 10 starts at the 2.45-mile road course. But Dillon and his team may already be looking one week ahead to Saturday, Aug. 16 at Richmond Raceway, a 0.75-mile tri-oval that shares plenty of similarities with Iowa and where Dillon went to Victory Lane in 2024.

Austin Dillon drives at Iowa Speedway.
Meg Oliphant | Getty Images

THREE DOWN ⬇️

1. Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Started: 3rd

Finished: 28th

What happened: A rough-and-tumble day on restarts resulted in a miserable afternoon for Larson. Multiple restarts led to contact for Larson, including one with teammate Chase Elliott and another later with fellow dirt racer Christopher Bell. Late contact to the back of Ty Dillon’s bumper created more damage to the nose of Larson’s car and contributed to an uncharacteristic second finish of 28th or worse in the past four weeks.

What’s next: A bounceback is likely at Watkins Glen for Larson, who won consecutive races there in 2021 and 2022. The 2021 Cup champion has finished inside the top 10 in an even half of his 10 career starts at The Glen and is seeking his third top five in the last four races this season.

Kyle Larson races at Iowa Speedway.
Brittney Wilbur | NASCAR Digital Media

2. Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

Started: 13th

Finished: 27th

What happened: McDowell seemed like a contender for a top-10 finish through much of Sunday’s race at Iowa. But the melee of cautions and on-track incidents never played into the No. 71 team’s favor, sinking McDowell outside the top 20 and en route to his third finish outside the top 25 in the past five weeks.

What’s next: McDowell will enter Watkins Glen in attack mode, understanding the road course presents what could be his best chance at launching into the Cup Series Playoffs from here on out. He’s qualified inside the top 10 in each of the three Next Gen races at The Glen and finished seventh or better twice, the exception coming in 2023 due to an electrical issue after leading 17 laps. McDowell charged to a fourth-place finish at Sonoma in July and led the opening 31 laps of this year’s Chicago Street Race, so an upset is certainly on the table.

Michael McDowell races ahead of Riley Herbst and Zane Smith at Iowa Speedway.
Meg Oliphant | Getty Images

3. Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Started: 11th

Finished: 24th

What happened: Hamlin had been on a monster tear through the NASCAR Cup Series, placing inside the top five in six of his last eight races prior to Iowa. That came to a screeching halt Sunday as the No. 11 Toyota was nowhere to be found, even spinning through Turns 3 and 4 at Lap 221. In what has been a dominant summer for Hamlin, the Midwest short track marked a rare off weekend and left Hamlin 51 points out of the hunt for the regular-season title.

What’s next: The No. 11 team can get itself back into the Regular Season Championship hunt at The Glen, where Hamlin won in 2016 and has finished inside the top five in five of the last eight races. The Next Gen races haven’t gone as well for Hamlin at Watkins Glen, with finishes of 20th (2022) and 23rd (2024), but he did earn the pole in 2023 before finishing second to William Byron.

Denny Hamlin spins during a NASCAR Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway.
Meg Oliphant | Getty Images
Posted on by Cameron Richardson

NEWTON, Iowa — RFK Racing is in the midst of a conundrum.

Chris Buescher and Ryan Preece continue to fight for the 16th and final NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs spot, while Brad Keselowski looms outside the bubble, trying to win his way in.

A Keselowski victory nearly happened Sunday afternoon at Iowa Speedway as the No. 6 Ford driver and 2012 series titleholder swept the first two stages, but ultimately came up short in third place as William Byron stretched his fuel tank 144 laps to score his first checkered flag since the season-opening Daytona 500.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Iowa

“We had an opportunity today, but yeah, it’s disappointing to not be able to get the win,” Keselowski said after the race. “We put ourselves in position. We can’t control what we can’t control, and we need to focus on what we can. We couldn’t control all the yellows that shifted the dynamics of the race today away from us. It’s unfortunate, but I love the position we were in and the speed that we had.”

A pivotal moment during the 350-lapper occurred in the latter portion of Stage 2 as drivers such as Byron, Chase Briscoe, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott pit during a green-flag cycle. However, Keselowski was among those who stayed out in hopes that a caution would come out.

That caution did come as Shane van Gisbergen spun on Lap 171, pinning the drivers who came down pit road a lap down and on the back foot to catch up to those who stayed out.

However, cautions were the name of the game after SVG’s spin as 10 yellows flew between Lap 181 and Lap 282.

It caused a jumble in strategy in the field, and Byron benefited from the free pass on the initial SVG caution to put himself in position to win and take the gamble on fuel.

keselowski drives at iowa
Meg Oliphant | Getty Images

“He did a great job,” Keselowski said of Byron. “He caught all the breaks and he took the opportunity and maximized it. He deserves credit for that. That’s what this sport’s about. You got to be fast, you got to execute, and you got to have some luck, and they did all three today.”

Keselowski’s teammate, Ryan Preece, was also a beneficiary of staying out before the van Gisbergen caution in Stage 2.

Preece ran outside the top 25 for the early portions of the race and needed a big swing to have any chance of a quality result. The multitude of restarts throughout the day worked into the No. 60 driver’s hand as Preece used the highest groove to drive through the field and squeeze out his second consecutive top five.

“We were struggling in dirty air, and I think [crew chief] Derrick [Finley] knew the easiest way to make up spots is on restarts,” Preece said. “We had a pretty badass one there when I think we went from 26th to 12th in about two corners. I don’t really know what the actual number was, but we did our job there. He [Finley] gave me a great car to stick it where I needed to, and that was fun.”

WATCH: Kyle Petty talks RFK’s resurgence 

The short run worked perfectly for Preece, and he found himself in third with a chance to pull off another Iowa triumph, the track where he scored his first NASCAR national series win in the Xfinity Series in 2017.

But the longer the runs went, the harder Preece’s car was to drive, and the No. 60 faded to fifth in the final 64-lap run to the checkered flag.

“Once we settled in and we got about 20 laps into that run, I just started getting really loose,” Preece said. “Brad caught me. Figured, even though I hate losing another spot in the points, I knew it was the right thing to do with how fast he was at the time and how many laps he led. Ultimately, still a good finish from how it started. I thought we were going to run in 28th to 30th, and had a little bit of luck. Got a break on that caution, and then some good adjustments gave us the opportunity to have a solid day.”

Preece added that he wouldn’t have given Keselowski the spot in the closing laps if he weren’t a teammate and noted the double-edged sword of wanting RFK to succeed as a whole, even in the position he’s in regarding the playoffs.

“I want to do the best thing I can for him and do what’s right for the company,” Preece said. “It’s the right thing to do for the situation we were in. If I didn’t get as loose as I did and I felt like I could challenge the 19 or the 24 for the win, yeah, I would’ve raced the [expletive] out of him. But at that point in time, it was damage control and try to not lose more time to anybody behind us.”

preece drives at iowa
Meg Oliphant | Getty Images

Buescher struggled Sunday and finished 22nd. It narrowed the gap between him and Preece for the final playoff spot to just 23 points heading into Watkins Glen next Sunday (2 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), where the No. 17 driver is the defending winner.

As for Keselowski, he once sat outside the top 30 in points, and after four consecutive finishes of 11th or better, the No. 6 driver sits 21st in the playoff standings with three more opportunities to win his way into the postseason.

“I just feel like we can win any of these next three races, and that’s a good feeling,” Keselowski said. “Can’t take anything for granted. Ultimately, we need to get wins, and I think we all know that.”

There will come a point later in the year when Preece will celebrate his best Cup season to date. However, his 10th top 10 of the year will only stand as a statistic for the Cup journeyman until that first triumph comes or if he can point his way into the postseason.

“I think if we continue to do what we did at the end of this race and throughout the race, we’ll have our day.”

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.”