Posted on by Staff Report

NEWTON, Iowa — AJ Allmendinger was the first driver in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Iowa Speedway to experience a flat tire and crash into the SAFER barrier. He was not the last.

Allmendinger was joined by Justin Allgaier, Jesse Love, Austin Hill, Jeb Burton and John Hunter Nemechek in the Xfinity garage, and they all wound up against the wall at some point during Saturday’s Hy-Vee Perks 250.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

The 0.875-mile oval hosted Xfinity competition for the 21st time, but first since 2019, receiving new asphalt in the spring that was laid upon the middle and bottom lanes in each set of corners. That new surface produced plenty of grip but brought with it a new challenge as teams tried to manage their Goodyear rubber.

Allmendinger, Burton, Love and Allgaier all incurred similar fates: flat right-front tires that sent their Chevrolets into the retaining wall. Allmendinger’s day in the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet ended after completing 32 laps, pounding the SAFER barrier after his tire let go at the exit of Turn 4.

“It just blew out,” Allmendinger said, who added he felt no indication a blowout was imminent. “I was a little bit tight, and actually when I ran the bottom, I was tighter. So I thought down there, I was hurting the tire more. But I didn’t expect to have a right-front issue. It wasn’t like I was overly tight either. Just a part of it.”

AJ Allmendinger's car sits in the garage after a crash at Iowa.
Zach Sturniolo | NASCAR Digital Media

Burton became fated for a similar incident in Turn 1 when his right front went down, sending the No. 27 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet into the wall. Burton, a 2023 playoff contender, was able to continue and trudged to a 24th-place finish, three laps down.

Love was the next driver in trouble at Lap 150 when the tire on his No. 2 Richard Childress Chevrolet flattened exiting Turn 4, nearly in an identical spot to Allmendinger’s incident — as well as Allgaier’s some 52 laps later. Allgaier, winner at Darlington Raceway five races ago, wound up with his second DNF in the past four events.

Allgaier credited crew chief Jim Pohlman for cautioning that issues may lie ahead and put the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet in a spot to succeed. But trouble headed Allgaier’s way nonetheless.

“Jim Pohlman did a great job on radio and just said, ‘Hey, look, we’re gonna be on the longest run we’ll run all day. Somebody’s gonna blow a right front; just don’t let it be us,'” Allgaier said. “Unfortunately it was us. Not the homecoming we wanted to come back to Iowa Speedway.”

A 14-year veteran of the Xfinity Series, Allgaier was eager to return to the Midwestern short track, where he’s turned plenty of laps. But the Illinois native felt the series could have benefitted from a tire test of its own after the recent repave.

“I’m a little disappointed we didn’t do a tire test here for the Xfinity Series,” Allgaier said. “You know, we’ve tried to not do tire tests at some of these places … but I feel like today there’s enough cars in the garage area that we probably should have.

“Goodyear does everything they can week in and week out to try to bring us a tire that’s not gonna have issues, right? I mean, that’s what they’ve done since the beginning. And I think that we just didn’t give them all the tools this week unfortunately to do the best thing.”

RELATED: Allgaier wrecks out at Iowa

Hill’s day-ender appeared unique to his No. 21 Richard Childress Racing team. The Bennett Transportation Chevrolet was running second at Lap 218 when his left-front tire let go on entry to Turn 1, sending the No. 21 car into the SAFER barrier and its driver to the infield care center, where he and all others ousted from contention were evaluated and released.

“The lap before, something felt weird in the left front and I keyed up (the radio) and I said I might have a tire issue,” Hill told NASCAR.com. “Went down to (Turns) 3 and 4, everything felt similar to 1 and 2, but I knew I was losing ground to the (No.) 20. And I drove off into 1 and I lifted a little early, and right when I lifted, it just sat on the splitter and it got on the left front and there’s just nothing you can do. I mean, you’re carrying so much speed at a place like Iowa where, you know, it’s a small seven-eighths-mile kind of short track but it kind of raced like a mile-and-a-half today. I mean, it was a lot of throttle time, everyone fighting for that top lane as as you would say. But yeah, I mean, I had a lot of fun today. It just it didn’t work out, unfortunately.”

Nemechek’s issue was also unique — but with had a more obvious cause. He and Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Sheldon Creed collided on a restart with 13 laps left in regulation. Exiting Turn 4, Nemechek was to Creed’s right-rear quarter panel. Creed’s No. 18 Toyota didn’t give Nemechek’s No. 20 much leeway, leading to contact with Nemechek’s left-front tire. Within eight laps, Nemechek was into the Turn 3 wall and sent to the care center.

With so many key contenders sidelined by flat tires — Allgaier, Hill, Love and Nemechek have all won at least once this season — Hill was cautious to speculate on issues but believed myriad factors played into the outcome.

“I don’t want to point fingers or put the blame on anybody,” Hill said. “Some guys can sit here and blame Goodyear for it and other people can sit here and blame the teams for trying to get aggressive with air pressure and all. It’s probably a combination of just everything. Everyone’s trying extremely hard to get an edge on the competition, and sometimes you just push it too far.

“Now, did we do that? Did RCR do that? I don’t know that answer. But it seemed like everyone was really definitely pushing the limit on stuff. But who’s to say that that was the issue? I’m just not real sure.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

NEWTON, Iowa — In a race of tire management and hurt feelings, Sam Mayer held off Riley Herbst in overtime to win Saturday’s Hy-Vee Perks 250 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series’ return to Iowa Speedway after a four-year hiatus.

Mayer’s No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet crossed the finish line 0.146 seconds ahead of the No. 98 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford of Herbst, who felt Mayer had abused him earlier in the race.

The victory was Mayer’s second of the season and the sixth of his career, all coming within the last 29 races in the series.

“We struggled (Friday in practice), and the team went to work,” said Mayer, who started fifth when qualifying was canceled because of rain earlier on Saturday. “Obviously, we did pretty good overnight, making different changes on this race car.

“I feel really good. I could do another 100 laps — with a race car like this, it would be a lot of fun.”

Mayer held the lead when John Hunter Nemechek slammed the outside wall in Turn 4 with his left front tire down, the result of close-quarters racing with Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Sheldon Creed.

RELATED: Official results | At-track photos

That accident on Lap 245 caused the ninth caution of the afternoon and sent the race three laps beyond its scheduled distance.

In the overtime, Mayer and Herbst took the green flag side-by-side and remained in that posture into Turn 1, but Mayer cleared the race runner-up off Turn 2 and held the top spot the rest of the way.

“I like racing Sam, but Stage 1 or 2, he just absolutely brooms me,” Herbst said. “We were racing clean for fourth, and he takes us back to 10th and then doors me down the back straightaway before the green-white-checker.

“It’s just frustrating the way he wants to do that, but all in all, it was fun. I’m happy to be back on ovals. The speed is back in the 98.”

Corey Heim finished a career-best third after starting 22nd because of the qualifying rainout. Sammy Smith was fourth, followed by Creed, who survived the dust-up with Nemechek after a restart on Lap 238.

Cole Custer, Matt DiBenedetto, Chandler Smith, Ross Chastain and Daniel Dye completed the top 10.

If any driver had cause for frustration, it was Chandler Smith, who led a race-high 131 laps and swept the first two stages. Smith restarted third to begin the final stage, but lack of short-run speed quickly dropped him to 12th, and he never recovered.

Austin Hill likewise had reason to bemoan his result. Overcoming early handling issues, Hill charged into the top five in the final stage, but a cut left front tire sent him hard into the Turn 1 wall on Lap 218, causing the seventh caution.

Hill finished 29th and dropped to third in the series standings, 41 points behind Custer, the current leader and defending series champion. Chandler Smith, second in the standings, trails Custer by one point.

After scoring two consecutive wins on road courses at Portland and Sonoma, Shane van Gisbergen’s good fortunes came to an end. The driver of the No. 97 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet got loose in Turn 2 early in the race and suffered race-ending damage, due to contact with Blaine Perkins and Kyle Weatherman.

Van Gisbergen finished 34th.

The Xfinity Series returns to action next Saturday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (3:30 p.m. ET, USA, NBC Sports App, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Note: Post-race technical inspection was completed without issue, confirming Mayer as the race winner.

Contributing: Staff reports

Posted on by Zack Albert

Iowa Corn 350

(⏰ Sunday, 7 p.m. ET | USA Network | NBC Sports App | MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

Weekend schedule | TV schedule | Weather tracker | NASCAR 101

Location: Newton, Iowa
Track length: 0.875 miles
Race purse: $8,881,630
Race distance: 350 laps | 306.25 miles
Stages: 70 | 210 | 350
—
Starting lineup: Kyle Larson to lead the field to green flag
Pit stall assignments: See where drivers will pit
Defending winner: None; inaugural event | Cup drivers with national series wins at Iowa

Key things to watch

Friday and Saturday sessions

Rain curtailed Busch Light Pole Qualifying to a single round of time trials, and that was all that points leader Kyle Larson needed to notch his fourth pole of the season and the 20th of his Cup Series career. Larson hustled the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to a best lap of 136.458 mph. Defending Cup Series champ Ryan Blaney will share the front row for Sunday’s 350-lapper after putting the No. 12 Team Penske Ford second on the qualifications chart. | Qualifying recap

Noah Gragson set the fastest lap in an eventful 50-minute session with multiple incidents Friday afternoon, putting his No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford atop the speed charts at 137.988 mph. Ty Gibbs was second-fastest in practice (136.559 mph), but his No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was among those involved in the handful of tangles, joining JGR teammate Christopher Bell, Team Penske’s Austin Cindric and Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain among the trouble-impacted. The session set an early tone for how the tires might perform on the freshly, partially repaved 0.875-mile oval and influence Sunday’s race. | Practice recap

Big story line

Another Midwest move in Iowa’s debut, and the postseason focus sharpens

When NASCAR announced its purchase of Iowa Speedway in November 2013, the news release flatly stated: “NASCAR has no plans for Iowa Speedway to host a NASCAR (Sprint) Cup Series race next year or in the immediate future.” So it wasn’t immediate, but that ‘future’ moment for the Hawkeye State facility has finally arrived, and it’s a welcome debut for the Midwesterners in the field.

“It’s a national sport and it’s important, in my mind, to really live that out and I think we’re doing that by racing here in Iowa,” said Michigan native Brad Keselowski, a three-time Iowa winner in Xfinity Series competition. “It’s pretty much the exact middle of the country. If I was throwing a dart at a dart board, probably as close as you could get to the center would be Iowa and I think that’s important. There’s a lot of great race fans here that, I think, for a long time have been somewhat under-represented with the tracks that they’re around or that they get to go to. We started to work our way out there a little bit with Kansas and some of those tracks, which is great. I think that was a good win for us, and it’s nice to see us continue to do that with a race here in Iowa.”

Visiting a new track presents its own challenges, and Iowa’s 7/8-mile layout represents an in-betweener for other ovals on the schedule — 0.75-mile Richmond Raceway and 1-mile Phoenix Raceway, in particular. That newness is amplified by a partial repave, including a patch of fresh asphalt that stops just before the restart zone but is longer in the high groove, which could affect lane choice and drivers’ tactics before the green flag.

That new pavement also came into focus with some tire issues in Friday’s practice. Christopher Bell, one of three drivers who participated in a Goodyear tire test May 28, was one of the victims with a hard hit in his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Bell noted a strange contrast between last month’s test, where teams clicked off 50-lap runs with relative ease; Bell made just 19 laps before his issue in Friday’s practice.

The race’s spot on the calendar comes at a pivotal time, kicking off the final 10-race run to the Cup Series Playoffs. A pair of two-time Cup Series champions — Kyle Busch and Joey Logano — sit perilously just outside the provisional cut-off line for the 16-driver grid, and Bubba Wallace holds the final spot by a slim eight points. Logano, in particular, has shown a recent knack for winning at new or repaved venues, and Iowa checks both those boxes.

Nine drivers have won races this season, so the door remains open for another first-time winner to claim a postseason spot. Martin Truex Jr. and Chris Buescher both missed out on substantial chances to break through last weekend at Sonoma Raceway, where Kyle Larson held serve with his third win of the 2024 campaign. Both drivers have some cushion in the points standings, but the last 10 races before the postseason field is set will be crucial for all of those not already locked in.

TICKETS: Don’t miss the July 7 Chicago Street Race

History tells us…

Actually, history may not tell us much. Several current Cup Series drivers have a history of experience and success in other NASCAR and ARCA tours at Iowa, but with the Cup Series being on a different vector, there may not be much carry-over.

“Probably not, unfortunately,” Ricky Stenhouse Jr. said with a laugh when asked about his three Xfinity wins here. “But any time you come to a place that you have good memories, I feel like it’s always beneficial. Luckily I’ve got some good memories, because I’ve got some really bad memories from here too, as well, from early on in my career. I got to do a simulator session this week. A lot of the characteristics, at least on the scan that we ran, there were a few things that were similar. But yeah, the repave is definitely going to be tricky and different.”

Stenhouse and Keselowski are multi-time winners here in NASCAR’s national series with three Xfinity wins each. That list also includes Erik Jones (one Iowa win in Xfinity, two in Trucks), Christopher Bell (two Xfinity wins), William Byron (one each in Xfinity and Trucks), and Ryan Blaney (one Xfinity, one in Trucks).

As far as short-track performance in the Cup Series’ Next Gen era, Denny Hamlin has risen to the forefront with four wins in the last 13 short-track events. That span includes three wins and five top-three finishes in the last six short-track races.

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

ALEX BOWMAN. Setting off at 45-to-1 odds, the driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet slots in as a mid-major on the Vegas sportsbooks’ lists, but he was third on the Cup Series practice boards — both in single-lap and 10-lap average categories. His last two finishes — 28th at Gateway, 15th at Sonoma — have cooled off his recent run of five straight top-10 finishes, but Bowman drew mention from fellow competitor Chase Briscoe when a local reporter asked him about the drivers to beat on Sunday. “Alex Bowman, I thought was super fast in the long run yesterday,” Briscoe said. “He kind of was in a league of his own, so he’d be another.” That bullish statement was made before Bowman qualified a disappointing 33rd, which may offset some of the optimism. He has 350 laps to make the necessary gains. | Iowa odds

Speed reads

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

• End of an era: Martin Truex Jr.’s Cup Series career draws to a close | Read article
• Denny reflects on MTJ: Fellow elder-statesman reacts to news | Read article
• Free agency frenzy: Drivers eyeing big JGR opening | Read article
• No small change: Crew chief on what MTJ means to him | Read article
• Asphalt adjustment: Inside look at the Iowa repave | Read article
• Strong starters: Drivers who opened the year with 16 straight top 20s | Photo gallery
• Power Rankings: Chastain’s head of steam for the Heartland | Photo gallery
• New track success: Winners of recent inaugural events | Photo gallery
• Waiting for a win: Truex, Logano, Blaney among those still searching | Read article
• Turning Point: Unstoppable Larson, Logano for Iowa’s big day | Read article
• Racing Insights: Back-to-back wins for Larson? See full finish projections | Read article
• Field of 16: How the projected playoff picture shakes out pre-Iowa | Read article
• 36 for 36: Check out this week’s survivor pool picks | Read article
• Fantasy Fastlane: Why tire-testers and proven winners deserve lineup spots | Photo gallery
• Spirit of ’76: Remembrances of Donlavey’s Le Mans leap | Read article
• NASCAR Classics: Revisiting when the Cup Series visited Japan | Read article
• Fantasy Update: Late lineup pointers from Iowa’s race-day eve | Read article 
• Paint Scheme Preview: Standouts in the fields in this week’s designs | Pick your favorite

Fast facts ⏩

Race-relevant statistics, brought to you by the experts at Racing Insights.

• Martin Truex Jr., who announced that he will retire at the end of the season, leads the Cup Series’ active driver roster with 664 consecutive starts. That streak began with the 2006 Daytona 500 and ranks sixth on the all-time list, behind Jeff Gordon (797), Ricky Rudd (788), Kevin Harvick (784), Bobby Labonte (704) and Rusty Wallace (697).
• Kyle Larson has the Cup Series’ best average finish (6.46) on short tracks with NASCAR’s Next Gen car, introduced in 2022.
• Chase Elliott leads the Cup Series with 4,452 of a possible 4,453 laps completed. His eighth-place finish at Bristol in March was his only one-lap-down result.

Posted on by Dustin Albino

Iowa Speedway was introduced to the Cup Series in grand fashion during the 50-minute practice session on Friday. Five drivers experienced tire woes, with Christopher Bell and Austin Cindric getting the worst of it and having to go to backup cars for Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350. Some drivers remain confused because there were zero tire issues during last month’s Goodyear tire test. With the track gaining more grip on Friday, lap times were nearly a second quicker in practice compared to the test.

RELATED: Set your Fantasy Live lineups 

Dustin Albino’s race-day lineup:

Starter 1: Kyle Larson
Starter 2: Brad Keselowski
Starter 3: Denny Hamlin
Starter 4: Christopher Bell
Starter 5: Kyle Busch
Garage pick: Chase Briscoe

NEXT IN LINE: Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, William Byron

RISING: Stewart-Haas Racing unloaded off the hauler fast in Friday’s practice and that continued into qualifying. Noah Gragson led the way in practice, continuously jumping to the top of the leaderboard. And while he fell to 23rd in qualifying, Josh Berry and Chase Briscoe picked up the pace. Briscoe will start sixth on Sunday and was ranked in the top 10 in single-lap and 10-lap averages. Berry, a short-track standout, earned his second top-five starting spot of his career and will take the green flag from third spot.

Tyler Reddick has never been considered a short-track ace, though he does have consecutive top-10 finishes in 2024 at tracks measuring less than a mile in length. The No. 45 Toyota was at the top of the chart on 10-lap speeds during Friday’s practice, though did experience a flat tire in the waning minutes of the session. Reddick was the fastest Toyota driver during qualifying in eighth.

FALLING: Leaning on past success, Bell entered this weekend at Iowa among the pre-race favorites. That looked like a good bet early in practice, as Bell was quickest until he became the second driver to experience tire issues. Unlike a few other drivers, his tire cut exiting Turns 3 and 4, meaning the No. 20 Toyota shot up the track, clobbering the outside wall. The Adam Stevens-led team unloaded the backup car and qualified 10th. Bell knows it’s a long race and believes plenty of strategies will play out, so the No. 20 team will have the chance to make it through the field. But having to start from the rear could mean he fails to earn stage points.

Multiple drivers said Alex Bowman’s No. 48 car was among the best cars in the field during practice. Briscoe stated that Bowman was in a “league of his own” over the long run. For all the goodwill Bowman built up on Friday, he will have an uphill battle on Sunday, qualifying 33rd for the 350-lap race. Unless the No. 48 team pulls off strategy during the opening stage, it’s highly likely that he will miss out on stage points.

FEATURED MATCHUPS:

Kyle Larson vs. Denny Hamlin: Larson and Hamlin are among the perennial pre-race favorites. Nothing has changed entering Iowa, with Larson scoring his fourth Busch Light Pole of the season, already matching the most he’s had in a single season (2022). And for someone who had never turned laps at Iowa prior to Friday, Hamlin has been sporty, sitting fifth on 10-lap averages. It seems like the No. 5 car is a slight step ahead of the No. 11 car this weekend, so let’s bank on Larson.

William Byron vs. Martin Truex Jr.: Aside from getting his 2025 plans out of the way on Friday, this weekend has been a struggle for Truex. That’s surprising for one of the best current short-track competitors, but the No. 19 Toyota was 33rd in practice on single-lap speed, 32nd on 10-lap average, and qualified 31st. Byron didn’t flash as one of the best cars in practice but will start fourth. But he’s at least been above 30th all weekend.

Ryan Blaney vs. Joey Logano: Up until Larson went out as the final car in qualifying, it looked as though Blaney would win the pole. He will start second and is a tremendous short-track racer. As is Logano, who will start 12th. The two Team Penske drivers were virtually equal in practice and need good days on Sunday. Maybe put both car numbers into a hat and make a blind pick, but I’ll go with Blaney since he had a better qualifying session.

Chase Elliott vs. Christopher Bell: Even though Bell will have to start at the rear of the field, expect the No. 20 car to be a contender. He is great at Iowa and barring another tire issue, it’s hard to think he won’t be a factor in the race. Elliott has consistently been a top-10 car throughout the weekend, but I’m not wavering from Bell. The No. 20 team has a bunch of data points from the tire test last month that can be applied to the backup car.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

NEWTON, Iowa — Kyle Larson was hoping for a rainout of Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session at Iowa Speedway.

His wish wasn’t granted, but in the end, it didn’t matter. Larson will start from the front of the field in Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol, the inaugural Cup race at Iowa (7 p.m. ET, USA, NBC Sports App, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Under the metric qualifying system, a canceled session would have put Larson, last Sunday’s winner at Sonoma Raceway, on the pole for the debut race. Instead, the driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet had to earn his fourth Busch Light Pole Award of the season and the 20th of his career.

RELATED: Sunday’s starting lineup | At-track photos

The last driver to make a qualifying run, Larson covered the 0.875-mile distance in 23.084 seconds (136.458 mph), edging Ryan Blaney (136.311 mph) for the top starting spot by 0.025 seconds.

“It was challenging, but it wasn’t as challenging as I thought it would be,” said Larson, who had the benefit of watching 35 other drivers make attempts ahead of him. “It helps going out last. It helps being able to watch everybody.

“But I was hoping for rain.”

Blaney felt he left some speed on the table during his two-lap run.

“I wish I could have picked up on the second lap a little more,” said the reigning series champion, who added that he missed Turns 3 and 4 slightly on his second circuit.

With the qualifying session delayed for 45 minutes because of track-drying efforts from a storm that blew through during lunchtime, drivers ran only one round, with the top five drivers from Group A and the top five from Group B. making up the top-10 starting positions.

The Group B drivers ran second and had a clear advantage, with all of the top-five starting positions going to drivers from that group. Josh Berry (135.916 mph) will start third, followed by William Byron (135.595 mph) and Brad Keselowski (135.338 mph).

Chase Briscoe led Group A at 133.046 mph and will start sixth, followed by Kyle Busch, Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott and Christopher Bell (though Bell will drop to the rear in a backup car after crashing in Friday’s practice).

The remainder of the field is ordered by group in alternating numbers. Joey Logano, sixth in Group B, starts 11th beside Denny Hamlin, sixth fastest in Group A.

Posted on by Staff Report

NEWTON, Iowa — Inclement weather has put Saturday’s on-track activity on hold at Iowa Speedway.

The NASCAR Cup Series was set to qualify for the Iowa Corn 350 at 1:05 p.m. ET for its inaugural race at the 0.875-mile oval before rain overcame the track. Additionally, the NASCAR Xfinity Series had its qualifying session canceled for the Hy-Vee Perks 250 earlier in the day.

MORE: Iowa schedule | At-track photos: Iowa

Goodyear has brought its wet-weather tires to Iowa for both series, but NASCAR’s competition officials deemed the track too wet to justify time trials on Saturday afternoon.

Saturday’s Xfinity Series race is scheduled to get underway at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network, MRN Radio, NBC Sports App and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. The inaugural Cup race at Iowa is set for Sunday night at 7 p.m. ET (USA, MRN, NBC Sports App, SiriusXM).

This story will be updated.

Posted on by Zack Albert

NEWTON, Iowa — Friday’s announcement that Martin Truex Jr. won’t continue as a full-time NASCAR driver after this season didn’t arrive as a major surprise, not after reports trickled out earlier in the week, and not after the 43-year-old driver’s ‘will-he-or-won’t-he’ dalliances with retirement in previous seasons. James Small, his crew chief on the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing team, wasn’t among the shocked either, but he was also counted among those wishing his colleague well for his next chapter.

“We’ve been expecting this for the last two or three years or whatever, and we get the opposite decision. So yeah, it’s not really any surprise,” Small told NASCAR.com. “We would have loved for him to keep going another year. Ultimately, whatever makes him happy we support him.”

Truex made it official Friday that his 19th Cup Series season will be his last, outlining the plan to sunset his Hall of Fame-caliber career as NASCAR’s top tour arrives for its debut this weekend at Iowa Speedway. The news also signals an end to a long-running partnership with Small, who took the role as the No. 19 Toyota team’s crew chief in 2020 and was the lead engineer for Truex’s cars in the years before.

RELATED: Truex to close Cup Series career | MTJ through the years

Small’s thoughts about his driver’s legacy in the sport were shared by others in their tributes and commemorations, but his perspective as a hand-in-hand teammate atop the pit box had a personal touch, noting some of the what-ifs over the course of Truex’s career.

“You know, he’s incredible,” Small said from the Iowa track’s garage. “Obviously, he kind of flies under the radar, and that’s very much his personality. You look back on what he’s done since 2016, and the amount of races he’s won, he’s been one of the top two, top three drivers over that period. And, you know, you think a couple of things go a slightly different way or less errors, and he could be a four-time champion. It’s pretty simple, and we’d be talking about him in a completely different frame of mind. So yeah, he’s accomplished a lot, and he’s been very easy to work with from our standpoint. He leaves us alone, tells us what he needs and goes and does his thing and puts his trust in us. So from that standpoint, he’s very different, but he’s been a great friend and a great driver to work with and he’s very humble.”

Truex scored 32 of his 34 Cup Series victories after his career connected with Toyota affiliates Joe Gibbs Racing and Furniture Row Racing. Eight of those wins were with Small atop the pit box, and he points to a dominant triumph at Darlington in the spring of 2021 — leading 248 of 293 laps in a flat-black car — as one of his favorites. But other moments of resilience fill Small’s memory banks, as does Truex’s tenacity, which occasionally translated to fiery words through the team’s in-car communications.

“I think those things, and there’s been so many others through the years that just exemplify the true grit of our team and never-give-up attitude,” Small said. “As much as he likes to complain on the radio at times, he never quits, you know what I mean? He’s just as frustrated as anyone, and he will always keep trying to the very last lap, no matter what or how bad the day has been.”

Truex hinted in Friday’s announcement that he could still race in a part-time capacity after this season and that he will stay on in an ambassador’s role with JGR. His approach to the rest of the year, he says, won’t change. “I’m just going to do my job and do what I’ve always done,” Truex said.

Just 10 races remain in the regular season, starting with Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350 (7 p.m. ET, USA, NBC Sports App, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) for Truex to seal a playoff berth and a final run at a Cup Series championship to match the one he claimed in 2017. He ranks fifth in the Cup points, and led the standings for three weeks earlier this year; a recent patch of three finishes of 25th or worse in the last four weeks has set Truex back from his earlier perch.

MORE: Iowa weekend schedule

Still, Truex has been close to scratching the win column this season, including his battle among the top three last weekend at Sonoma Raceway before his car sputtered out of gas on the final set of turns. Small says his confidence in the No. 19 team’s performance hasn’t wavered, and though Truex has insisted that his mentality will be “business as usual” the rest of the way, Small suspects there will be a sense of relief in the season’s second half.

“Up until the last three or four weeks, we were leading the points you know, and then we’ve been on a little bit of a hard stretch here,” Small said. “As you say, things go a different way and we could have three wins — definitely two, if we didn’t get late-race cautions at the complete wrong time. So, I think this will take a lot off his mind. I know that decision’s really been weighing on him, and he says it doesn’t affect him but you know, it does. And even the last week he’s been way more relaxed to talk to, and I think it’s a big weight off his shoulders. So hopefully, we can get over this stretch of everything going wrong and be strong from here on out.”

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

NEWTON, Iowa — Noah Gragson posted the fastest lap in Friday’s inaugural NASCAR Cup Series practice at Iowa Speedway, but the speed of his No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford wasn’t quite the main attraction.

Five drivers incurred flat tires during the full field’s 50-minute session ahead of Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350: Ty Gibbs, Christopher Bell, Ross Chastain, Austin Cindric and Tyler Reddick.

RELATED: Practice results | At-track photos

Gragson was fastest at 137.988 mph over Gibbs, Alex Bowman, Justin Haley and Chase Elliott. Chastain, Harrison Burton, Denny Hamlin, Austin Dillon and Chase Briscoe completed the top 10 in quickest single-lap speeds.

Gibbs was the first to experience an issue, suffering a flat right-front tire entering Turn 3 after 24 laps of practice.

Bell, Gibbs’ teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, posted the quickest lap early in the session. But Bell, who participated in a Goodyear tire test at the 0.875-mile oval in late May, slammed the outside SAFER barrier in Turn 4 after a right-front tire flattened on corner exit after 19 laps.

“I’m perfectly fine, just obviously a big disappointment and something that I didn’t see coming at all,” Bell said upon being evaluated and released from the infield care center. “It hurt. Whenever we were here for the tire test, we did 50-lap runs like they were going out of style. I don’t even know how many laps I did, but it couldn’t have been any more than 20.”

MORE: Bell slams wall during practice

Chastain and Cindric had their issues later in the session. Chastain’s left-rear tire went down, necessitating a two-tow-truck dolly lift back to the garage area. Like the two Gibbs Toyotas, Cindric’s No. 2 Team Penske Ford had a right-front tire go down, sending him into the Turn 2 wall. Bell and Cindric will both start from the rear in Sunday’s race (7 p.m. ET, USA, MRN Radio, NBC Sports App, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Reddick, who was fastest on the 10-lap averages in practice, had a right-front tire down as well but wheeled his No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota back to pit road without issue.

Chastain, who sits 10th in points entering the 17th race of the season, was not overly concerned about his issues or others’.

“I mean there’s no telling what happened,” Chastain said. “We went back out and made more laps on another set, so I went out ran my fastest lap like five laps later.”

On the contrary, Bell was quick to admit raised eyebrows as the Cup Series hits Iowa for the first time. Bell’s was among three teams to partake in the tire test last month, joined by RFK Racing’s Brad Keselowski and Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson. Friday’s session was set under a scorching sun, but Bell wasn’t of the belief that added heat was a factor in the numerous tire issues.

“If anything, it should make it better,” Bell said, “because the more heat that you have, the more rubber gets laid down and typically the less wear you have on the tire. So I mean, certainly it’s a difference. And that’s something that I’m sure they’re talking about. But yeah, it’s strange, very strange.”

Reddick, fourth in points and 49 markers back of Larson for the regular-season standings lead, theorized the fresh pavement in each set of corners may also have played a more natural role.

“You could kind of see where the track was really starting to wear in a little bit too,” Reddick said. “From the start of practice to the end, (it) was starting to lighten up a little bit. You know, fresh asphalt was almost pitch-black looking and it was starting to gray up a little bit where we’re running. So I don’t know if it’s already kind of know if … is it already starting to knock that top layer off a little bit and that’s some of it? I’m not totally sure.

“But as we kept going, I mean …  the grip just kept getting better and better and better.”

Larson, who made his share of laps here testing tires in May, was less concerned — and borderline excited for the challenges ahead.

“Honestly, the unknown of everything I think makes things exciting and competitive and all that,” Larson said. “It’s gonna be fun. I think teams are probably gonna have to study a lot and not sleep a lot the next couple nights.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

NEWTON, Iowa — Martin Truex Jr. felt it was time to regain control over his own life and his own schedule.

“I’m obviously here to let y’all know that I won’t be back full-time next year,” Truex said Friday in a press conference with team owner Joe Gibbs, confirming the widely reported news that he will exit the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota at season’s end.

RELATED: Iowa schedule

“It’s been incredible. It’s been a hell of a ride. I’m excited about the future, and I’m not really sure what that looks like yet,” Truex added.

There are several issues, however, that are already settled. The 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion will continue with JGR in what is vaguely defined as an “ambassadorial capacity.” He likely will compete in an occasional NASCAR Xfinity Series race for the organization.

And Truex will fulfill a stated purpose of reclaiming his time as his own.

“It’s the right time for me. I’ve thought about it a lot for the last few seasons — just waited for that feeling in my mind to be positive, like ‘This is OK, I’m good, and I want to do something else,’” Truex said. “In the 21 years that I’ve done this, I’ve never missed a race. I’ve never missed a practice. I’ve never been late for anything. I’ve never missed an appearance. You live your life by a schedule that somebody makes for you, and it’s just time for me to make my own schedule.

“That’s really what it boils down to. I want to go do the things I want to do, and I don’t want anyone to tell me when I can and when I can’t do those things. I still love racing. I’m still going to race some — I don’t know what, when, how, why — but I feel very fortunate to be in this position to make this decision.”

Gibbs said he had a sense of what Truex’s decision would be. Truex will turn 44 on June 29. That makes him the elder statesman of JGR by less than five months over teammate Denny Hamlin, a three-time winner so far this season.

“I did everything I could to keep it going,” Gibbs said of his efforts to retain Truex for another season. “I think we’ve got two 43-year-olds that are at the top of their game.”

Now in his 19th season of full-time Cup racing, Truex has accumulated 34 victories, 23 poles, 146 top fives and 287 top 10s in 673 starts. He also won consecutive NASCAR Xfinity Series titles in 2004 and 2005 with Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Chance 2 Motorsports.

Truex’s high-water mark in the Cup Series came in 2017. Driving for Furniture Row Racing and paired with crew chief Cole Pearn, he scored career bests in victories (eight) and top 10s (26) en route to the series championship, which he claimed with a win in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

After stints with Dale Earnhardt Inc., Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing, Michael Waltrip Racing and Furniture Row, Truex joined Joe Gibbs Racing in 2019. He won seven times that season and finished second in the final standings for the second straight year.

MORE: Truex through the years | Every Truex win in the Cup Series

Though winless so far this season, Truex currently is fifth in the Cup Series standings, despite running out of fuel and finishing 27th in last Sunday’s road course event at Sonoma Raceway.

NASCAR President Steve Phelps acknowledged Truex’s achievements in a statement extolling his successes as a competitor and a person.

“Martin Truex Jr. has been a consistent figure over the last two-plus decades in NASCAR — a consistent winner, champion and fan-favorite,” Phelps said. “Though he especially excelled on NASCAR’s biggest stages, Martin performed his craft with a quiet tenacity, allowing his immense success tell his incredible story.

“On behalf of the France Family and all of NASCAR, I congratulate Martin on a wonderful career and wish him the best of luck for the remainder of his final full-time season.”

As he plans his exit from full-time racing, Truex has few, if any, regrets.

“I would say I’ve achieved more than I ever thought I would,” he said. “That being said, there’s a lot of heartbreakers. There’s a lot of things you go back and think about like, ‘Man, if that had turned out different.’

“But a championship and three runners-up in this (elimination) format, I feel like that’s really good. I’m proud of what I’ve done. I feel like I gave it everything I had, and I feel I’m really, really good at what I did, so I’m happy with that—I’m content.”