June 17, 2024 | By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service

Ryan Blaney is first NASCAR Cup Series winner at Iowa Speedway

NEWTON, Ia. — This time, there was no unpleasant surprise waiting for Ryan Blaney near the finish line of a NASCAR Cup Series race.

Grabbing the lead on crew chief Jonathan Hassler’s two-tire call under the final caution of Sunday night’s Iowa Corn 350, Blaney led the final 88 laps of the inaugural Cup race at 0.875-mile Iowa Speedway.

In front of a large contingent of family and friends, the reigning series champion crossed the finish line 0.716 seconds ahead of runner-up William Byron, who was racing on four new tires after a pit stop under caution for Chris Buescher’s accident on Lap 260.

The victory was Blaney’s first of the season and the 11th of his career. Blaney now has won at Iowa Speedway in all three NASCAR national series, having triumphed in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series in 2012 and the Xfinity Series in 2015.

All told, the race winner led four times for 201 of 350 laps on a track that was repaved in the bottom two lanes in the corners.

“What a cool way to win here.  This place means a lot to me and means a lot to my mom (Lisa, from Chariton, Iowa),” said Blaney, who was leading June 2 at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway outside St. Louis before running out of fuel on the white-flag lap.

“We had a lot of people here tonight cheering us on, so they willed us to that one.  Overall, I really appreciate the whole (No. 12 team).  I mean, our car was really fast all night and we got a little bit better through the night, and two tires was a good call there.

“I didn’t know how well I was going to hold on.  I started to struggle a little bit at the end but had enough to hang on.  I’m super proud of the effort.”

Byron wasn’t surprised Blaney won the race on two fresh tires, given the quality of the Team Penske driver’s No. 12 Ford.

“No, he had a really good car, so he was up front and contending a lot, and him and the 5 (pole winner Kyle Larson) were really good,” Byron said. “So, we were just a step off of that, you know?

“I feel like I just needed to turn the center just a hair better and still kind of maintain the long run. Proud of the effort. It was a really good night, and I feel like we can learn from this and build from it to be a little bit better.”

In a race that featured eight cautions for 49 laps, Chase Elliott finished third, followed by Christopher Bell, who started from the rear of the field in a backup car after blowing a right front tire and crashing in Friday’s practice.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. came home fifth, with Joey Logano, Josh Berry, Alex Bowman, Daniel Suarez and Brad Keselowski completing the top 10.
The restart after the second stage break changed the entire dynamic of the race. Larson had just taken the green/checkered flag to claim his eighth stage victory of the season.

But on lap 220, one circuit after the final stage went green for the first time, contact from Suarez’s Chevrolet sent Larson’s Camaro spinning into the outside wall on the frontstretch, pinching Denny Hamlin’s Toyota into the barrier in the process.

Larson’s crew eventually repaired the wounded machine, but not until the 2021 champion had lost 31 laps in the garage. Larson finished 34th, 36 laps down and lost the series lead to Elliott, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate.

Larson, who led 80 laps on Sunday before the accident that waylaid him, trails Elliott by eight points with nine races left in the regular season. Next up for the Cup Series is the June 23 USA Today 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET on USA, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).


NASCAR Cup Series Race Number 17
Race Results for the Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol - Sunday, June 16, 2024
Iowa Speedway - Newton, IA - 0.875 - Mile Paved

Total Race Length - 350 Laps - 306.25 Miles

Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Sunday, 6/16/2024 @ 11:09 PM Eastern

Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Stage 1 Pos Stage 2 Pos Pts Status Tms Laps Playoff Pts
1 2 12 Ryan Blaney Advance Auto Parts Ford 350 1 4 57 Running 4 201 6
2 4 24 William Byron Liberty University Chevrolet 350 4  42 Running  
3 9 9 Chase Elliott NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 350 9 3 44 Running 1 1
4 10 20 Christopher Bell Rheem Toyota 350   33 Running 1 7
5 35 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Kroger/NOS Energy Drink Chevrolet 350   32 Running 1 4
6 11 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 350 6  36 Running  
7 3 4 Josh Berry # Overstock.com Ford 350 5 2 45 Running 2 32
8 33 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 350   29 Running  
9 13 99 Daniel Suarez Worldwide Express Chevrolet 350 3  36 Running 1 4
10 5 6 Brad Keselowski King's Hawaiian/Casey's Ford 350 8 9 32 Running 1 5
11 17 1 Ross Chastain Busch Light For The Farmers Chevrolet 350   26 Running  
12 14 38 Todd Gilliland Ruedebusch Ford 350  8 28 Running  
13 19 51 Justin Haley MotoRad Ford 350  10 25 Running  
14 20 77 Carson Hocevar # Premier Security Chevrolet 350   23 Running  
15 31 19 Martin Truex Jr. Reser's Fine Foods Toyota 349   22 Running  
16 23 10 Noah Gragson Bass Pro Shops Winchester Ford 349   21 Running  
17 16 23 Bubba Wallace McDonald's Toyota 349  5 26 Running  
18 15 17 Chris Buescher Fastenal Ford 349  7 23 Running 2 16
19 36 3 Austin Dillon Get Bioethanol Chevrolet 349   18 Running  
20 25 21 Harrison Burton Menards/MasterForce Tools Ford 349   17 Running  
21 24 7 Corey LaJoie Gainbridge/Iowa Hawkeyes Chevrolet 349 7  20 Running  
22 8 45 Tyler Reddick McDonald's Toyota 349   15 Running  
23 22 34 Michael McDowell Love's Travel Stops Ford 349   14 Running  
24 12 11 Denny Hamlin Interstate Batteries Toyota 348  6 18 Running  
25 27 54 Ty Gibbs Monster Energy Toyota 348   12 Running  
26 34 42 John Hunter Nemechek Dollar Tree Toyota 348   11 Running  
27 29 41 Ryan Preece Morton Buildings Ford 348   10 Running  
28 6 14 Chase Briscoe Mahindra USA 30 Years Ford 348   9 Running  
29 30 31 Daniel Hemric Cirkul Chevrolet 348   8 Running  
30 21 2 Austin Cindric Menards/Moen Ford 347   7 Running  
31 26 71 Zane Smith # Focused Health Chevrolet 347   6 Running  
32 32 43 Erik Jones Family Dollar Toyota 347   5 Running  
33 28 15 Kaz Grala # Remixers.com/Xemex Ford 345   4 Running  
34 1 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 314 2 1 22 Running 5 80 1
35 7 8 Kyle Busch zone/Kwik Trip Chevrolet 272 10  3 Water Pump  
36 18 16 AJ Allmendinger(i) Action Industries Chevrolet 54   0 Accident  

Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 58 Mins, 37 Secs. Average Speed: 102.874 MPH Margin of Victory: 0.716 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 12, 5, 99, 24, 4, 22, 7, 6, 9, 8
Stage 2 Top 10: 5, 4, 9, 12, 23, 11, 17, 38, 6, 51

.Caution Flags: 8 for 49 laps; Laps: 5-9 (No. 7, 71 Incident Turn 2 [None]); 53-58 (No. 16 Incident Turn 1 [77]); 72-77 (Stage 1 Conclusion [None]); 81-86 (No. 10, 42, 54 Incident Turn 4 [None]); 183-188 (No. 31 Incident Turn 2 [8]); 212-218 (Stage 2 Conclusion [1]); 221-227 (No. 5, 8, 11, 99 Incident Frontstretch [34]); 261-266 (No. 17 Incident Turn 1 [11]).

Lead Changes: 17 among 9 drivers; K. Larson 1; R. Blaney 2-9; K. Larson 10-54; D. Suarez 55-58; K. Larson 59-60; R. Blaney 61-77; K. Larson 78-83; R. Blaney 84-171; C. Elliott 172; C. Bell 173-179; B. Keselowski 180-184; R. Stenhouse Jr. 185-188; K. Larson 189-214; C. Buescher 215-227; J. Berry # 228; C. Buescher 229-231; J. Berry # 232-262; R. Blaney 263-350.

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

Next Race: June 23, 2024 - New Hampshire Motor Speedway

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