NEWTON, Iowa — A look at the winners and losers from Sunday’s Cup race at Iowa Speedway.
WINNERS
William Byron — After running out of fuel at Michigan and Indianapolis this summer and losing top-five finishes, Byron stretched his fuel — with the help of cautions — to win at Iowa Speedway. It’s his first victory since the Daytona 500. Byron led a race-high 141 laps. He retook the points lead from teammate Chase Elliott. Byron leads Elliott by 18 points with three races left in the regular season.
Cup drivers recap Iowa race won by Byron
Hear from William Byron, Ryan Preece, Chase Briscoe, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney, Bubba Wallace and Alex Bowman following the NASCAR Cup Series race at Iowa.
Chase Briscoe — His second-place finish is the third time in the last four races he’s been a runner-up. Briscoe has placed first or second in four of the last seven races.
Second place ‘a good recovery’ for Briscoe at Iowa
Chase Briscoe takes responsibility for an in-race incident with his Toyota teammates but is happy to come home second after recovering from a caution that “trapped” him deep in the field.
Brad Keselowski — It wasn’t the win he needed to make the playoffs, but his third-place finish was his seventh top-10 finish in the last 11 races. He had no top-10 results in the season’s first 12 races. Sunday’s result came after he started a season-best fifth. He scored a race-high 55 points after winning both stages and posting the fastest lap of the race.
Brad Keselowski finished third — his seventh top-10 result in the last 11 races — but he needs a win to make the playoffs.
Ryan Blaney — Last year’s Iowa winner finished fourth and scored 49 points, second only to Brad Keselowski’s total.
Blaney ‘surprised’ to catch leaders late at Iowa
Ryan Blaney was “surprised” to see the leaders fall off as much as they did in the closing laps at Iowa but wasn’t able to leapfrog out of a fourth-place finish with family support at Iowa Speedway.
Ryan Preece — He followed his fourth-place finish at Indianapolis by placing fifth at Iowa. He gained 19 points on Chris Buescher and trails his RFK Racing teammate by 23 points for the final playoff spot with three races left in the regular season.
Preece recaps ‘eventful’ day at Iowa, top-5 finish
Ryan Preece chats with Marty Snider and Dale Jarrett about his “eventful” day at Iowa Speedway, which secured back-to-back top five finishes, and knows it will take “perseverance” to insert his name into the playoffs.
Bubba Wallace — With fresher tires, Wallace gained seven spots in the final 17 laps to place sixth. That gives him three consecutive top-10 finishes, which includes his Indianapolis win. This is his longest top-10 streak of the season.
Here’s what drivers were saying after a caution-plagued short track race in Newton, Iowa.
LOSERS
Kyle Larson — He finished 28th — his worst finish on an oval since placing 37th in the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend. Larson expressed frustration on the team’s radio with contract from fellow competitors in the race. He entered the race 15 points from the points leader. He’s now 45 points back.
Chris Buescher — His 22nd-place finish tied for his worst finish in the last 13 races. He continues to hold the final playoff spot but saw his advantage on RFK Racing teammate Ryan Preece shrink to 23 points.
Noah Gragson — He finished 29th, marking the fifth consecutive race he’s placed 29th or worse.
