For the second year in a row, the NASCAR Cup Series raced at Newton, Iowa for the Iowa Corn 350 at Iowa Speedway this past Sunday. Going into Sunday afternoon’s event, one of the major headlines was Richard Childress Racing having to pull out a backup car for Kyle Busch, after his #8 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet lost control and slammed the Turn 1 wall during practice on Saturday, as well as Chase Briscoe securing his sixth Pole of the season. The 2025 Iowa Corn 350 had exciting on-track battles, chaos and calamity and a finish that resulted in fuel mileage making all the difference.
Stage 1
The Green Flag dropped just after 3:30PM EST/12:30PM PST on USA Network, and commentator Leigh Diffey was ecstatic to kick of NBC’s portion of NASCAR for the remainder of the 2025 season. Polesitter, Chase Briscoe, took the outside line to start, as Byron claimed the lead not long after and Austin Cindric battled side-by-side for real estate as drivers had to manhandle their cars on the worn-out surface.
Charging through the pack was RFK Racing’s Brad Keselowski, as he powered through to second by Lap 40, challenging Byron, as he had to navigate his #24 Raptor Chevrolet through lapped traffic. Iowa Speedway is a 0.875-mile Short Track and it’s easy for the leaders to get caught in the swarm of lapped traffic.
Lapped traffic found itself on every grove of the racetrack, as Keselowski was able to nurse his #6 Solomon Plumbing Ford Mustang around Byron coming out of Turn 3 with three-to-go in Stage 1, as Byron was also passed by Cindric on the Frontstretch with two-to-go.
Stage 1 Results:
- Brad Keselowski; 10 Points + 1 Playoff Point
- Austin Cindric; 9 Points
- William Byron; 8 Points
- Ryan Blaney; 7 Points
- Chase Briscoe; 6 Points
- Kyle Larson; 5 Points
- Carson Hocevar; 4 Points
- Chase Elliott; 3 Points
- A.J. Allmendinger; 2 Points
- Justin Haley; 1 Point
Stage 2
During pit stops under caution, Alex Bowman and Ryan Preece were caught speeding on Pit Road, which results in a penalty that requires them to start at the tail of the field to begin Stage 2. When the Green Flag flew on Lap 80, Briscoe found himself in the lead once again, taking the outside lane for the second time in the afternoon. This time, Byron was left behind, battling defending Iowa winner, Ryan Blaney for second. Keselowski found himself fighting for third against Byron on Lap 83, as drivers favored the inside line that was repaved prior to the inaugural race. Keselowski was able to clear the #24 on Lap 97, while Briscoe fought to keep Blaney behind him.
On Lap 146, Byron came down pit road for a fresh set of four tires, as Briscoe came in ten laps later. Briscoe complained about his car being “too loose on entry” and being “too tight” in dirty air, so his crew made the appropriate adjustments during the four-tire stop.
On Lap 171, Shane Van Gisbergen lost control of his #88 Red Bull Chevrolet going into Turn 1, slamming the outside retaining wall. His vehicle was damaged, but he was able to continue after the caution came out.
The Green Flag came back out on Lap 177 with Blaney and Keselowski on the front row. Blaney chose the outside on the restart and went wheel-wheel with Keselowski, until Cody Ware spun on the Frontstretch on Lap 181. Another restart took place on Lap 186, with the Fords of Keselowski and Blaney once again out front to duke it out. In the middle of the pack, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott made contact, leaving Larson heated in the process. The track proved to be very racy, but drives couldn’t seem to keep control of their cars. On Lap 204, Todd Gilliland got loose going into Turn 1, collecting Ty Dillon, which sent him into the outside wall.
With two-to-go in Stage 2, Kyle Busch took the outside line, as Larson almost wrecked on the Frontstretch. Keselowski surged ahead of Blaney and Cindric, and was able to hang on to win his second Stage in a row, sweeping the stages.
Stage 2 Results:
- Brad Keselowski; 10 Points + 1 Playoff Point
- Ryan Blaney; 9 Points
- Austin Cindric; 8 Points
- Ty Gibbs; 7 Points
- Kyle Busch; 6 Points
- Josh Berry; 5 Points
- Alex Bowman; 4 Points
- Erik Jones; 3 Points
- Ryan Preece; 2 Points
- Austin Dillon; 1 Point
Final Stage
Keselowski led the field to begin the final stage on Lap 220, as Blaney, Berry and Gibbs followed suit behind the leaders. On Lap 222, Denny Hamlin lost control of his #11 Bob’s Furniture Toyota after going four-wide in the middle of the pack. Hamlin narrowly avoided collecting A.J. Allmendinger, but NASCAR still had to throw out the caution.
On the Lap 228 restart, it was looking like Keselowski was the car to beat, but further in the pack, Austin Dillon used the bottom of the racetrack to his advantage, until Zane Smith was sent into the Turn 1 wall by Carson Hocevar, prompting another yellow.
The next restart had the Team Penske teammates of Blaney and Cindric on the front row, with Blaney initially prevailing. Keselowski pitted under caution and had to work his way back up front. On Lap 239, Cindric went side-by-side with Blaney, until Briscoe collided with Erik Jones on the Frontstretch, prompting another caution on Lap 244.
The next restart saw Blaney restart alongside Josh Berry, as Austin Dillon drove up to fourth, until the Toyotas Christopher Bell and Tyler Reddick made contact, spinning into Turn 2.
On the Lap 261 restart, Cindric led Chase Elliott to Green, as the entire field got more aggressive with less than 90-to-go. Shane van Gisbergen once again had problems, spinning on the Frontstretch grass after making contact with Kyle Busch on Lap 264. Even on the next restart, after Elliott took the lead over Byron, Ty Dillon got loose coming out of Turn 4 on Lap 272.
The Lap 276 restart saw William Byron up front, before another caution came out for debris on Lap 282. A window came out of a car, so NASCAR didn’t have a choice but to throw out another redundant yellow flag.
The final restart saw Byron surge ahead of his teammates, as Blaney began charging through the pack, as did the RFK Racing teammates of Preece and Keselowski, but it was not enough for the Ford teammates. William Byron saved enough fuel to win his second race of the season and first since the season-opening Daytona 500.
What Drivers had to say after the race
William Byron had been so close to winning many races this season, including the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway and Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway earlier this year.
“Yeah, it was just a big relief,” Byron said in the Media Center. “I feel like we have been on the bad side of some fuel races, and everybody has been working super hard, and that was every ounce it took there at the end. Man, just so damn proud of this team. I feel like we have been through so much this year, and everybody has been working super hard and it showed there at the end.”
Last week’s Brickyard 400 winner, Bubba Wallace, was happy with his sixth-place finish after rebounding from running 32nd, due to his team having to fix a broken toe link after slamming the wall earlier in the race.
“I was just relaxed the whole time, really. It was interesting to see how things shake out. We had an up and down day. I was ready to just debrief the whole car mid-race and figure out what we need to do to just wholesale it. We had our issues and just fought really hard to get our Alltroo (Toyota) Camry back in the top-10. I felt really good firing off and I was really hesitant on how that was going to last and here with are P6 after all of that. After the middle part of the race if you would have told me we would finish sixth I would have told you alright.”
Brad Keselowski, who had a trying season up until this point, was relieved to leave the Hawkeye State with a top-5 finish, coming home in third. The Michigan driver has momentum to build on, before the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Watkins Glen International this weekend, a track he found success at in 2011.
W”e had so many yellows in stage three that it got the 24 and the 19 where they could make it on fuel pitting way outside the window. We just couldn’t get back by them. Got back by a lot of guys. Restarted 24th there I think after we pitted. Got all the way back up to third but that was as far as I could get. Great run for both of our RFK cars. Obviously, we want to win but we’re in contention, that’s for sure. We will keep putting solid runs on the board and I think this will come to us. We have some pretty strong Ford Mustangs right now. Blaney was really fast there at the end. He had a little bit newer tires and he was running us down. I feel like I was going to get the 19 but Blaney was going to pass me. It was a solid day, we just needed a few more things to go our way.”
The NASCAR Cup Series leaves Iowa Speedway with three-to-go before the Playoffs begin and with Watkins Glen International coming up, this 2.45-mile Road Course is an opportunity race for drivers like Brad Keselowski, last year’s race winner Chris Buescher and Michael McDowell, who’s always fast on road courses. The Go Bowling at the Glen will see the Green Flag at 2:00PM EST/11:00PM PST on USA Network and after last year’s thrilling finish, the New York racetrack is definitely going to make jaws drop.
Every Man on Every Crew, LLC. 
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