NASCAR Cup Iowa: Reigning champion Blaney earns first win of 2024

Sunday night’s race was the first for the Cup series at the track, which had hosted Xfinity, Truck, ARCA and IndyCar rounds previously.

In a race where teams were wary of tyre wear – and several paid the price by hitting the wall – Blaney and his #12 Penske Ford team mastered the strategy.

On the final caution of the race, Blaney was first out of the pits having taken two new right-side tyres. The race, which had eight cautions in total, ended with an 84-lap green-flag run to the finish and Blaney was never seriously challenged for the lead.

William Byron and Chase Elliott, who both took four new tyres on the final stop, tried to run Blaney down but to no avail. Blaney edged Byron by 0.716 seconds to secure his first win of the year.

Blaney led four times for a race-high 201 laps on his way to the 11th win of his career and the second triumph for Penske in the last three races. It was Blaney’s team-mate, Austin Cindric, who won at Gateway two weeks ago when Blaney ran out of fuel on the final lap while leading.

"What a cool way to win here. This place means a lot to me and means a lot to my mom," said Blaney, whose mother, Lisa, grew up in Chariton, Iowa. "We had a lot of people here tonight cheering us on, so they willed us to that one.

Race winner Ryan Blaney, Team Penske, Advance Auto Parts Ford Mustang (Photo by: Danny Hansen / NKP / Motorsport Images)

"Our car was really fast all night and we got a little bit better through the night and two tyres [on the final pitstop] was a good call. 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."

With Elliott third, Christopher Bell charged from the rear of the field in a back-up car to take fourth place, as Ricky Stenhouse Jr rounded out the top five.

Kyle Larson, who went from 33rd to first in Stage 2 earlier in the race, looked a strong contender to win until Daniel Suarez clipped his left-rear corner on lap 220, which sent him up the track and into the side of Denny Hamlin.

Larson ended up 34th at the finish having suffered heavy car damage, while Hamlin could only climb to 24th.

NASCAR Cup Iowa - Race results

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info

1

 - 

4

Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Interval	Pits	Points	Retirement
1	R. Blaney Team Penske	12		Ford	350	2:58'36.749		6	57
2	W. Byron Hendrick Motorsports	24		Chevrolet	350	+0.716 2:58'37.465	0.716	7	42
3	C. Elliott Hendrick Motorsports	9		Chevrolet	350	+2.147 2:58'38.896	1.431	7	44
4	C. Bell Joe Gibbs Racing	20		Toyota	350	+4.881 2:58'41.630	2.734	7	33
5	R. Stenhouse Jr. JTG Daugherty Racing	47		Chevrolet	350	+11.586 2:58'48.335	6.705	11	32
6	J. Logano Team Penske	22		Ford	350	+12.264 2:58'49.013	0.678	7	36
7	J. Berry Stewart-Haas Racing	4		Ford	350	+12.876 2:58'49.625	0.612	8	45
8	A. Bowman Hendrick Motorsports	48		Chevrolet	350	+13.121 2:58'49.870	0.245	7	29
9	D. Suarez TrackHouse Racing	99		Chevrolet	350	+15.669 2:58'52.418	2.548	8	36
10	B. Keselowski RFK Racing	6		Ford	350	+15.780 2:58'52.529	0.111	7	32
11	R. Chastain TrackHouse Racing	1		Chevrolet	350	+17.395 2:58'54.144	1.615	9	26
12	T. Gilliland Front Row Motorsports	38		Ford	350	+17.471 2:58'54.220	0.076	6	28
13	J. Haley Rick Ware Racing	51		Ford	350	+22.560 2:58'59.309	5.089	9	25
14	C. Hocevar Spire Motorsports	77		Chevrolet	350	+23.918 2:59'00.667	1.358	10	23
15	M. Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing	19		Toyota	349	+1 Lap 2:58'39.589	1 Lap	10	22
16	N. Gragson Stewart-Haas Racing	10		Ford	349	+1 Lap 2:58'40.297	0.708	9	21
17	B. Wallace 23XI Racing	23		Toyota	349	+1 Lap 2:58'41.920	1.623	8	26
18	C. Buescher RFK Racing	17		Ford	349	+1 Lap 2:58'46.747	4.827	8	23
19	A. Dillon Richard Childress Racing	3		Chevrolet	349	+1 Lap 2:58'51.253	4.506	7	18
20	H. Burton Wood Brothers Racing	21		Ford	349	+1 Lap 2:58'51.837	0.584	8	17
21	C. Lajoie Spire Motorsports	7		Chevrolet	349	+1 Lap 2:58'52.087	0.250	10	20
22	T. Reddick 23XI Racing	45		Toyota	349	+1 Lap 2:58'56.813	4.726	8	15
23	M. McDowell Front Row Motorsports	34		Ford	349	+1 Lap 2:58'57.416	0.603	11	14
24	D. Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing	11		Toyota	348	+2 Laps 2:58'42.046	1 Lap	10	18
25	T. Gibbs Joe Gibbs Racing	54		Toyota	348	+2 Laps 2:58'44.595	2.549	8	12
26	J. Nemechek Legacy Motor Club	42		Toyota	348	+2 Laps 2:58'46.998	2.403	7	11
27	R. Preece Stewart-Haas Racing	41		Ford	348	+2 Laps 2:58'50.238	3.240	9	10
28	C. Briscoe Stewart-Haas Racing	14		Ford	348	+2 Laps 2:58'51.385	1.147	7	9
29	D. Hemric Kaulig Racing	31		Chevrolet	348	+2 Laps 2:58'58.177	6.792	10	8
30	A. Cindric Team Penske	2		Ford	347	+3 Laps 2:58'40.900	1 Lap	8	7
31	Z. Smith Spire Motorsports	71		Chevrolet	347	+3 Laps 2:58'41.365	0.465	7	6
32	E. Jones Legacy Motor Club	43		Toyota	347	+3 Laps 2:59'00.112	18.747	8	5
33	K. Grala Rick Ware Racing	15		Ford	345	+5 Laps 2:58'56.698	2 Laps	12	4
34	K. Larson Hendrick Motorsports	5		Chevrolet	314	+36 Laps 2:58'53.825	31 Laps	15	22
35	K. Busch Richard Childress Racing	8		Chevrolet	272	+78 Laps 2:32'59.940	42 Laps	10	3	Water pump
36	A. Allmendinger Kaulig Racing	16		Chevrolet	54	+296 Laps 32'26.673	218 Laps	5		Accident
View full results