Brad Keselowski finishes third at Iowa Speedway after two stage wins
The NASCAR Cup Series veteran looked to have the car to beat in the Iowa Corn 350 but came up two spots short after some bad strategy luck.
- William Byron won the Iowa Corn 350 NASCAR Cup Series race, conserving fuel to beat Chase Briscoe and Brad Keselowski.
- The race saw 12 cautions, tying the season high, but the final 64 laps were caution-free.
- Ryan Blaney, with family ties to Iowa, finished fourth after winning the previous year’s race at the same track.
NEWTON — William Byron survived a demolition derby in the Aug. 3 NASCAR Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway by using every drop of fuel left in his tank.
The Iowa Corn 350 featured a flurry of cautions in the middle of the race, but ultimately Byron won when he stretched his fuel to hold off pole sitter Chase Briscoe and Brad Keselowski.
The 2024 race had eight cautions, six for cause, over the first 266 laps, and the final 84 laps ran caution-free. This year’s race ran caution-free for 168 laps, other than the break at the end of stage one. Trackhouse Racing’s Shane Van Gisbergen, sponsored in part by West Des Moines grocery chain Hy-Vee this week, spun on Lap 169. In all there were 12 cautions for 72 laps, but the final 64 laps went caution-free.
Byron’s win by saving fuel capped a wild race in which there were 27 passes for the lead, up from 20 in 2024, and 2,861 on-track passes. Byron also won a 2016 NASCAR Truck Series race and a 2017 Xfinity Series race at Iowa Speedway.
Last year Byron was beaten in a duel by Ryan Blaney in the inaugural Iowa Corn 350. Byron said he had to save every drop of fuel on his final run and back off the throttle. But he had enough fuel to do a cool-down lap and a burnout.
The win was Byron’s second of the season, and his first since he won the season-opening Daytona 500 on Feb. 16. Afterward Byron said he never had the speed to beat Blaney in the 2024 race, but was thrilled with his win in 2025.
“It was amazing that we could continue to stretch it or keep the same gap to second, even saving fuel,” Byron said.
‘It has just been a mess’
Van Gisbergen spun a second time. Ty Dillon, whose car also was sponsored by Hy-Vee this week, also spun out twice. The race tied a May race at Texas Motor Speedway for the most in a Cup Series race this season with 12 cautions.
“It has just really been a mess,” USA Network analyst Steve LeTarte said on the broadcast on Lap 294.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chase Briscoe repeatedly called Iowa one of his favorite tracks leading up to the race. Briscoe won the pole for the Iowa Corn 350. Winning the pole felt “neat,” he said.
“This has always been a place that’s been good to me,” Briscoe said. “It does drive totally different. There are still some things that you can do here that you used to be able to do before they repaved it.”
Keselowski won stage one after Byron led most of the stage. Then Keselowski won a two-lap shootout at the end of stage two after Dillon spun on Lap 191.
Keselowski battled Blaney, his former Team Penske teammate, for much of stage two and they picked up their fight at the beginning of stage three. Keselowski pitted during a caution around Lap 224, cycling him to the back. Blaney pitted on a caution around Lap 240 after Erik Jones spun. In all, Keselowski led 68 laps.
Afterward Briscoe, who finished second, said he could get close to Byron but couldn’t pass him.
“I got to William, and then once I got there, I just kind of died,” Briscoe said. “I didn’t have anything else left, and he was able to drive away there.”
NASCAR, which owns the track, partially repaved areas low in all four corners in May 2024.
“Wish they would’ve repaved this place all the way to the wall just so we can move around,” Briscoe said. “You’re limited in where you can run. Maybe next year we will come back and they will repave it all the way to the wall.”
Bubba Wallace, who won the July 27 Brickyard 400, rallied from down two laps to finish sixth. In the middle of the race Wallace “tagged the wall” and bent a toe link but fought back, he said.
“It feels awesome to rebound the way we did from where we were at,” Wallace said. “I thought our day was going OK. Then we got trapped there on strategy and got stuck … All in all, really hard-fought day.”
How did drivers with Iowa ties do?
Cedar Rapids native Joey Gase started his first Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway No. 36. Gase finished last in No. 37, 10 laps down.
Blaney won the 2024 race, the first NASCAR Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway, in front of 85 friends and family members. Blaney’s mother is from Chariton and he spent time in central Iowa at his grandparents’ house last year. His grandmother died since then. So he was happy she could see his win here last year.
Blaney drove from North Carolina to Iowa each winter for Christmas, and spent significant time visiting in Chariton and Ankeny.
The Iowa Corn 350 is not one of NASCAR’s four “Crown Jewels.” But for Blaney it means a lot because of his central Iowa ties.
“To me personally it was a crown jewel because of my ties to here,” Blaney said. “It’s really special to come back … In my heart it’s a Crown Jewel.”
On Sunday Blaney raced again in front of 80 friends and family members en route to a fourth-place finish. After wiping sweat away after getting out of his car on pit road, Blaney said he was too far back on the final restart to win.
“Proud of the whole weekend,” Blaney said.
Drivers say passing was hard
Afterward Briscoe and Blaney said that despite numbers indicating otherwise, passing was tough throughout the day. Drivers could get to the back of their competitors, but couldn’t pass once they got there because of “dirty air” or essentially turbulence near passing cars.
“Everyone was just super free, everyone was spinning out everywhere,” Blaney said. “It’s hard to commit under somebody when the preferred lane was a lane or so up. Being so free it was hard to dive in there and trust anything.”
All the cautions came on restarts because once traffic got strung out, it was impossible to pass, Briscoe said.
“On restarts you’re making these huge desperation moves and high-risk moves,” Briscoe said. “You’re trying to get everything you can.”
Philip Joens covers retail, real estate and motorsports for the Des Moines Register. He can be reached at 515-284-8184 or pjoens@registermedia.com.
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