Ryan Blaney got a big Iowa win in front of many family members. (Photo: James Gilbert | Getty Images)
NEWTON, Iowa – After leading a career-high 201 of 350 laps in the Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol, Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney won the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway.
Blaney dominated the Cup Series debut race in the Hawkeye State and finally found himself back in Victory Lane for the first time since becoming a champion at the premier level.
“What a cool way to win here,” Blaney said. “This place means a lot to me and means a lot to my mom. We had a lot of people here tonight cheering us on, so they willed us to that one. Overall, I really appreciate the whole 12 boys.
“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 gonna 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.”
The driver of the No. 12 Advance Auto Parts Ford had to hold off a hard-charging William Byron, who seemed like a late contender to win his fourth race in 2024.
Byron took four tires instead of two on the final stop, but just could not get close enough to Blaney to make a move. Byron said he was not surprised that Blaney managed to hang on for the win.
“No, he had a really good car, so he was up front and contending a lot, and him and the 5 (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.”
Results from the 2024 Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol at Iowa Speedway are listed below:
Other Race Facts
Since this was the first NASCAR Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway, Ryan Blaney made history in different ways. He was the first to win in Cup and the first driver to win at the track in all three national series.
The 12th week of the #GRIDRanking saw Alex Palou move up in the top 10, and Will Power dropped out of the top 10, allowing Elfyn Evans in the top 10! #F1 | #ABBFormulaE | #INDYCAR | #MotoGP | #NASCAR | #RepcoSC | #WRC pic.twitter.com/jImm1Lm4mL
— GRID Network (@GridNetworkTV) June 24, 2024
The other two Arrow McLaren drivers failed to finish the race after a monstrous multi-car wreck on Lap 73. It started with Pato O’Ward, who spun tail first into the outside wall of Turn 1.
O’Ward reported that his rear locked up to cause the spin after running in sixth. Stuck broadside in one of the narrowest parts of the track, and with a delayed yellow flag, Marcus Ericsson had nowhere to go and wedged himself next to the stranded O’Ward.
Pietro Fittipaldi and Santino Ferrucci also had nowhere to go as both drivers ramped off the nose of O’Ward before Nolan Siegel would make a huge impact, destroying his car and pushing teammate O’Ward to the middle of the track. Toby Sowery was also involved.
“I am so surprised IndyCar didn’t call a yellow,” O’Ward said. “You’re just calling for a massive shunt. They had a solid five seconds to call yellow and tell everyone that was coming.”
Toyota had a day to forget as they only had one car inside the top 10 (Christopher Bell, fourth), with the rest of their drivers finishing 15th or worse.
Kyle Larson, who seemed to be the only driver that could go toe-for-toe with Blaney, crashed on the frontstretch in the final stage which took him out of contention. Larson still won Stage 2 and earned 22 points despite finishing 34th.
The 2024 Cup Series season is up to 10 different winners, which means six spots are still up for grabs before the NASCAR Playoffs.
GRID Ranking
The 2024 GRID Ranking is the eighth year of the world’s premier motorsport ranking and was initially released on Sunday, April 7.
The official ranking includes drivers that participate in seven racing series (NASCAR, IndyCar, Formula 1, Formula E, World Rally Championship, Repco Supercars, MotoGP), and each driver earns GRID Ratings, which help determine their seeding in the GRID Ranking.
|
DRIVER |
OLD RATING |
PREVIOUS RANKING |
MOST RECENT FINISH |
NEW RATING |
NEW RANKING |
|
William Byron |
12.19 |
19th |
2nd |
13.05 |
15th |
|
Kyle Larson |
13.06 |
15th |
34th |
12.24 |
18th |
|
Denny Hamlin |
12.38 |
18th |
24th |
11.61 |
21st |
|
Brad Keselowski |
12.00 |
T-21st |
10th |
11.34 |
22nd |
|
Christopher Bell |
10.37 |
25th |
4th |
10.80 |
24th |
Week 11 of the GRID Ranking:
Week 11 saw no change in the top 10, but Will Brown lost 0.32 points to Sebastien Ogier, and Feeney gained 1.78 after sweeping the weekend at Darwin.
— GRID Network (@GridNetworkTV) June 17, 2024
Kyle Larson slid from 15th to 18th.#F1 | #ABBFormulaE | #INDYCAR | #MotoGP | #NASCAR | #RepcoSC | #WRC pic.twitter.com/jYfEv3TOs2
William Byron, the 2023 NASCAR GRID Rating Champion, is back at the top after his runner-up finish at Iowa.
The next race on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the USA Today 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Coverage will begin at 2:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.
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