William Byron Saves Enough Fuel in Caution-Filled Race to Win Iowa Corn 350
- Jeffrey Hrunka
- Aug 3
- 4 min read
Jeffrey Hrunka - INDYCAR Contributor
No need to stop for gas.
William Byron saved enough fuel to win the Iowa Corn 350 at Iowa Speedway on Sunday night. Heavily aided by a season-high and track-high 12 cautions, he led 141 laps and stretched his fuel 45 laps past the fuel window en route to his second victory of the season.
“When I was a kid, the iRacing (racing simulator) schedule would always line up with the racetracks in the summer,” Byron said. “I feel like that's why it's been a good track for me, is I just have thousands of laps kind of in my head of how the rhythm of this place goes.”
Byron entered this weekend in a four-way title fight for the NASCAR Cup Series regular season points lead, four points back from teammate Chase Elliott, 15 points ahead of Kyle Larson, and 20 points ahead of Denny Hamlin.
While Elliott was in the mix early, finishing 14th, Hamlin and Larson had issues passing through traffic, with the duo crossing the line in 24th and 28th, respectively.
“Hopefully, we can just put three good weeks together on that end of things,” Byron said. "Right now, I think it's right now and through the week, it's just going to be about getting over the hump of another win. That momentum is going to help us gather points."
Outside of Byron, Chase Briscoe and Brad Keselowski dominated the early portions of the race, combining for 149 laps in second and third place.”
Briscoe continued the streak of winless pole sitters at short tracks dating back to 2019. Hamlin was the last driver to win from the pole position at a short track, doing so at the 2019 Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. The result also marked the sixth race that Briscoe won the Busch Light Pole Award on Saturday, without pulling into victory lane on Sunday.
“I just needed a cleaner day,” Briscoe said. I did not have a good race.”
Before the multitude of cautions at the beginning of the final stage, Keselowski was the car to beat, sweeping both stages, before pitting from the lead on Lap 230 in an effort to beat the field on one less pit stop. That spelled his downfall, as six consecutive cautions allowed Byron, who pitted on Lap 206, to save enough fuel to reach the end of the race.
Keselowski rallied to third for his second consecutive top-five finish and sits 19th in the points standings, inside the top 20, for the first time this season. He is 121 points behind teammate Chris Buescher, who is the last driver inside the playoffs. With three races left in the regular season, he is effectively in a must-win scenario.
“ I just feel like we can win any of these next three races,” Keselowski said. “Ultimately, we need to get wins and we know that.”
Physicality defined the second half of this race.
Iowa Speedway's partial repavement of all four turns changed the “Fastest Short Track On The Planet” into a one-groove racetrack. Mix that with a tire compound that had no fall off, and drivers had to get creative on how to pass one another.
The race went without an incident-induced caution for 160 laps until rookie Shane Van Gisbergen spun down the front straightaway. In those green flag laps, it became apparent to drivers that passing wasn’t going to be easy. In turn, the ensuing 11 cautions stemmed from single-car incidents or solo spins with drivers on edge because of the track’s condition.
“Once this tire seems to get hot, it just tanks,” Alex Bowman, seventh-place finisher, said.
Byron’s victory guaranteed that with three races left, a winner won’t be left out of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. Unless Tyler Reddick, who sits 97 points behind points leader Byron, wins the regular season championship without winning in the final three races. Then, the lowest one-time winner in points will not advance to the postseason. However, accomplishing that feat without a win is unlikely.
Reddick (+112), Bowman (+63), and Chris Buescher (+27) hold the final three points positions above Preece, who is the first car out of the postseason by 23 points. Preece and Bowman both finished inside the top ten, in fifth and seventh, respectively. Buscher (19th) and Reddick (22nd) had days to forget, as the duo finished 15th or worse.
“Yeah, I feel like we are coming together as a team,” Preece said. “Little bites, little bites, and little bites, and eventually we will become like Brad.”
Byron is the second driver to complete the sweep (winning in all three series at one track) at Iowa Speedway. The first was Inaugural winner Ryan Blaney, who achieved the feat last season.
“This is just a big relief to have [a fuel mileage race] kind of go our way,” Byron said. ‘We've just been running so well this year, I feel like it's, you know, this is, this is going to be a big momentum boost for our team.”
Iowa Corn 350 Results:
William Byron #24 - (LEADER)
Chase Briscoe #19 -1.192s
Brad Keselowski #6 -1.378s
Ryan Blaney #12 -1.499s
Ryan Preece #60 -4.199s
Bubba Wallace #23 -5.490s
Alex Bowman #48 -6.763s
Carson Hocevar #77 -7.263s
Joey Logano #22 -7.465s
Austin Dillon #3 -7.681s
Ross Chastain #1 -8.406s
Austin Cindric #2 -8.678s
Josh Berry #21 -10.064s
Chase Elliott #9 -12.214s
John Hunter Nemechek #42 -12.778s
Erik Jones #43 -13.039s
Christopher Bell #20 -13.172s
Aj Allmendinger #16 -13.354s
Tyler Reddick #45 -13.384s
Kyle Busch #8 -13.930s
Ty Gibbs #54 -15.405s
Chris Buescher #17 -15.815s
Justin Haley #7 -17.373s
Denny Hamlin #11 -18.111s
Daniel Suarez #99 -18.833s
Cole Custer #41 -19.008s
Michael McDowell #71 -20.252s
Kyle Larson #5 -20.918s
Noah Gragson #4 -21.842s
Riley Herbst #35 (R) -21.925s
Shane Van Gisbergen #88 (R) -1 Lap Down
Cody Ware #51 -1 Lap Down
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. #47 3 Laps Down
Todd Gilliand #34 -3 Laps Down
Ty Dillon #10 -4 Laps Down
Zane Smith #38 -6 Laps Down
Joey Gase #66 -10 Laps Down
The NASCAR Cup Series returns at Watkins Glen International for the Go Bowling! At The Glen on Aug. 10, on the USA Network.
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