For just the second time since Iowa Speedway was constructed in 2006, the stars of the NASCAR Cup Series pay the .875-mile short track a visit to claim the almighty corn crown.
This short facility quickly gained a reputation for multi-groove racing where drivers rip the top line, carve along the apron, and slide across the seams in between to get the most out of their race cars.
Despite a poorly administered repave that threatened the quality of racing, Iowa still put up a solid show in last year’s inaugural event under the lights, and it’ll be looking for more fun in the Sun today.
The NASCAR playoffs loom large as only four races remain for the 23 drivers that have failed to bring home a victory this season. At a track that the teams have had so little time with in the Cup Series, it could make for an enthralling finish between drivers in desperate need of a playoff berth.
With a playoff spot on the line and a corn crown in sight, the stars of the NASCAR Cup Series storm towards the finish line at Iowa Speedway today, hoping to establish themselves as a threat for the Bill France Cup.
Last Week at Indianapolis…
Chase Briscoe took the pole last weekend with Bubba Wallace joining him on the front row, and after keeping himself in the mix all day, Wallace took a commanding lead when Joey Logano lost a tire with 26 laps to go.
On a 100-race winless drought, Wallace survived a threat of rain, a threat of fuel mileage, and a threat of the field on two overtime restarts to claim his third career victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last Sunday, which you can read more about here.
This Week in NASCAR
The biggest story within the industry this week surrounded Truck Series owner-driver Stewart Friesen. The 42-year-old racer wrecked his dirt late model at Autodrome Drummond in Quebec, Canada on Monday, July 28 that led to an airborne crash where his vehicle made contact with several cars on the ground.
Friesen was removed from the car by track safety personnel and transported to a local hospital where he was in serious but stable condition. The veteran racer suffered a compound leg fracture as well as multiple pelvic fractures that he has received successful surgery for throughout the week.
While Friesen will be out of his No. 52 Toyota Tundra for an indefinite period while he heals from his injuries, it appears a series of Toyta Gazoo Racing drivers will be holding down the fort for Halmar Friesen Racing with Christopher Bell taking over the truck for Watkins Glen next weekend.
Friesen’s horrific accident knocked out the Austin Hill storyline from being the focus of the week after the Richard Childress Racing driver took out his frustrations on Aric Almirola late in last week’s Xfinity race by hooking Almirola’s No. 19 Toyota in the right-rear quarter panel, sending him head-on into the outside wall.
NASCAR determined that the contact that led to the vicious wreck warranted a one-race suspension, which also incurs a secondary penalty that demands Hill sacrifice all of his playoff points from the regular season — both earned before the race and any collected during any other race between now and the postseason.
One of the brightest moments in NASCAR’s 2025 Cup Series schedule came when stock cars touched down in Mexico City to compete in the Cup and Xfinity Series, but instead of sharing a weekend next spring with the NTT IndyCar Series, NASCAR balked and decided to abandon Mexico City for 2026.
Rather than another road course, The Athletic’s Jordan Bianchi reports that the sport is aiming to return to the Chicagoland Speedway, which last hosted a race weekend all the way back in 2019 when Alex Bowman won his first career race after a late-race battle with Kyle Larson.
Kaulig Racing’s Xfinity team saw a shake-up of sorts as they elected to move on from driver Josh Williams. The 32-year-old racer failed to perform in Kaulig equipment, only netting 6 top-10s in 54 races in the No. 11 Chevy; it seems that a number of Team Chevy drivers will be filling that seat throughout the rest of 2025.
A pair of cars entered this weekend’s races that honor a former prominent Fox cartoon that even featured Dale Earnhardt Sr. in an early episode. King of the Hill’s revival on Hulu is being promoted by Garage 66 in the Cup Series and Emerling-Gase Motorsports in Xfinity, both cars being piloted by Joey Gase.
As for the biggest news of the week relating to NASCAR, the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds played a game on a makeshift field within the confines of Bristol Motor Speedway’s infield to a record-breaking crowd, but unfortunately, rain postponed it from primetime on Saturday to 1pm Eastern time today.
This week’s NASCAR Cup Series power rankings released on Friday afternoon as Jey and I hammered out the drivers we think are the 10 best drivers in the sport at the moment.
In the NASCAR Xfinity Series, The race seemed like it would come down to JR Motorsports teammates Sammy Smith, Ross Chastain, and Connor Zilisch midway through the final stage, but a poorly timed yellow for a Daniel Dye mechanical failure put Smith out of contention.
Zilisch got loose on a late restart, causing an accident that knocked himself, Chastain, and teammate Allgaier out of the race for the win and allowing Jesse Love and Sam Mayer to take the front row for the final restarts.
Love smoked Mayer on the first one, but when Matt DiBenedetto ran over Corey Day going into turn 1 a few laps later, the veteran driver’s 99 car left fluid all over turns 1 & 2. Seeing this incident, the CW booth called out that a yellow needed to be thrown.
After Love lost his half-second advantage and the lead to Mayer, top-5 runner Brandon Jones spun out in the oil, bringing out the race’s final caution with Mayer taking control of the restart.
Last year’s winner pulled away from Love in the final laps, scoring his first win with Haas Factory Team in the No. 41 car and going back-to-back at Iowa Speedway.
In qualifying for the Cup race, a familiar name took the pole: Chase Briscoe. For the sixth time this season, Chase Briscoe and the 19 team set the fastest lap with William Byron lining up beside him on the front row. For a full lineup, click here.
Since there has only been one race at Iowa to this point, we’ll be skipping The Race segment again this week.
The NASCAR Cup Series moves over from TNT to the NBC family of networks with today’s Iowa Corn 350 airing on USA Network at 3:30pm Eastern time with Leigh Diffey, Steve Letarte, and Jeff Burton in the booth.
The 350 in today’s race title represents the amount of laps to be completed today that will be split up into three stages ending at the following laps: 70-210-350.
Writer’s Pick
Believe it or not, but I’ve been on a roll over the last month, sweeping July with my fourth-consecutive writer’s pick victory after last week’s pick Bubba Wallace launched himself into the annals of Indianapolis history.
I’m going for the drive for five in a row by selecting defending Iowa winner, Ryan Blaney.
At this point in the season, it seems like the 12 team has been taking the summer to collect stage and playoff points as well as just generally finishing races, rather than winning them.
Now that the series is heading to a track with a similar profile to Phoenix Raceway, I expect the 12 team to turn the heat up on their competition to remind them that Blaney has finished no worse than second in points over the last two seasons after finishing second in three consecutive Phoenix finale races.
Despite their troubles throughout the season, Ryan Blaney has passed more cars this season than anyone else, so I suspect that he’ll parlay one of his best qualifying efforts of the season into his second win of 2025.
(Top Photo Credit: Charlie Neibergall/Getty Images)
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