NEWTON, IA — In the 23rd round of the NASCAR Cup Series, William Byron parlayed a great qualifying effort into his second victory of the season after holding off Chase Briscoe, Brad Keselowski, and a hard-charging Ryan Blaney to take the win at Iowa Speedway.
To start the day, Byron lined up on the front row with Briscoe with the 19 team claiming their sixth pole of 2025, but it was Byron’s No. 24 Raptor car getting a great run through turns 1 & 2 to come out with the lead on lap 1.
Byron set sail from there before some minor shuffling took place amongst the top-5 runners. The driver that came out on the high end of the shuffle was none other than RFK Racing owner-driver Brad Keselowski.
The 41-year-old racer rose quickly from his fifth-place starting spot to challenge Byron for the lead around lap 40, but due to Iowa’s repave in the corners, passing became a more difficult task than it used to be around the World’s Fastest Short Track.
After battling with Keselowski and lapped traffic, Byron eventually gave way to the 6 car after a mild nudge into turn 3 as the laps wound down on stage 1, handing Keselowski his first playoff point of the season.
STAGE 1 RESULTS
- Brad Keselowski
- Austin Cindric
- William Byron
- Ryan Blaney
- Chase Briscoe
- Kyle Larson
- Carson Hocevar
- Chase Elliott
- AJ Allmendinger
- Justin Haley
All of the lead lap cars ducked onto pit road for service after the stage 1 caution flew with Briscoe and Byron coming out first and second with Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski making up the second row.
Blaney’s Wabash Ford scooted by Keselowski and Byron on the lap 80 restart and immediately hounded Briscoe’s Bass Pro Shops Toyota for much of the next 50 laps. That is until lap 131 when the 2023 Cup champion faded a bit too high on the entry to turn 1, allowing his former teammate to duck beneath him to take the runner-up spot.
Not long after, Bubba Wallace kicked off a sequence of green-flag pit stops that brought down the likes of Byron, Kyle Larson, Carson Hocevar, Christopher Bell, and Chase Elliott, among others. Briscoe abdicated the lead when he went to the pits on lap 155, handing the lead back to Keselowski.
As Keselowski and Blaney stayed on track, the cars with fresh tires began making up time on the leaders, but not enough to unlap themselves as Shane van Gisbergen’s Red Bull Camaro clattered the outside wall in turn 2 on lap 169, bringing out the race’s second caution.
Though it wouldn’t be known at the time, this yellow turned the race completely on its head.
Just as Blaney motored by Keselowski to reclaim the lead on the following restart, Cody Ware spun out on the frontstretch to bring out the third caution of the day.
On the ensuing restart, Keselowski snagged the lead again from Blaney and appeared to be cruising to a sweep of the first two stages prior to another yellow for a dustup between Todd Gilliland and Ty Dillon that saw Dillon’s Kaulig Racing machine back it into the turn 1 wall.
Though not by design, it was under this caution that William Byron made what ended up being his final pit stop on lap 206, a 144-lap stint on one take of fuel.
In a two-lap sprint to the stage finish, Keselowski leapt ahead to sweep the stages while stage 1 points earner Carson Hocevar got wiped out on the final lap by John Hunter Nemechek.
STAGE TWO RESULTS
- Brad Keselowski
- Ryan Blaney
- Austin Cindric
- Ty Gibbs
- Kyle Busch
- Josh Berry
- Alex Bowman
- Erik Jones
- Ryan Preece
- Austin Dillon
Keselowski and Blaney stayed out and assumed the front row for the start of the final stage on lap 220, but much like the restarts before the stage ended, the yellow returned to the skies when Denny Hamlin tried to split a group of cars four-wide and spun out in the third turn.
Briscoe made his inevitable final stop on lap 224 along with a few other drivers. Yet another caution flew when two drivers that just stopped — former teammates Carson Hocevar and Zane Smith — tangled in turn 1 with Smith’s Front Row Motorsports Ford contacting the outside wall. Brad Keslowski gave up the lead to pit.
Not long after the restart, Penske stablemates Blaney and Cindric had what was shaping up to be a tight battle for the top spot before another caution waved, this time due to contact between Erik Jones and Briscoe with Jones getting the worst of it by spinning through the infield. It was during this caution that Blaney brought his car down for service.
This wasn’t the only Legacy Motor Club-related issue as John Hunter Nemechek pushed last week’s winner Bubba Wallace into the fence coming out turn 4, sending Wallace’s Alltroo Camry to the pits to fix a broken toe link that put him multiple laps down.
The racing didn’t continue much longer without Briscoe bowling into another Toyota teammate, this time clipping 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick’s left-rear quarter panel entering turn 1, sending him sliding into Briscoe’s teammate Christopher Bell to bring out the race’s ninth caution.
Not long after, the tenth caution followed for another spin on the fronstretch; this time, it was for Shane van Gisbergen after contact with Kyle Busch on lap 263.
After Austin Cindric pitted, Chase Elliott and Josh Berry — both drivers having an impossible path ahead of them to make it to the end — stayed out and controlled the restart before another yellow came out for a second Ty Dillon spin. This yellow finally brought the rest of the leaders that hadn’t pit down to pit road for tires and fuel.
Just when it seemed the calamity might be coming to an end, the final caution waved on lap 281 for Todd Gilliland’s side window falling off of his car on the backstretch. This 12th yellow flag put Bubba Wallace back on the lead lap with fresh tires and no fuel issues to speak of going into the sprint to the finish from 32nd place.
The race restarted for the final time on lap 287 with William Byron claiming the holeshot over Briscoe while the 19 had to fend off a hungry crowd including Preece, Keselowski, and Bowman before settling in ahead of that group.
The word on William Byron’s radio the entire run to the finish: save.
And, save he did as Byron got every last drop accounted for in the final 64 laps, holding onto a one-second advantage for much of the final run to win his 15th career race and his first since the Daytona 500 in February.
Briscoe finished second with Keselowski, Blaney, and Preece filling in the top-5 spots while Wallace, Bowman, Hocevar, Joey Logano, and Austin Dillon rounded out the top-10. For full results, click here.
Next week’s race sees the NASCAR Cup Series head to the winding New York road course known as Watkins Glen International. The race will air on USA Network starting at 2pm Eastern time.
(Top Photo Credit: NASCAR/Getty Images)
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