This past weekend the NASCAR Cup Series ventured to Iowa and the “World’s Fastest Short Track” at Iowa Speedway. Ryan Blaney captured the pole for this weekend holding off both his teammate in Joey Logano as well as Kyle Larson who shared the same time to the hundredth.
Blaney led the field to green, it only took four laps for calamity to strike as Tyler Reddick got sideways into one and collected Erik Jones, ending both their days early. The rest of stage one ran caution free as Blaney led every lap en route to a stage victory.
Stage One Results:
- Ryan Blaney
- Joey Logano
- Kyle Larson
- Ty Gibbs
- Austin Dillon
- Ross Chastain
- Christopher Bell
- Chase Briscoe
- Connor Zilisch
- Zane Smith
During stage break pit stops Ty Gibbs had issues on his right rear during the pit stop relegated him to 29th from his fourth place stage finish. Carson Hocevar also pits multiple times due to alternator issues. Blaney was able to retain his lead on the restart and held off charges from Logano and Larson. Caution flew again on lap 91 for a spin by Shane Van Gisbergen. Everyone on the lead lap besides Chase Elliott pitted, moving him from 25th to the lead. Elliott didn’t have to hold off the pack long as there was almost immediately a caution on the ensuing restart for a spinning Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
On the ensuing restart a hard charging Bubba Wallace took the lead from Elliott after Blaney got loose in turn three during the restart. He held this lead until the next caution on lap 140 for a spin by Hocevar. Wallace had a speeding penalty on the ensuing pit stops that mired him deep in the field. Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin stayed out and lead the field to green. we had another restart wreck as the weekly John Hunter Nemechek incident occurred as he got into Kyle Larson entering turn three, sending him up almost into the wall and back down into his teammate Alex Bowman, effectively ending both their days. Bell was able to retain the lead on the next restart and hold that lead until the completion of the stage on lap 210.
Stage Two Results:
- Christopher Bell
- Joey Logano
- Ross Chastain
- Ty Gibbs
- Chase Briscoe
- Denny Hamlin
- William Byron
- Ryan Blaney
- Zane Smith
- Connor Zilisch
During the stage break Elliott once again stayed out to take the lead of the race. Joey Logano had issues with his left wheel being tight burying him deep in the field. Elliott led the field to the start of the final stage over Blaney who made short work of him to retake control of the race. Blaney’s car lost grip over the long run and as such both Christopher Bell and Gibbs were both able to get by him before green flag pit stops started. Bell and Gibbs pitted on the same lap, however Gibbs was able to slip past Bell with a two tire strategy call, this ultimately (paired with some great defensive driving by Gibbs) was enough for the young phenom to capture his second career victory and make Christopher Bell a bridesmaid for the seventh time this season.
Final Results:
- Ty Gibbs
- Christopher Bell
- Ryan Blaney
- Josh Berry
- Denny Hamlin
- Chase Briscoe
- Ross Chastain
- A.J. Almendinger
- William Byron
- Austin Dillon
Photo Credit: @NASCAR on Twitter
pitboxpress.com 