NASCAR News: Blaney wins Iowa Cup Race

Ryan Blaney took home the checkered flag in the inaugural Cup Series event at Iowa Speedway Sunday evening.

Leading a career-high 201 laps, Blaney fought off the likes of Kyle Larson to take the Stage 1 victory and stuffed the hopes of other Hendrick Motorsports competitors William Byron and Chase Elliott to score his first victory of 2024 and 11th at NASCAR’s top level.

Byron and Elliott came home second and third, followed by Christopher Bell and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. rounding out the top five.

Joey Logano, Josh Berry, Alex Bowman, Daniel Suárez and Brad Keselowski completed the top 10.

Kyle Larson, who led 80 laps in Sunday evening’s 350-lapper and won Stage 2, was caught up in a wreck early in the final stage after contact with Suárez. Larson’s spin collected Denny Hamlin. Larson was scored with a 34th-place finish while Hamlin finished 24th.

Blaney began the night battling for the lead with the No. 5 for the entirety of the first 70-lap stage as the 12-team worked to dial in the balance of the Advance Auto Parts Ford Mustang. With 10 laps to go in the segment, Blaney carried a run off turn four to make the pass for the lead and kept it out front for the rest of the run to pick up his second stage win of the season.

A long green flag run to open Stage 2 saw Blaney at the point as he managed his tires over the course of the run. With the No. 9 closing in to battle for the lead, crew chief Jonathan Hassler called Blaney to pit road under green on lap 173 for a four tire stop to take them to the end of the stage.

A caution on lap 182 in the middle of the green flag pit cycle shuffled the field as Blaney went from 13th to fifth prior to the restart with 22 laps remaining in Stage 2. Blaney battled through traffic with a tight-handling condition and ultimately came away with a fourth-place result in the second segment.

Following a four tire stop at the stage break, Blaney lined up 10th before charging his way through the field on the ensuing run, making his way to second in the running order with 100 laps to go. A caution on lap 260 brought the leaders to pit road under yellow when Hassler made the call for right side tires only, allowing Blaney to win the race off pit road and restart from the outside of row one with 84 to go.

After getting a good launch, Blaney set sail as he stretched his lead out to over a second with the laps ticking off. He went on to lead the rest of the way to capture his first win of the 2024 season in dominant fashion.

“What a cool way to win here,” said Blaney. “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 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 going to 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. I appreciate Advance Auto Parts, Ford, Ford Performance, Menards, Discount Tire, Würth, Snap-On, DEX Imaging, Wabash – everything they do. It makes up a little bit from a couple weeks ago.”

Race Results