NASCAR Cup Series Highlights | 2026 Iowa Speedway

What a sight Iowa Speedway is today sold out packed out energy in abundance for a very Crucial race in the big picture scheme of things But no bigger name than the driver rolling off second Kyle Larson the defending champion is nearly on a 50 race winless streak this racetrack It's fast. It's slick. It's rough one little slip by anybody can end their day NASCAR is back in Iowa, and this is the ethanol the Iowa corn 350 powered by ethanol Let's go Racing towards the chase Kyle Larson in the five on the inside gets a good jump. He's on that low side inside Blaney Blaney the pole sitter chose the outside and it pays off as he rolls the top of wanted to taste control of the race Austin Dillon in the three for RC up as we look at him with thanks to bush light on board Ross Chastain They're both got the same objective today to get their first win That's reddick reddick into Jones both in the wall Big ramification when we look at the chase standings later in the day Let's see what happens Jeff you see right here the 45 goes to the bottom of the racetrack and right there He is loose Before he gets to the bottom. We've seen it over and over and a good job by all these guys missing this wreck See reddick turns and right here. You saw it bounce through those bumps He's got a short entry meaning the 43 is on the outside of him. He's got a turn sooner than he wants to Watch how quick it comes around Soon as he goes through those bumps, it's around on him. He has no time to catch it This morning in the garage area I caught up with Denny while he watched his team replacing brake rotors and Also adding cooling to his race car at the front end where the brakes are But they were not allowed to change brake pads by rule and I said is that gonna put you in a bad spot? He told me you know what? I think the only thing I'm gonna be able to do is to go slow the one part Steve that they wanted to change to Really make a difference. They they're not allowed to and so this is gonna make a big impact Kyle Larson got a good jump We go back into that poet restart zone. Let's go Let's try and get into some racing rhythm and again like the initial start Larson looks good. But watch that 12 watch Blaney and Very similar to the first start high line works great Larson tucks in and he's got tight Gibbs behind and Joey Logano down low great opening portion of this race for Austin Dillon watch the three There it is right there About 15 laps ago Steve. He reported this like a Okay, make sure alternator switches turned up Alternator switch not turned on so Steve how long can these cars run? I mean, it was only 25 laps without the alternator charging the battery Yeah, so it sounds to me by that radio to your point day that the alternator was shut off It'll do that at times for extra power on the initial start You know, if you have great fans, I'm not exactly sure his alternator load, but perhaps it just got low enough on Literally power like electrical power that the car wouldn't fire completely and it was running flat I had thought it was blowing up completely because he was losing spots. He still looks a touch off the pace but much Closer than when he looked a few laps ago, we're just gonna have to keep an eye on it And this is Joey Logano. Let's take you back a few moments ago. Jeff. Have a look what happened. Whoa Just a little bit of a misjudge Contact right there He ended up getting by Larson is now driven away from him I talked to Larson this morning and he was not very optimistic Impressive set of corners by Ryan Blaney to roll around the outside of the nine Rule Ryan Priest with a big wiggle you could see the back completely unhooked on corner entry That's gonna make the job much easier for the 12 Chase Elliott very thankful because he follows him through to stay in that free pass position. Oh Big loose Well, I saw the saving it That's Denny Hamlin, by the way whoo That is a handful. It's well the Blaney has been trying to put Suarez a lap down So Suarez being lapped will determine who the free pass car is But I will tell you the battle behind these two is battling as well. The nine is really Locked up at the 17 of Buescher. I think they've got it sorted out at the moment. They do Could be your whole race whether you kind of figure it out or not. Oh Buescher's gonna dive to the inside of the nine. He's unable to do it. The nine will power back on the outside Stage one goes to Ryan Blaney and he continues to add to an already Impressive collection of points with his fifth stage win of the season. He's tied for the most We were just talking about the 54 of Ty Gibbs and having a clean race We'll watch this right rear right side up But the jack gets dropped before the right rear is tight forcing the jack man to come back and jack it up Now wisely the team at this point came on to pit road fourth off from pit road in 28th So after they get down on the left side, they sit there for a minute and make a chassis adjustment Crew chief Tyler Allen knows back in traffic. This 54 is going to be a big challenge 77 also looked at that engine issue. Listen in He thinks from what he heard right there that it's probably valve train related and nothing that we can really do We're gonna get caught all the way back up come back in we're gonna pop the hood and make sure it's nothing obvious that these guys Can work through So it doesn't sound like it's battery related valve train probably I'm gonna guess valve spring or something in the upper end of the engine Just gonna be a day for the 77 to patience and try to score points That was Luke Lambert the crew chief. You've got a quick shot off green flies. Let's go Ryan Blaney Who's led all 78 laps has his teammate right alongside Joey Logano on the low side fresh from his win in North Wolfsburg wants to keep this positive late season run going Larson has company with Bell Briscoe's in there and Ross Chastain had a really encouraging opening stage He's in that light blue bush light car down on the low side car one Chastain did a great job through one and two on that restart Taking the fight to Larson Been a good opening stage two for Connors village. It's been quiet and uneventful. He stayed ahead of Austin Dillon They're running seventh and eighth and then Bubba Wallace is in the mix You'll see the yellow 23 He's inside the top ten Zane Smith has had a good opening stage and begins this second stage in the right spot as well Cautions out Oh SVG spun around on the exit of turn four or the middle of three and four He went around a couple of times here last year at Iowa Speedway Doesn't look like anyone's right on his rear bumper So just a little bit too free probably problems continue and evaluation continues for the 77 of Carson Pitboxes along but there's so many cars owned the lead lap watch right here Briscoe goes to leave and Suarez is coming into his pits So where I saw it actually missed his pit stall had to back up This cost the 19 of Briscoe quite a few spots Seven of Suarez also back to 30th didn't have a whole lot of track position kind of the same for the seven Restart zone as they do is chase Elliott leads the field back to green Look at Lugano. He's pushing from behind Larson behind Blaney down on that lower side and Bubba Wallace What a race he's had today from being buried in the pack at the beginning to just methodically working his way forward Stenhouse around Have a look at what happened to Ricky Stenhouse. Yeah, it's a four wide entering turn three and that's just not enough room at this racetrack tracks wide enough, but You can only run in that new asphalt you get outside of that newer asphalt There is no grip whatsoever. I've been a little tag there from Michael McDowell or was did it go by? Yeah, that's a contact It's just you know, four cars aren't gonna fit in that Poet restart zone complete. Let's go. Let's do it again and see if we can build some laps here It's Elliott and Blaney side-by-side into turn one with Joey Lugano right there Not quite as successful for the nine this time the 12 is door-to-door In the nine at least stay on the right rear quarter panel of the 12 That'll be the key force the 12 to burn those rear tires up trying to get the power down Damaged car yesterday forced to start near the rear of this field for that Napa Chevy for Hendrick Motorsports and chase Elliott has rolled the dice different strategy to what the majority around him have played He stayed out on that last caution Blaney almost wrecked both of them in the center of one and two that opened the door for Bubba Wallace Wow, look at the 23 as Blaney gets a little loose Barber is on the move if lady was in loose this entire run so far Chase Elliott to the bottom of the racetrack blocking Bubba Wallace Bubba's car turns the middle so impressively to go for the middle lane on exit and drive to the left side of the nine This is crazy Wallace started 26th and is about to take the lead of this motor race That is some Ford momentum that 23 Hardee's Toyota Camry for 23 11 racing His teammate who has had just an incredible opening part of the season Brought out the first caution with a crash and a collision with Eric Jones So that's handed it over to Bubba to fly the flag for 23 11 at the front of this race and behind me Blaney's car Seemed to have calmed down a little bit Bubba Wallace right here Steve you talked about it right in the middle of corner rotates He's able to stay in the cast runs chase Elliott up the racetrack gave chase no Opportunity to do anything. He had to lift out of the throttle. You have to tolerate the looseness into turn one 20 I thought that was going to be a day ender for Bell. He gathers it back in that was a job of that Good job You're looking at the ninth here between the teammates Christopher Bell Denny Hamlin As a driver, you're like, I'm glad somebody saw that because I thought that was pretty impressive good save Wow Oh, it's already correct. There you go. I knew something was happening 77 Carson Hose of our around caution out again Remember, he's been having engine issues But the driver who's came into this race fifth in the championship points It has been a frustrating day to say the least this would be an interesting situation 38 green flag laps for the leaders 51 for chase Elliott. Let's ride on board with a 77 and see what happens Just spins around seems like it's just too loose Here they come to the bush light pit road. This has been a gift for chase Elliott He's gonna have to take more fuel than everybody else, but this was a gift Today he wants those tires as well and he'll get four of them here. He said on the last run It was okay Once I settled in barely built some air pressure to the right rear he didn't like so they're gonna get some better air pressure For takeoff Kim Bubba Wallace happy with the balance and speed of that race card little break shake, but very minor He said it is worth noting. They had a cracked front rotor Yesterday, they didn't change that not as big of an issue though for them as the JGR Toyotas Marty Ryan Blaney told Jonathan Hassler were clearly we were not very good on two tires. I just felt very Inconsistent that entire run way too snappy loose. You see a varying pit strategy Some saying else I'm going with two and some like Blaney going with four great pit call from the nine got track position Execution issues though clean on the right side Jack drops over to the left. Here you go You're gonna see Jack up left front off but slow They're gonna drop the jack with no left front stalled He pulls forward a little damage to the fender now They have to get it jacked up all of that hard work for chase Elliott now gone and behind them Simply makes a mistake watch it right here or riding along with the 12 car and they hit pit road They should stay right next to each other pretty much 23 just drives off But then I feel like Bubba knows it. That's right right there. He starts slowing down Either the wrong gear looking at the wrong thing to your point. It was clear to Bubba that some sort of error was made and The three JGR teammates decided to stay out go for track position That's Christopher Bell Denny Hamlin chase Briscoe through the poet restart zone. Let's go Bell and Hamlin What a day this could be for the championship points leader Denny Hamlin sent to the back We've well documented the brake issues from yesterday and the concern overnight and the beginning of the day today And here he is leading. Look at Kyle Larson way out into the gray. You don't want to be there He's oh, he's in the wall with Bowman That was a tag-team effect an ongoing effect Wrong place wrong time and a consequence of getting out of shape earlier. Look at Larson he is already pushing the issue and There's John had an ema check They're side-by-side. Does Neiman check go high? That's all that all works out pretty well right there. But this is where the problem occurs Never check gets up the racetrack Larson out of the groove and now they're four wide We saw this earlier in the corner now, they're four wide corner exit I bet everybody didn't know they were for why Riley Herbst was exiting bottom three is the lane He was in not bottom four So right here contact fives trying to blend and look at the 35 car on the right side So he's still angling up driving the 60 up driving the 48 up Riley Herbst just unaware either no communication from the spotter doesn't understand. He thought at the pace Maybe he just thought they were gonna go by the five, but either way Four cars don't they just do not fit in three lanes of traffic and that's what tried to happen right there You could tell priest is feeling it. He's trying to get out, but you just can't lift Right at that moment without getting run over when they cross the line It'll be 56 to go in stage two and the teammates are in the top three positions Christopher Bell in the yellow car the light white blue car the 11 of Denny Hamlin down low Briscoe their Lugano on the inside. How about Ty Gibbs making it three wide? What a recovery from that issue on pit road earlier the bad pit stop the past didn't happen there But he is up inside the top ten put himself right back into this race was still nearly 200 laps to go The defending race winner is there to Jeff there's William Byron in the 24 Oh, yeah, great races all the way around great battle for the lead right here Did he hand me you can see how early he has to turn and how it hurts the middle of the corner? Mr. Bell able to make a constant radius in the middle of the racetrack That's one more reason why I would do everything. I could not lose track position Wow Byron William Byron was all over the shop What's this? What's the 24? I? Mean that is that is that's a brand school That's a crash that didn't happen Jeff great job by SVG here staying in the lead lap He's fighting to make this chase and he needs every point he can get and Stay in the lead lack I have a major difference in the finishing order on this final lap of stage two the last lap brought to you by credit one Bank Byron still chips away on Denny Hamlin every stage point counts and speaking of the most stage points Christopher Bell gets the maximum by winning stage two Hamlin Byron side-by-side across the line Joey Lugano comes home second in that stage most points scored today That would be Joey Lugano and now they're gonna push him back into the stall. He had scored 18 stage They did not get the left rear tight for Lugano gonna lose a ton of track position here He said it was turning fine to free on exit good catch by the pit crew But they're gonna lose a lot of position poet restart zone. Let's go. This is stage three of the Iowa corn 350 powered by ethanol Ryan Blaney who had a very speedy end to stage two worked his way up from 11th to 8th Now he leaves this field down the backstretch here at Iowa Blaney continues to be loose on the start of these runs Bell making a look at him Elliot up high virtually three wide Christopher Bell gets a little wriggly off turn four here comes William Byron defending race winner Ty Gibbs and Ross Chastain in the mix AJ Armendinger in that red and white 16 down low for calling. He's on the inside of Chase Briscoe When we're in that last stage break, there was some interesting radio aboard the 11 progressive Toyota Camry of Denny Hamlin. Have a listen To have so I can't charge in have any idea where my pedals that so it's making me free So when he says I have no idea where my pedal is What he's saying is that when you're a driver and you lift off the gas and you go to that brake pedal and you have Immediate friction the car starts to slow down all that's predictable You know what's gonna happen, but when you lift off the gas and there isn't the brake pedal You don't know when that friction is going to start building as you push the pedal to the floor and it's a very Difficult thing to do like you met you don't know if it's going to stop or not Maybe it goes all the way to floor and you have no brakes So Denny Hamlin just cannot attack the corner the way he normally would It's right there He's in the gas drives in the corner really deep the 12 beats him on corner exit when he does that I believe he's just trying to position himself get try to get side-by-side with the 12 There he is Now, what can he do with him? Oh He's got a spin decision. Now. Can you get to the outside of the 12? He's there. He's there I think he could stay there at corner exit. He does what a great job Wow, show the bottom show the bottom show the bottom go to the top Yeah, then Blaney started protecting the bottom a little bit Bell said you gave me exactly what I wanted. That is two Incredible race car drivers right there. That was fun to watch Christopher Bell to the lead of the race an expected pit stop for the nine to chase Sally Remember he stayed out on older tires So he now needs the entire field to pit under green for this strategy to work Well moment by moment both Blaney and Gibbs It looked like Gibbs was going to capitalize on Blaney's moment and then the 54 had one He looked like he was down the street at Knoxville in the 360 wing sprint right there chasing that thing tail to the right Joe's best ran through it. They must have thought there was something on the track Maybe I heard but man, that was a big wiggle for the 54 That's what it looked like for Ty Gibbs They both got loose. Well, then we heard him say we both just ran through it. I don't know if he means something on the track or interesting Maybe it's one of the seams on the track. Maybe it's an error situation Well, Ty Gibbs filled his fluid on the racetrack, well, let's see he's gonna go right back where he was trying to make a pass He stays away from that seam stays lower than what he was. Oh, what a corner capitalizes and passes Ryan Blaney I'm in second place a power pass. Yeah, that was that didn't take multiple laps. He just rolled the bottom Let's take you back a moment ago to show you the bush light smooth pit stop on a day where there's been so many mishaps How about this one Steve and what a job on the gas man? He needs to be efficient and instant plug in a clean right side tires. I'm gonna give credit to Tyler Allen He made some difficult calls over the summer to score stage points at some of the road courses That has locked him in the chase that lets him gamble in moments like this as you see on the 20 who has a nice four Tire stop, but the extra two tires no match for the 54 on pit road, but will they be the answer on the racetrack? He's got track position But does he have enough to snuff speed to hold him off the last lap? Bell was about a tenth of a second faster than the 54. Oh that gap has closed closed considerably Past Austin Hill in the 33 goes Ty Gibbs, but his teammate is storming we spoke earlier in this broadcast about the growth and the maturation of Ty Gibbs the 23 year old from Charlotte who has been through so much personally and professionally But to handle this pressure from somebody like his teammate Christopher Bell, this has been impressive, but it's not over yet He doesn't have that victory yet. There's two laps to go and Bell is relentless Here he comes again all over the back of his younger teammate All right, what's Bell gonna do here? I think you got to go back to the bottom. It's been the most effective for him Yes right there. Can he throttle up? Can't quite get it done. This track is only seven eighths of a mile and there's one lap left One lap to go presented by Credit One Bank Brad Keselowski there for Ty Gibbs to negotiate and Christopher Bell It's gonna come down to the final two turns and the run to the line It was an epic moment at Bristol Motor Speedway earlier this year when Ty Gibbs finally got his first win Forget that first. He's now got two Ty Gibbs wins in Iowa