What to watch for in today's NASCAR Cup race at Iowa Speedway
Chase Elliott leads the standings by four points over teammate William Byron. Fellow Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson is 15 points behind Elliott. Denny Hamlin is fourth in the standings, 20 points behind Elliott.
All four drivers start 11th or better at the .875-mile track today (coverage begins at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network). Elliott starts eighth, Byron is second, Larson is third and Hamlin is 11th.
The race for the final playoff spot will intensify among RFK Racing teammates.
Chris Buescher holds the final playoff spot by 42 points on teammate Ryan Preece. But both start deep in the field. Buescher qualified 27th and Preece 33rd.
Nate Ryan,
Teammate Brad Keselowski — who must win to make the playoffs — starts fifth. That's his best starting spot of the season. Should he win today, Keselowski could knock Buescher out of a playoff spot.
'We're certainly getting into the groove with the 6 car,' Keselowski said. 'We had a slow start. Some of it was self-inflicted. Some of it was just bad circumstances. It's kind of a mixture of a number of things. I feel like our team has matured in a lot of ways. Different people in different roles have matured, and now we're able to execute at a much higher level. I think we're seeing that and it gives us a lot of hope.'
Finishing the job
Chase Briscoe starts on the pole for his series-high sixth time this season, but he's not won any of the previous races from the No. 1 starting position and managed only one stage victory in those events.
With the playoffs approaching, Briscoe has collected only seven playoff points — tied for seventh among the 13 drivers who have won this year.
Dustin Long,
Briscoe said the lack of playoff points is something he and crew chief James Small have 'talked a lot about.
'As a race team we feel like we are a championship four contender with the speed we have right now,' Briscoe said. 'But with the playoff grid, it's really top heavy. But the rest of the field only has five or seven points. Even if we can get just a couple of playoff points with a stage win — (or) a race win where you can get five extra points — is a huge deal right now. It's something that's definitely on our mind.'
Can Briscoe control the race and score a victory in the opening stage and turn it into a race win?
Family reunion
It was quite the sight after last year's inaugural Cup race at Iowa. Several friends and family members joined winner Ryan Blaney on the stage after his memorable evening.
Many of them will be back for today's race. Blaney said about 80 friends and family members are expected, slightly down from last year's total.
Blaney, who starts second, enters the race having scored back-to-back top-10 finishes for the first time since early May.
'The last couple of years we've been a little bit behind through the first half of the year and then we kind of really been able to figure it out toward end of the regular season, especially the playoffs, but this year, I feel like we've had speed all year.
'We've had that speed that we've been chasing the last couple of years early in the season and it's just been a little bit rougher over the year for at least my group. A lot more DNFs than I would personally like.'
Blaney will seek to have another family reunion in victory lane today and score his third consecutive top-10 finish — something he hasn't done this season.
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"All the wrecks changed the dynamic of the race," Keselowski said. "It was a really sloppy race for the field today. "And it shifted it to where severely alternate strategies won the race. ... I've run into people, so pot calling kettle black, but I don't understand why guys wreck for 20th. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me." Briscoe Backs Up Pole Briscoe won his sixth pole of the season, but in his last three races where he started from the front, he had finished 17th, 23rd and 18th. He backed up his being the fastest in qualifying by leading 81 laps and finishing second, his best finish of the season in races where he started from the pole. Chase Briscoe poses for photos after winning the pole award during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series Iowa Corn 350 Briscoe didn't have to save as much fuel as Byron, but with all the cautions and a track where parts of it were repaved in 2024 made it difficult to pass. "Once I got [to Byron], he started taking my air and my car just kind of died as soon as that happened," Briscoe said. "I thought I was going to be able to still be good, especially as he caught lapped traffic there. I still just didn't quite have enough." Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass. share
