NASCAR Iowa takeaways: Fuel savings for the win, William Byron back in first

New York Times

4 hours ago

It's not just your imagination, NASCAR fans: There has been a lot of talk about gas this summer — perhaps more frequently than anyone but fuel supplier Sunoco would prefer.
Fuel mileage — when teams ask their drivers to find the balance of conserving their gas while also still going as fast as possible — has been a deciding factor in four of the last five traditional oval races — Michigan, Pocono, Indianapolis and now Iowa. Since June, only Dover has been free of the fuel-savings storyline.
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Those races were spaced out a bit by three road courses (Mexico City, Chicago and Sonoma) and a superspeedway-style race (Atlanta). But when it comes to the regular ovals, it's been straight gas for strategy lovers.
Denny Hamlin demonstrated veteran fuel-savings to win at Michigan while others ran out or were not given the green light to race (like Ty Gibbs). Chase Briscoe then stretched his fuel to win at Pocono, and Bubba Wallace saved enough for two Brickyard 400 overtimes.
And on Sunday, William Byron took advantage of a yellow-heavy second half of the Iowa race (41 percent of the latter half was run under caution) to milk his gas tank for 144 laps and win.
He had enough fuel for the burnout. 😏 pic.twitter.com/oFQ6vEkopx
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 3, 2025
What made Iowa unique was the outbreak of cautions — 11 in the final 180 laps alone, which were as many or more than the entirety of every single race this season except for one. Byron was off strategy and would have never come close to making it on fuel without that many caution laps, but the race fell into his lap, and he did an excellent job of saving.
But that's not what NASCAR fans expect to see on a short track like Iowa. The three biggest downforce tracks — Michigan, Pocono, Indy? Sure, of course. That happens at least once every few years at those circuits, and it's been commonplace no matter what generation of car is on the track.
Iowa was different, though. It had all the unsavory elements of a Next Gen short track dirty air race with a narrow groove and not enough tire wear given a recent repave (should tires really be able to last 144 laps and hold off newer tires behind?). Then to add fuel mileage on top of that, yet again? That doesn't seem to be what many fans are looking for out of their Sunday stock car viewing.
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But perhaps that storyline will be done for a bit. The next oval — Richmond — is another strategy race, but it's all about tire wear instead of fuel. And while fuel savings racing will be present at Daytona (as it was in the 500 and at Talladega), that's all to set up the final pit stop before a sprint to the regular season's checkered flag.
There's a certain amount of strategy racing NASCAR fans will not only tolerate, but embrace. A few races a year, like when Joey Logano somehow stretched his fuel to win at both Nashville and Las Vegas last season? It's compelling, regardless of the winner.
Yet one of the factors that separates NASCAR from other major series like Formula One and IndyCar is it's not always about strategy. NASCAR's brand is about door-to-door, physical racing and frequent contact — especially on short tracks. Fans tune in to see the drivers decide the race more than the pit strategy.
So when the same thing happens in four of five traditional oval races, it can feel excessive. Let's hope by the time the playoffs start, the cautions fall in a way that allows the drivers to push all-out again.
The No. 24 team is always one of the most confusing to evaluate during the regular season.
Byron won the Daytona 500 for the second straight year and has been the NASCAR Cup Series points leader after 18 of 23 races this season. Yet it recently hasn't felt like Byron is even someone you'd pencil into a Championship 4 slot despite back-to-back appearances there.
Stop us if that sounds familiar, but it's with good reason: Until Sunday, it had been more than two months since Byron had a top-five finish — despite having top-five speed in several races. And beyond that, he went seven straight races without leading more than one lap.
On the other hand, it's not like Byron has been too far off. Hendrick Motorsports as a whole just hasn't seemed to be quite at its full potential (just look at Kyle Larson's recent struggles by the No. 5 team's standards).
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Now, though, Byron is back in control of the regular-season championship (and the 15 playoff bonus points that would come with it) and is only battling his teammates, with three races until the playoffs begin. Chase Elliott is 18 points behind, and Larson faded to 45 back after Sunday, when Byron picked up another five playoff points for his win.
Byron, for his part, said he has been so encouraged by the overall speed that he hasn't gotten too caught up with the recent lack of results (he ran out of fuel at both Michigan and Indianapolis, for example).
'We've been fast like every weekend. I can't think of a race we've been slow,' he said. 'It's just the results haven't come together, and it was starting to wear on us a little bit and starting to just create some kind of 'What's going to happen next?' (feeling). But this is going to kind of put the pendulum the other way, give us some momentum. And hopefully this momentum carries us for a long time.'
In the last nine races, all three RFK Racing drivers rank in the top seven for most points scored. Chris Buescher is fourth, Ryan Preece is sixth and Brad Keselowski is seventh.
It feels like any of them could break through for a victory on a given week. Except they haven't, and now the clock is very much ticking on their playoff chances with three races remaining.
Sure, Buescher currently has the final playoff spot on points (by 23 over Preece). But all it would take is one winner from below them, like an AJ Allmendinger at Watkins Glen or Austin Dillon at Richmond, and suddenly all three would be in position to miss the playoffs.
It's especially frustrating for Keselowski, who was 32nd in the point standings as recently as June 15. Since then, he has finished 11th or better in every race but Chicago (when he got caught up in an early multi-car traffic jam crash) and now has back-to-back top-five finishes for the first time since last June to climb all the way to 19th in points — a startling jump for this late in the season.
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The potential still exists for all three RFK cars to win their way into the playoffs. Buescher won at Watkins Glen last year. Preece is one of the best short-track racers in the series and will bring a similar setup from Iowa to Richmond. Keselowski is a two-time Richmond winner and could absolutely win at Daytona.
But they could also get shut out just as easily.
'Obviously, we want to win. But we're in contention, that's for sure,' Keselowski said. 'We will keep putting solid runs on the board, and I think this will come to us.'
Those @RFKracing cars are on the rise. 📈
For the first time since 2012, the team has placed two cars in the top five in consecutive races. pic.twitter.com/qT8PLmuYn3
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 3, 2025
It's probably not a coincidence that even with all of the Choose Your Own Adventure strategies on Sunday, the top four finishers were all drivers who qualified sixth or better — with the top two finishers also the front row starters for the race (just flipped).
As Elliott observed recently when he was awarded the pole position at Dover following a rained-out session, starting spots might be more important than ever.
'The biggest lesson I learned from (Dover) is we need to qualify better,' Elliott said. 'Man, the opportunities that open up for you are incredible. So it's been high on my list, but it made it even more important.'
It's all a cycle in today's NASCAR. A good starting spot leads to good track position and being able to control the strategy more easily. It leads to better pit stops because of preferred pit stall selection (pit stops and restarts are the best way to pass with the Next Gen car at many tracks). And then a good result leads to a later spot in the weekly qualifying metric, which can make or break a weekend (just look at the disadvantage the first group often has in practice and qualifying).
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Elliott noticed the difference because that Dover race was only the third time all season he has been able to start in the top five. His qualifying average of 16.1 is on pace to be the second-worst of his career, and he only ranks 14th in the series for average start.
For a driver trying to win the regular-season championship against Byron (who ranks second in average start with an 11.0), five positions is a big deficit to overcome in Stage 1 every week when track position matters so much.
(Top photo of William Byron winning Sunday's race: Meg Oliphant / Getty Images)