An unusual number of caution flags helped William Byron save enough fuel to win the Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol on Sunday, earning his second NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season. and his first since the Daytona 500.
Byron stretched his final tank of fuel for 144 laps on a track where the fuel window is typically around 100 laps. He finished 1.192 seconds ahead of second-place Chase Briscoe. Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney finished third and fourth, respectively.
Byron’s No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet ran out of fuel during his celebratory burnout on the frontstretch.
“Man, how about that for some fuel mileage?” Byron said after exiting his car. “We’ve had our fair share of things not go our way with fuel mileage. … Just super thankful for (crew chief) Rudy (Fugle) and all these guys, all the engineers, all the engineers back at the shop.”
The victory was the 15th of Byron’s career and his first at the 0.875-mile short track. He regained the series lead by 18 points over teammate Chase Elliott, who finished 14th after pitting for fuel late in the race.
The final stage featured seven cautions within 65 laps, which allowed Byron to conserve fuel. Briscoe got close to Byron during the final 64-lap green-flag run but was unable to challenge for the lead.
“There at the end, I was running William down,” Briscoe said. “I thought I was really in the catbird seat there, and I just got there and kind of stalled out.”
Keselowski, who won the first two stages, needed a victory to qualify for the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. The numerous cautions in the final stage negated his fuel advantage.
“Just the way the yellows fell,” Keselowski said. “We had so many yellows there in Stage 3 that it got the 24 (Byron) and the 19 (Briscoe) to where they could make it on fuel pitting way outside the window, and we just couldn’t get back by them.”
Ryan Preece finished fifth, gaining ground on Chris Buescher in the race for what could be the final Playoff spot. Bubba Wallace, the Brickyard 400 winner, rallied from two laps down to finish sixth. Alex Bowman came in seventh, solidifying his potential Playoff spot with a 63-point lead over Preece.
The quest for the final Playoff spots continues next Sunday at Watkins Glen International for the Go Bowling at the Glen.
Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol
Iowa Speedway
Newton, Iowa
Sunday, August 3, 2025
- (2) William Byron, Chevrolet, 350.
- (1) Chase Briscoe, Toyota, 350.
- (5) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 350.
- (6) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 350.
- (33) Ryan Preece, Ford, 350.
- (15) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 350.
- (16) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 350.
- (7) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 350.
- (14) Joey Logano, Ford, 350.
- (18) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 350.
- (28) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 350.
- (4) Austin Cindric, Ford, 350.
- (12) Josh Berry, Ford, 350.
- (8) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 350.
- (29) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 350.
- (25) Erik Jones, Toyota, 350.
- (17) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 350.
- (9) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 350.
- (22) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 350.
- (37) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 350.
- (20) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 350.
- (27) Chris Buescher, Ford, 350.
- (10) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 350.
- (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 350.
- (26) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 350.
- (19) Cole Custer, Ford, 350.
- (13) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 350.
- (3) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 350.
- (31) Noah Gragson, Ford, 350.
- (24) Riley Herbst #, Toyota, 350.
- (21) Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, 349.
- (35) Cody Ware, Ford, 349.
- (30) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 347.
- (34) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 347.
- (32) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 346.
- (23) Zane Smith, Ford, 344.
- (36) Joey Gase(i), Ford, 340.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 92.905 mph
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 17 Mins, 47 Secs.
Margin of Victory: 1.192 Seconds
Caution Flags: 12 for 72 laps.
Lead Changes: 10 among 6 drivers.
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