William Byron gets fuel-mileage win in Iowa NASCAR Cup race

NEWTON, Iowa — William Byron stretched his tank of fuel 145 laps to win the second NASCAR Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway.

Byron led almost as many laps as he saved — 141 of 350 — and paced the final 74 laps out in front. He picked up his second win of the NASCAR Cup Series season, winning for the first time since the season-opening Daytona 500.

Chase Briscoe finished second after racing Byron for the win. Briscoe said he “stalled out” when he caught Byron and didn’t have the momentum needed to pass him for the win.

In third, Brad Keselowski ran arguably the best race of his career at RFK Racing. Keselowski swept the first two stages for the first time since Martinsville in March 2019. He commanded the race until lap 231 when he pitted for the final time. He came through the field but didn’t have the momentum to get by Briscoe for second.

Ryan Blaney finished fourth with a rally back to the front after pitting on lap 245 for the final time.

“It was hard to pass with how treacherous it was in the rear. The strategies got weird with all the cautions and it worked out for the guys who pitted later. We were on the back end of things so it got funky,” Blaney said.

The biggest comeback of the day was Bubba Wallace. Wallace lacked speed throughout the day, coming up 13th in the first stage and 25th in the second stage. In the final stage, contact left Wallace with a bent toe link. He lost two laps due to repairs but gained them back with the free pass under the final two cautions. The second caution saw them take on tires, allowing him to drive from 31st to sixth in the final 64 laps.

“If you’d have told me we were going to finish sixth midway through the race, I would’ve said, ‘Yea right,’ but here we are,” Wallace said.

Finishing inside the top-10 and coming back from woes were Ryan Preece in fifth, Alex Bowman in seventh and Carson Hocevar in eighth. Preece and Bowman each had a speeding penalty during the first caution after stage one ended on lap 70. Hocevar spun at the end of the second stage — on lap 210 — and spun Zane Smith on lap 230.

After the race, Toby Christie reported Smith’s crew chief, Ryan Bergenty, had a talk with Hocevar. Smith finished 36th, six laps down.

Joey Logano pulled off a 10th-place finish after showing virtually no speed at all in practice and qualifying.

With 13 race winners and three races left to go to set the 16-driver playoffs, every winner will race in the playoffs, along with anyone who may get their first win in the next three races.

Here is what the playoff cutline looks like:

• Tyler Reddick +122
• Alex Bowman +63
• Chris Buescher +23
• Ryan Preece -23
• Kyle Busch -73
• Ty Gibbs -87
• A.J. Allmendinger -118

NASCAR CUP SERIES FINAL STAGE AT IOWA

William Byron hangs on to win in a huge fuel-mileage gamble in the Iowa Corn 350.

TOP-10, LAP 318: Byron, Briscoe, Keselowski, Preece, Bowman, Hocevar, Blaney, Nemechek, Logano, Austin Dillon. Crew chief Paul Wolfe has called a great race for Logano.

TOP-10, LAP 310: Byron, Briscoe, Preece, Keselowski, Bowman, Hocevar, Blaney, Nemechek, Haley, Logano.

William Byron is told: “We are close. Really close.” He will have the lead for the upcoming restart. Josh Berry and Chase Elliott pit.

A side window popped out of someone’s car and brought out the 12th caution on lap 282. Top 10 is now Byron, Elliott, Bowman, Berry, Briscoe, Nemechek, Keselowski, Preece, Hocevar, Hamlin.

TOP 10, LAP 275: Elliott, Byron, Bowman, Berry, Briscoe, Nemechek, Keselowski, Hocevar, Preece, Haley. Elliott and Berry don’t believe they can make it but Byron may be close to making it.

Back to green, lap 262: Cindric, Elliott, Berry, Byron, Nemechek, Briscoe, Bowman, Keselowski, Preece, Haley. Not for long, SVG spins on the frontstretch.

Austin Dillon, Chastain, Larson pit, lap 257. They can make it on fuel.

LAP 253: Tyler Reddick and Christopher Bell spin in turn two.

TOP 10, LAP 249: Cindric, Berry, Elliott, Austin Dillon, Byron, Larson, Bell, Nemechek, Chastain, Reddick.

LAP 249: Nemechek is 8th and is the closest to the front who could possibly make it. Even then, he’d have to go 137 laps on gas.

Next is Briscoe, who is 13th and would have to go 127 laps. Then it’s Keselowski, 14th (120 laps). Blaney will restart 24th and is good to go on fuel. #NASCAR

Blaney, Gibbs, Preece, Allmendinger, Suarez pit. Lap 246. They’re well within the fuel window to make it on fuel without having to save.

LAP 241: Austin Cindric challenges teammate Ryan Blaney for the lead. Brad Keselowski is up to 20th after pitting. Erik Jones spins right in front of Keselowski!

Keselowski and Busch pit, lap 232. 118 to go, interesting split…

LAP 229: Zane Smith spins and crashes in turn one.

LAP 222: Denny Hamlin spins in turn four. Top 10: Keselowski, Blaney, Cindric, Gibbs, Berry, Busch, Preece, Austin Dillon, Larson, Elliott.

Off pit road, lap 225: Briscoe, Buescher, Zane Smith, Hocevar, Logano, McDowell, Erik Jones, Hamlin, Gilliland, Shane van Gisbergen. The fuel window is 110 laps but if there are some cautions, they could make it to the end.

The last time Brad Keselowski swept the first two stages in a NASCAR Cup Series race was Martinsville in March 2019. He will restart in the lead to start the final stage after pitting on lap 171. He can go until at least lap 281 on fuel. Pitting then will take them to the end on fuel.

Also on Keselowski’s strategy are Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric, Ty Gibbs, Kyle Busch, Josh berry, Erik Jones and Ryan Preece who round out the top-eight spots. Austin Dillon, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott and Christopher Bell round out the top-12 and pitted on lap 181. Daniel Suarez, Hamlin, Byron, Chastain, Reddick and Logano pitted on lap 207.

NASCAR CUP SERIES STAGE TWO AT IOWA WINNER: Brad Keselowski

STAGE TWO TOP-10 (LAP 210): Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric, Ty Gibbs, Kyle Busch, Josh Berry, Alex Bowman, Erik Jones, Ryan Preece, Austin Dillon. Carson Hocevar spun on the final lap of the stage. Todd Gilliland gets the free pass.

Restart top-10, lap 207: Keselowski, Blaney, Gibbs, Cindric, Bowman, Berry, Busch, Jones, Austin Dillon, Preece. Great save by Kyle Larson in the midpack!

LAP 204: Ty Dillon crashes in turn one after Todd Gilliland got loose underneath him.

Top-10: Keselowski, Blaney, Cindric, Gibbs, Berry, Bowman, Jones, Busch, Preece, Byron.

Byron, Hamlin, Suarez, Hocevar, Wallace, Jones, Haley, Chastain, Custer, Larson, Reddick and others pit.

LAP 188: Brad Keselowski to the lead over Ryan Blaney. That is the easiest pass he has made all day.

19 5 3 7 20 77 23 9 pit, lap 182. The caution cost them track position after they pitted under green.

Cody Ware spins and brings out the caution, lap 180. Ryan Blaney took the lead from Brad Keselowski.

Green flag, lap 177! Brad Keselowski looks for the lead on Ryan Blaney.

Off pit road: Blaney, Keselowski, Cindric, Gibbs, Berry, Hamlin, Reddick, Erik Jones, Suarez.

Shane van Gisbergen crashes in turn two and hands an early Christmas gift to everyone else on the run-long strategy, lap 171. Keselowski, Blaney, Cindric, Gibbs, Berry, Hamlin, Reddick, Jones, Bowman, Busch, Suarez, Buescher, Custer and Preece were on that strategy.

LAP 156: Seeing William Byron running lap times about over a half-second quicker than the leaders, Kyle Larson, Chase Briscoe and an onslaught of other drivers pit, starting green-flag stops.

If there are 17 winners, who would be out? As they run:

Chase Briscoe: 645 (+210) Bubba Wallace: 575 (+140) Joey Logano: 549 (+114) Ross Chastain: 537 (+102) Austin Cindric: 478 (+43) Josh Berry: 435 (-43)

If a repeat winner wins today, like Briscoe, this is no concern.

LAP 131: Blaney slips up and hands second to Brad Keselowski behind Chase Briscoe.

LAP 120: Preece hasn’t moved at all since his speeding penalty — 33rd. He finished 30th in the first stage. Bowman, the other driver who sped on pit road, runs 26th after restarting 31st. He finished 14th in the first stage.

LAP 110: Reddick is reporting he can barely see where his car is going entering the corner due to a reported brake shake. He runs 22nd and has barely run in the top-20 all day. Toyota has struggled outside of leader Briscoe. They run:

11th (Bubba Wallace), 12th (Christopher Bell), 14th (Denny Hamlin), 15th (Ty Gibbs), 17th (John Hunter Nemechek), 24th (Erik Jones) and 30th (Riley Herbst).

LAP 98: Keselowski finally gets by Byron. He now has 1.3 seconds to make up on leaders Chase Briscoe and Ryan Blaney.

TOP-10 (LAP 90): Briscoe, Blaney, Byron, Keselowski, Larson, Hocevar, Cindric, Elliott, Austin Dillon, Allmendinger.

LAP 83: Byron drops from second to fourth while Briscoe and Blaney go 1-2. Keselowski is trying to get by Byron but Byron is letting up and goes for second on Blaney.

Bowman and Preece to the rear of the field to start the second stage. They are both on the playoff cutline and are dreading a possible win by Keselowski.

Keselowski earned his first stage win in stage one but he will start behind three drivers after pit stops.

Off pit road: Chase Briscoe, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski, Austin Cindric, Kyle Larson, A.J. Allmendinger, Carson Hocevar, Justin Haley.

NASCAR CUP SERIES STAGE ONE WINNER AT IOWA: Brad Keselowski

STAGE ONE TOP-10 (LAP 70): Brad Keselowski, Austin Cindric, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Kyle Larson, Carson Hocevar, A.J. Allmendinger, Justin Haley.

This is Brad Keselowski’s first stage win of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season.

LAP 69: Brad Keselowski finally passes William Byron for the lead. Byron loses second to Austin Cindric. Ryan Blaney takes fourth from Chase Briscoe.

Brad Keselowski is all over William Byron for the lead with four laps to go in the stage. Ryan Blaney passed Kyle Larson for fifth and is looking fourth on Chase Briscoe. The defending winner has a fast long-run car.

LAP 59: Kyle Busch goes a lap down after starting in the rear of the field.

LAP 47: William Byron and Brad Keselowski race side-by-side for the lead as leaders are in lap traffic. Noah Gragson, Kyle Busch, Ty Dillon and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. are directly in front of the leaders. Austin Cindric and Chase Briscoe have caught up to Byron and Keselowski.

LAP 26: Brad Keselowski takes second from Austin Cindric.

William Byron is holding serve out in front at lap 22. Austin Cindric and Brad Keselowski closed but a lap car seems to have separated them.

Keselowski winning would be a massive upset for the NASCAR Cup Series playoff cutline as he is 24th in points and would need a win to get in.

Chase Briscoe started on the pole but is back to fourth on lap 10. The top-10 is William Byron, Austin Cindric, Brad Keselowski, Chase Briscoe, Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, Carson Hocevar, Chase Elliott, A.J. Allmendinger and Denny Hamlin.

RACE START

Chase Briscoe leads the field to the green with William Byron to the outside. Kyle Busch and Noah Gragson will start in the rear.

Broadcast: USA, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 350 laps / 306.25 miles
Stages: 70 / 210 / 350

Average time of race: 2:58:37

Pit road speed: 40 mph
Caution car speed: 45 mph

Fuel Window: 110 laps