{"id":36477,"date":"2025-08-01T22:54:20","date_gmt":"2025-08-02T02:54:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=36477"},"modified":"2025-08-01T22:54:20","modified_gmt":"2025-08-02T02:54:20","slug":"nascar-cup-series-at-iowa-speedway-preview-and-predictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/08\/01\/nascar-cup-series-at-iowa-speedway-preview-and-predictions\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR Cup Series at Iowa Speedway Preview and Predictions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>NASCAR&#8217;s Cup Series heads to the land of corn, Iowa, for the Iowa Corn 350 at Iowa Speedway. Here is everything you need to know for Sunday&#8217;s 350 laps of short track action.<\/p>\n<h2>NASCAR Cup Series Iowa Corn 350 at Iowa Speedway Preview<\/h2>\n<p>Last time by at Iowa Speedway, it was Ryan Blaney winning in front of hundreds of his family in the first Cup Series race ever at Iowa Speedway. With only one win so far in 2025, can Blaney make it two on the season and go back-to-back at Iowa? Or will we see a new winner at Iowa in its second year on the schedule?<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_36480\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-36480\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-36480 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2157896259-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2157896259-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2157896259-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2157896259-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2157896259-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2157896259-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2157896259-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2157896259-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-36480\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">NEWTON, IOWA &#8211; JUNE 16: Ryan Blaney, driver of the #12 Advance Auto Parts Ford, celebrates in victory lane after winning during the NASCAR Cup Series Iowa Corn 350 at Iowa Speedway on June 16, 2024 in Newton, Iowa. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>Race Preview:<\/h3>\n<p>The Iowa Corn 350 at Iowa Speedway is a 350-lap race around the 0.875-mile short track in Newton, Iowa. Stage cautions will be on laps 70 and 210, and then a 140-lap run to the checkered flag on lap 350. A total of 9,797,935 dollars is available in the prize purse for this race. Teams will have 11 sets of tires, 9 for the race, 1 for qualifying carried over to the race, and 1 for practice. The tires are a brand-new compound for this track. In the event of inclement weather, Goodyear will provide wet-weather tires, and teams will have four sets.<\/p>\n<h3>The Track-Iowa Speedway:<\/h3>\n<p>Built in 2005 and opened in 2006, Iowa Speedway is what you think of when the term &#8216;short-track&#8217; is said. With 10 degrees of banking on the front stretch and 4 on the back, it features between 12 and 14 degrees of banking in the turns. While it has hosted IndyCar, the Xfinity Series, and ARCA, it had never hosted a Cup Series race until last year. In preparation for the event, both turns had the bottom grooves repaved.<\/p>\n<p>Ryan Blaney is the only driver to win a Cup Series race at Iowa. Alex Bowman holds the lap record, a 23.362-second lap, set last year.<\/p>\n<h3>Cup Series Point Standings:<\/h3>\n<p>Here are the point standings following last week&#8217;s race at Indianapolis:<\/p>\n<p>1. Chase Elliott: 726<br \/>\n2. William Byron: 722<br \/>\n3. Kyle Larson: 711<br \/>\n4. Denny Hamlin: 706<br \/>\n5. Christopher Bell: 664<br \/>\n6. * Tyler Reddick: 655<br \/>\n7. Ryan Blaney: 616<br \/>\n8. Chase Briscoe: 599<br \/>\n9. Alex Bowman: 580<br \/>\n10. Chris Buescher: 559<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read More:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/07\/28\/bubba-wallace-scores-biggest-win-of-career-holding-off-nascars-best-in-the-brickyard-400\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Bubba Wallace Scores Biggest Win of Career, Holding off NASCAR&#8217;s Best in the Brickyard 400<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<h3>Drivers To Watch:<\/h3>\n<p>Only one driver is joining the field for this race, Joey Gase. Gase will be driving the #66 Ford for Garage 66, with King Of The Hill on Hulu sponsoring the car.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Hulu&#8217;s King of the Hill is riding with <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JoeyGaseRacing?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@JoeyGaseRacing<\/a> for a double-duty weekend at his home track, <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/iowaspeedway?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@iowaspeedway<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p>All <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kingofthehill?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@kingofthehill<\/a> seasons are streaming on <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hulu?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@hulu<\/a>. Season 14 drops with 10 all-new episodes on August 4.<\/p>\n<p>READ: <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/sKkCEC3x3u\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/sKkCEC3x3u<\/a><a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/NASCAR?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#NASCAR<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/IowaCorn350?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#IowaCorn350<\/a>\u2026 <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Cdx3kBo7j0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/Cdx3kBo7j0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Garage 66 &amp; MBM Motorsports (@MBMMotorsports) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MBMMotorsports\/status\/1950345661116784982?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 30, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>When I think of contenders to win at Iowa, I immediately feel that this is Team Penske&#8217;s race to lose. Defending winners, they have the data from the IndyCar races that took place in July. If Blaney doesn&#8217;t get his second win of the season here, I think Josh Berry could get his second win for the Wood Brothers here, too. Berry finished 7th here last year, driving for Stewart-Haas.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read More: <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/07\/12\/pato-oward-wins-as-penske-finishes-2-3-4-at-iowa-speedway-race-one\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Pato O&#8217;Ward Wins as Penske Finishes 2-3-4 at Iowa Speedway Race One<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I also would not count out Brad Keselowski to be a contender here as well. Tied for the most Xfinity Series wins at Iowa, he won the first race driving for Junior Motorsports. Look for Brad to have a good day on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>Christopher Bell was the lone Toyota in the top five last year, and one of two in the top fifteen. Bell was a killer here in the Xfinity Series, 5 starts, 2 wins, and 4 top-fives. Look for Bell to lead the Toyota charge on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>While Hendrick Motorsports had three of their cars inside the top ten last year, and they will certainly be contenders again this year, I want to throw Ricky Stenhouse Jr.&#8217;s name into the running for the Chevys. He holds the other side of the tie for most Xfinity Series wins, also with three. Finished fifth last year. I think we could see another great run for Stenhouse and the Hyak Motorsports team.<\/p>\n<h3>How To Watch The Cup Series at Iowa Speedway:<\/h3>\n<p>Here is the weekend schedule for the Iowa Corn 350:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Saturday, August 2nd:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Practice<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li>1:30 PM Eastern<\/li>\n<li>Coverage is on TruTV, and radio coverage is on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Qualifying:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>2:40 PM Eastern<\/li>\n<li>Coverage continues on TruTV and NASCAR Radio<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Sunday, August 3rd:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The Iowa Corn 350 at Iowa Speedway:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>3:30 PM Eastern<\/li>\n<li>Coverage is on USA, as NBC begins its coverage of the final races of the 2025 season<\/li>\n<li>Radio coverage is on SiriusXM&#8217;s NASCAR radio channel, provided by MRN<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Stay connected to Last Word on Motorsports for all the updates from NASCAR&#8217;s Iowa Weekend<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Main Photo:\u00a0<\/strong>Sean Gardner, Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Recording Date: 6\/16\/2025<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NASCAR&#8217;s Cup Series heads to the land of corn, Iowa, for the Iowa Corn 350 at Iowa Speedway. Here is everything you need to know for Sunday&#8217;s 350 laps of short track action. NASCAR Cup Series Iowa Corn 350 at Iowa Speedway Preview Last time by at Iowa Speedway, it was Ryan Blaney winning in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4347,"featured_media":36481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1664],"tags":[160,390,59,644,1474,563,775],"class_list":["post-36477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","category-nascar-cup-series","tag-brad-keselowski","tag-christopher-bell","tag-hendrick-motorsports","tag-iowa-speedway","tag-josh-berry","tag-ricky-stenhouse-jr","tag-ryan-blaney"],"modified_by":"Hayden Murdock","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4347"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36477"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36477\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36486,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36477\/revisions\/36486"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}