Iowa Speedway

Discover the history of Iowa Speedway, including NASCAR race winners for the Cup, Xfinity, and Truck Series, detailed track facts, and a full gallery of past race images.

Iowa Speedway NASCAR Race History

CUP Race Winning Drivers

Ryan Blaney

1

Ryan Blaney
CUP RACES AT IOWA SPEEDWAY
DATE RACE WINNER # MAKE ST TEAM CREW CHIEF LAPS TIME
06-2024 Iowa Corn 350 Powere… Ryan Blaney 12 Ford 2 Team Penske Jonathan Hassler 350 02:58:37
Cup Race Recaps

By Reid Spencer - NASCAR Wire Service

Two-tire call helps Ryan Blaney find Victory Lane at Iowa Speedway

This time, there was no unpleasant surprise waiting for Ryan Blaney near the finish line of a NASCAR Cup Series race.

Grabbing the lead on crew chief Jonathan Hassler’s two-tire call under the final caution of Sunday night’s Iowa Corn 350, Blaney led the final 88 laps of the inaugural Cup race at 0.875-mile Iowa Speedway.

In front of a large contingent of family and friends, the reigning series champion crossed the finish line 0.716 seconds ahead of runner-up William Byron, who was racing on four new tires after a pit stop under caution for Chris Buescher’s accident on Lap 260.

The victory was Blaney’s first of the season and the 11th of his career. Blaney now has won at Iowa Speedway in all three NASCAR national series, having triumphed in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series in 2012 and the Xfinity Series in 2015.

All told, the race winner led four times for 201 of 350 laps on a track that was repaved in the bottom two lanes in the corners.

“What a cool way to win here. This place means a lot to me and means a lot to my mom (Lisa, from Chariton, Iowa),” said Blaney, who was leading June 2 at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway outside St. Louis before running out of fuel on the white-flag lap.

“We had a lot of people here tonight cheering us on, so they willed us to that one. Overall, I really appreciate the whole (No. 12 team). I mean, our car was really fast all night and we got a little bit better through the night, and two tires was a good call there. 

“I didn’t know how well I was going to hold on. I started to struggle a little bit at the end but had enough to hang on. I’m super proud of the effort.”

Byron wasn’t surprised Blaney won the race on two fresh tires, given the quality of the Team Penske driver’s No. 12 Ford.

“No, he had a really good car, so he was up front and contending a lot, and him and the 5 (pole winner Kyle Larson) were really good,” Byron said. “So, we were just a step off of that, you know?

“I feel like I just needed to turn the center just a hair better and still kind of maintain the long run. Proud of the effort. It was a really good night, and I feel like we can learn from this and build from it to be a little bit better.”

In a race that featured eight cautions for 49 laps, Chase Elliott finished third, followed by Christopher Bell, who started from the rear of the field in a backup car after blowing a right front tire and crashing in Friday’s practice.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. came home fifth, with Joey Logano, Josh Berry, Alex Bowman, Daniel Suarez and Brad Keselowski completing the top 10.

The restart after the second stage break changed the entire dynamic of the race. Larson had just taken the green/checkered flag to claim his eighth stage victory of the season.

But on lap 220, one circuit after the final stage went green for the first time, contact from Suarez’s Chevrolet sent Larson’s Camaro spinning into the outside wall on the frontstretch, pinching Denny Hamlin’s Toyota into the barrier in the process.

Larson’s crew eventually repaired the wounded machine, but not until the 2021 champion had lost 31 laps in the garage. Larson finished 34th, 36 laps down and lost the series lead to Elliott, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate.

Larson, who led 80 laps on Sunday before the accident that waylaid him, trails Elliott by eight points with nine races left in the regular season.

XFINITY Race Winning Drivers

Christopher Bell

2

Christopher Bell
Justin Allgaier

1

Justin Allgaier
Chase Briscoe

1

Chase Briscoe
Sam Mayer

1

Sam Mayer
XFINITY RACES AT IOWA SPEEDWAY (My Xfinity data includes comprehensive coverage starting from the 2015 season.)
DATE RACE WINNER # MAKE ST TEAM CREW CHIEF LAPS TIME
06-2024 Hy-vee PERKS 250 Sam Mayer 1 Chevrolet 5th JR Motorsports Mardy Lindley 253 02:36:27
07-2019 US Cellular 250 Chase Briscoe 98 Ford 2nd Biagi-DenBeste Racing Richard Boswell 250 02:28:00
06-2019 CircuitCity.com 250 Christopher Bell 20 Toyota 2nd Joe Gibbs Racing Jason Ratcliff 250 02:19:02
07-2018 U.S. Cellular 250 pr… Christopher Bell 20 Toyota 3rd Joe Gibbs Racing Jason Ratcliff 257 02:18:00
06-2018 Iowa 250 presented b… Justin Allgaier 7 Chevrolet 11th JR Motorsports Jason Burdett 250 02:08:33
07-2017 US Cellular 250 Pres… -- -- -- -- -- -- 254 02:17:37
06-2017 American Ethanol E15… -- -- -- -- -- -- 250 02:32:52
11-2016 Ticket Galaxy 200 -- -- -- -- -- -- 200 02:03:19
07-2016 US Cellular 250 -- -- -- -- -- -- 250 02:05:43
06-2016 American Ethanol E15… -- -- -- -- -- -- 250 02:07:51
08-2015 US Cellular 250 pres… -- -- -- -- -- -- 260 02:12:02
05-2015 3M 250 -- -- -- -- -- -- 259 02:24:17
03-2015 Axalta Faster Toughe… -- -- -- -- -- -- 200 01:49:57
Xfinity Race Recaps

By Reid Spencer - NASCAR Wire Service

Sam Mayer holds off Riley Herbst for overtime NASCAR Xfinity Series win at Iowa

In a race of tire management and hurt feelings, Sam Mayer held off Riley Herbst in overtime to win Saturday’s Hy-Vee Perks 250 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series’ return to Iowa Speedway after a four-year hiatus.

Mayer’s No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet crossed the finish line 0.146 seconds ahead of the No. 98 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford of Herbst, who felt Mayer had abused him earlier in the race.

The victory was Mayer’s second of the season and the sixth of his career, all coming within the last 29 races in the series.

“We struggled (Friday in practice), and the team went to work,” said Mayer, who started fifth when qualifying was canceled because of rain earlier on Saturday. “Obviously, we did pretty good overnight, making different changes on this race car.

“I feel really good. I could do another 100 laps — with a race car like this, it would be a lot of fun.”

Mayer held the lead when John Hunter Nemechek slammed the outside wall in Turn 4 with his left front tire down, the result of close quarters racing with Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Sheldon Creed.

That accident on Lap 245 caused the ninth caution of the afternoon and sent the race three laps beyond its scheduled distance.

In the overtime, Mayer and Herbst took the green flag side-by-side and remained in that posture into Turn 1, but Mayer cleared the race runner-up off Turn 2 and held the top spot the rest of the way.

“I like racing Sam, but Stage 1 or 2 he just absolutely brooms me,” Herbst said. “We were racing clean for fourth, and he takes us back to 10th and then doors me down the back straightaway before the green-white-checker. 

“It’s just frustrating the way he wants to do that, but all in all, it was fun. I’m happy to be back on ovals. The speed is back in the 98.”

Corey Heim finished a career-best third after starting 22nd because of the qualifying rainout. Sammy Smith was fourth, followed by Creed, who survived the dust-up with Nemechek after a restart on Lap 238.

Cole Custer, Matt DiBenedetto, Chandler Smith, Ross Chastain and Daniel Dye completed the top 10.

If any driver had cause for frustration, it was Chandler Smith, who led a race-high 131 laps and swept the first two stages. Smith restarted third to begin the final stage, but lack of short-run speed quickly dropped him to 12th, and he never recovered.

Austin Hill likewise had reason to bemoan his result. Overcoming early handling issues, Hill charged into the top five in the final stage, but a cut left front tire sent him hard into the Turn 1 wall on Lap 218, causing the seventh caution.

Hill finished 29th and dropped to third in the series standings, 41 points behind Custer, the current leader and defending series champion. Chandler Smith, second in the standings, trails Custer by one point.

TRUCKS Race Winning Drivers

Brett Moffitt

2

Brett Moffitt
William Byron

1

William Byron Jr
Erik Jones

1

Erik Jones
John Hunter Nemechek

1

John Hunter Nemechek
TRUCK RACES AT IOWA SPEEDWAY (My Truck data includes comprehensive coverage starting from the 2015 season.)
DATE RACE WINNER # MAKE ST TEAM CREW CHIEF LAPS TIME
06-2019 M&M'S 200 presented … Brett Moffitt 24 Chevrolet 6th GMS Racing Jerry Baxter 200 01:40:18
06-2018 M&M's 200 presented … Brett Moffitt 16 Toyota 16th Hattori Racing Scott Zipadelli 200 01:56:45
06-2017 M&M's 200 presented … John Hunter Nemechek 8 Chevrolet 5th -- Gere Kennon 200 01:47:42
06-2016 Speediatrics 200 William Byron 9 Toyota 5th -- Rudy Fugle 200 01:53:16
06-2015 American Ethanol 200 Erik Jones 4 Toyota 1st -- Rudy Fugle 200 01:48:33

No race recap articles available.

Iowa Speedway
3333 Rusty Wallace Drive Newton, IA, 50208 641-791-8000

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Iowa Speedway aerial
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Iowa Speedway seating
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Iowa Trivia

No trivia for this track.

Iowa Image Gallery

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Iowa History

The track opened in September 2006 with the Soy Biodiesel 250, won by Woody Howard, for the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Four Champions playoff. The Indy Racing League announced a race there on June 24, 2007, the Iowa Corn Indy 250, which was won by Dario Franchitti, who barely nipped Marco Andretti at the finish line. The track also secured a combined NASCAR Camping World East-West race where results counted towards both series' championships. That race delivered a dramatic battle between 17-year-old Joey Logano from the Busch East Series, who defeated Daytona 500 champion Kevin Harvick, 1998 West Series champion, who represented the West Series at the end of the race.

The track was designed with influence from Rusty Wallace and patterned after Richmond Raceway as a D-shaped oval, a short track where Wallace was very successful. The track length is disputed by the two major series that run at Iowa. The NASCAR timing and scoring use a length of 0.875 miles (1.408 km). The IndyCar Series timing and scoring use a length of 0.894 miles (1.439 km).

The track was awarded a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race and a NASCAR Nationwide Series race in 2009.

On July 5, 2011 it was announced that the Manatt family, builders and primary owners of the Iowa Speedway through the holding company U.S. Motorsports Corporation, had sold their majority interest to the Clement family, owners of Featherlite Incorporated. "It was our privilege to help build the track five years ago, and like a proud parent, we've enjoyed watching it thrive and grow," said company president Brad Manatt. Featherlite Incorporated already has a long-standing relationship with NASCAR. Many race teams use Featherlite Trailers and Featherlite Coaches for the transport of cars and staff. Rusty Wallace will remain a minority owner in the track.

Following news of financial issues at the track, the facility was purchased by NASCAR by November 2013.