NASCAR Monday Mash-Up: William Byron strikes in Iowa

How many times have we seen Kyle Busch have problems in practice this season? It feels like a lot. He slammed the wall this week at Iowa during practice.

Busch tried to bounce back. However, he gave up track position at one point and was never able to get back through the field. P20 for Busch and a win is a must in these next three weeks.

Chase Briscoe wins sixth pole of the NASCAR season

It was amazing to see Chase Briscoe once again win the pole award for the NASCAR Cup Series. It is his sixth of the season. Michael McDowell led the series with six poles in 2024 and Briscoe will likely pick up more.

Briscoe is likely a lock for the Daytona and Talladega pole awards. I wouldn’t be shocked to see him do it at Darlington or anywhere else.

NASCAR holds caution flag as Dibenedetto wrecks

For some reason, NASCAR held the caution flag as Matt DiBenedetto wrecked late in the Xfinity Series race. He got into Corey Day on a restart and his car blew up.

There was smoke everywhere and DiBenedetto was clearly dumping fluids onto the track. NASCAR made the field race back around until Brandon Jones slipped in the fluid and spun out. Bizarre decision from race control.

Sam Mayer wins Xfinity Series race for second year

With late restarts piling up, Sam Mayer was able to take the lead and then more or less steal the win at Iowa. He wasn’t the best on the day, but he put up a great performance and was in the right place at the right time.

This is the second year in a row that Mayer has won at Iowa. This was his first win with Haas Factory Team and Ford.

First-ever home run car in Speedway Classic

Over at Bristol Motor Speedway, Eli White delivered the hit that ended up being the first home run in the game. It also triggered the Speedway Classic home run car.

A customized Chevy Corvette took off around the track at Bristol with a flag flying out of the passenger side to celebrate the home run. It was a really great moment in an otherwise frustrating weekend for the MLB at Bristol.

Carson ‘Hurricane’ Hocevar gets new nickname

Our first race of the season with Leigh Diffey back in the booth. He had a fun nickname up his sleeve for Carson Hocevar and bestowed it upon him early in the race.

“Hurricane” Hocevar just might be the nickname that sticks. The young driver had a pretty good day at Iowa but got into drama with Zane Smith.

Hendrick teammates get physical on the track

One of the storylines that I am going to watch moving forward is the relationship on the track between Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott. The two Hendrick teammates were into each other a few times during the Iowa race.

Larson was very frustrated at Iowa. He finished a horrendous P28.

William Byron stretches fuel to win NASCAR Iowa Corn 350

Despite the drama that the booth tried to bring fans, William Byron went on to win at Iowa Speedway. He never ran out of fuel, and everyone’s tires held up in the end, too.

Had we not had so many cautions in the final stage, maybe things would have played out differently. Still, it was a bit disappointing to see another short track put on a mediocre show.