William Byron Saves Enough Fuel, Wins at Iowa

Byron’s No. 24 took the lead from the drop of the green flag. This saw him lead 67 laps while also trying to keep Keselowski at bay, who, as the run went longer, clearly had the better car. While the pair were fighting through lap traffic with under 10 laps to go in the opening stage, Byron slipped up, and Keselowski proceeded to get by, as did third-place runner Austin Cindric.

Keselowski slipped away and won the opening stage. It started to make things interesting around the playoff bubble line, as Keselowski has put some pressure on his pair of teammates for a spot. Chris Buescher and Ryan Preece are deadlocked for the final spot.

Career Year for Some

It has been a career year for so many in the NASCAR Cup Series this season, and that was no different on Sunday at Iowa. Chase Briscoe has a league-high six poles on the season, and once again showcased speed behind the wheel of his No. 19 Toyota throughout the race. Despite starting on the pole, Briscoe didn’t get to lead any laps until the second stage, when he held the lead for 81 laps.

That also helped him mark off a new career high for laps led in a season. The Pocono race winner has been right on the heels of a second win, much of the summer, and his runner-up finish this weekend marked his third in the last four races overall.

He wasn’t the only driver having a career year, to this point. Ryan Preece may have had a real shot on Sunday if the final stage hadn’t turned into cautions breeding more cautions. Despite an early speeding penalty on pit road, Preece was able to stabilize his day and come home with a top-five finish. His 10th top 10 of the season overall, which is a new career high. Further showcasing the speed RFK has down the stretch.

Bubba Wallace had an interesting weekend to say the least. Fresh off his Brickyard 400 victory, Wallace overcame being down two laps with 80 to go in Sunday’s race at Iowa to rally back and score a sixth-place finish. It was quite amazing to see his No. 23 Toyota pass so many cars during the final stanza. It only added to what could have happened if the race were 400 laps, not just 350.

Cautions Breed Fuel Mileage Battle

After plenty of long run green flag racing through the first two stages. The final stage saw yellow after yellow. So much so strategy was thrown for a loop. You had several drivers on at least four or five different fuel strategies. Chase Elliott and Josh Berry got stuck running at the front despite knowing full well they would have to pit one more time during the race’s final 50 laps. You also had William Byron, who eventually held off all challengers running the final 144 laps on a tank of gas.

It was simply crazy. Byron was able to pull it off, especially with Briscoe, Keselowski, and defending race winner Ryan Blaney charging down his neck. If the race had been any longer, there is no way Byron would have pulled it off.

After leading a lot of laps at Michigan, he ran out of fuel on the final lap. The same thing happened during the Brickyard 400. Crew Chief Rudy Fugle wasn’t going to let it happen again. Byron was able to score his second win of the season, and the first since the season-opening Daytona 500. Byron has long shown prominence at Iowa Speedway, and the win on Sunday checked off all three series for the driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet. As he now has a win in a Truck, Xfinity, and Cup car at the track Rusty Wallace Built.

With three races left in the regular season, who knows what’s next for the NASCAR Cup Series, with Watkins Glen, Richmond, and Daytona ahead