Ryan Blaney had speed early, but not enough late to win at Iowa

Ryan Blaney appeared to have far and away the best car in the first half of Sunday's Iowa Corn 350 at Iowa Speedway, but not even an aggressive undercut during the final round of green flag pit stops could vault him into victory lane. 

Blaney won the pole, won Stage 1 and led a race-high 129 of 350 laps but was not quick enough over the race's final run to get around Ty Gibbs and Christopher Bell, who finished 1-2. 

Ryan Blaney faded over second half at Iowa

"The 20 and the 54 were definitely better than me [in the] second half of the race," Blaney told USA Network. "[Crew chief] Jonathan Hassler did a good job putting two [tires] on it after the Stage 2 caution, kind of get some track position. I settled in third and ran there. 

"Good weekend. Good practice and qualifying, strong showing in the race. Nice to get a good finish here even though it's not a win."

Blaney is still third in the standings after Sunday's race but is only seven points back of Gibbs for second, making the No. 2 seed in the Chase very attainable for the 2023 champion. 

That's especially true given that the final three races of the regular season at Richmond, New Hampshire and Daytona line up well for the No. 12 group and Blaney.