Ryan Blaney entering Sunday night’s (June 16) race at Iowa Speedway as one of a handful of drivers with wins in both the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series there.
He didn’t waste time capping off the trifecta.
Blaney returned to victory lane for the first time in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, cashing in with a dominant performance in the Iowa Corn 350. The Team Penske driver led a career-high 201 laps, holding off a hard-charging William Byron down the stretch to win by a little less than a second.
Blaney had a strong car from the drop of the green flag to the checkered. For most of the race’s first half, his main rival was Kyle Larson, but a wreck during the final stage involving Larson and Daniel Suarez took the No. 5 car right out of contention. From there, it was Blaney utilizing a two-tire stop to jump to the front of the field, leading the final 88 laps of the race.
Byron, Chase Elliott, Christopher Bell, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. completed the top-five finishers. Joey Logano, Josh Berry, Alex Bowman, Daniel Suárez, and Brad Keselowski rounded out the top 10.
The NASCAR Cup Series’ debut race at Iowa Speedway was physical from the drop of the green flag. The first caution would fly on lap three following a stack-up consisting of all three Spire Motorsports cars. In the middle of turns 1 and 2, Zane Smith got into Carson Hocevar, who then turned Corey LaJoie.
The second caution would fly on lap 51 after AJ Allmendinger blew a right front tire, hitting the wall and ending his day.
Although Larson had dominated stage one, building a three-second lead at one point, following the caution for Allmendinger, Blaney used the momentum of the outside line to chase Larson down and claim an unexpected stage win.
Suárez, Byron, and Berry completed the top five, while Logano, LaJoie, Keselowski, Elliott, and Kyle Busch rounded out the top 10.
The field would race under the green flag for 10 laps following the stage end; however, the caution would fly on lap 80 after John Hunter Nemechek…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at …