What Happened?
A family-fueled drive provided just enough motivation in the tank for Ryan Blaney, who dominated much of the night and claimed victory in the first NASCAR Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway.
Blaney took two tires to gain the lead on the final pit stop and matched lap times to fend off William Byron and Chase Elliott, who occupied the next two spots.
Early in the race, Blaney faced the biggest challenge from Kyle Larson, who equaled Blaney in speed earlier in the race. Larson ran into issues to start the final stage and Blaney ran off, leading the rest of the laps on the way to the win.
What Really Happened?
When photos surfaced of the new Iowa repave, I was first sad, then I was skeptical, then I was angry. We were supposed to have a great race on a wide, worn-out short track that seemed destined to put on a great Next Gen event.
Then they had to go and repave it. On top of that, they only partially repaved it. They ruined the track for this car, which struggles on short tracks and tracks with narrow grooves.
Iowa shattered these lowered expectations.
The racing all evening provided plenty of side-by-side action. The narrowed groove still allowed for three-wide racing, but drivers had to be careful not to go too high and risk losing tons of positions.
Rather than guys getting stuck in dirty air, cars showed the ability to move around, gain time and make passes for most of the race.
On top of that, the new track and tight spaces led to plenty of guys making mistakes that led to contact and incidents.
Part of this credit should go to the progressive banking. Iowa has long had progressive banking, and on the old surface we saw the groove migrate to the top on long runs. While the repave didn’t quite go to the top, the broadcast made mention of slight variation from the low lane to the higher repaved grooves.
Another point scored for the progressive banking tracks.
But the other big difference from other short tracks showed up in the lack of shifting throughout the race.
Shifting has been a point of contention with this car on short tracks. The gearing ratio allows drivers to grab a gear and keep up their momentum when they make a mistake in the corner. While super forgiving to the…
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