By David Morgan, Associate Editor
NEWTON, Iowa – Ryan Blaney had come so close to victory on so many occasions in 2024, only to fall short in the end.
On Sunday at Iowa Speedway, it was finally Blaney’s time, scoring the win in Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350 ahead of the Hendrick Motorsports duo of William Byron and Chase Elliott.
It was a dominant drive from the driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford, who led a race-high 201 laps, winning the first stage and finishing the second stage in the top-five before a strategy call from crew chief Jonathan Hassler put him in the catbird seat for the final run to the finish.
Coming down pit road during the final caution on lap 263, a two-tire gamble put him out in front of Byron, with 88 laps remaining and there was no looking back from that point as he pulled out to a margin of approximately a second over Byron and he was able to hold that margin all the way down the stretch.
With the win, Blaney now has wins in all three NASCAR national series, having previously won in both the NASCAR Truck Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2012 and 2015, respectively.
“What a cool way to win here. This place means a lot to me and means a lot to my mom,” said Blaney. “We had a lot of people here tonight cheering us on, so they willed us to that one. Overall, I really appreciate the whole 12 boys.
“I mean, our car was really fast all night and we got a little bit better through the night and two tires was a good call there. I didn’t know how well I was gonna hold on. I started to struggle a little bit at the end, but had enough to hang on.
“I’m super proud of the effort. I appreciate Advance Auto Parts, Ford, Ford Performance, Menards, Discount Tire, Wurth, Snap On, DEX Imaging, Wabash – everything they do. It makes up a little bit from a couple weeks ago.”
Christopher Bell would finish the race in fourth in a back-up car after crashing in practice to start the weekend, followed by Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. scoring his first top-five finish since Talladega in April.
The remainder of the top-10 finishers were Joey Logano, Josh Berry, Alex Bowman, Daniel Suarez, and Brad Keselowski.
Throughout the night, the only other car that seemed to be on Blaney’s level was Kyle Larson, who finished second to Blaney in the first stage, but worries about tires brought him to pit road early in the second stage, relegating him to outside the top-30 with a ton of work to do to get back…
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