The NASCAR Cup Series made history on Sunday (June 16) with the Iowa Corn 350, the series’ inaugural race at Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa. Ryan Blaney dominated in his No. 12 Team Penske Ford, leading a career-high 201 laps to pick up the first win of his championship defense season and the 11th of his Cup Series career.
While Blaney unquestionably had one of the fastest cars on track, pit strategy also played a role in the No. 12 team’s victory. On lap 262, No. 12 crew chief Jonathan Hassler dialed up a two-tire pit stop to get Blaney the lead on the last round of pit stops with 84 laps left. From there, Blaney never relinquished the top spot.
Track Position Is Greater Than Fresh Rubber
That pit call by Hassler was part of a bigger emphasis on track position over fresh tires all evening. While there were a handful of tire failures throughout the race, Goodyear’s softer tire compound did not fall off as much as anticipated. The repaved surface in the turns was a factor in the tires holding up as well.
With this in mind, some teams made two-tire calls or stayed out longer during pit cycles to gain or maintain track position. It started in stage one when on lap 54, Corey LaJoie got two tires on his No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet as everyone else around him took four tires. Restarting fifth with 12 to go in stage one, LaJoie only dropped two spots to finish seventh in the stage and acquire four stage points.
Arguably the biggest pivot point in strategy came in the middle of stage two. A longer run set up a cycle of green flag pit stops. In the midst of that cycle, NASCAR put out a caution on lap 182 for Daniel Hemric brushing the turn 2 wall, trapping drivers who already pitted a lap down. Staying out as long as possible proved to be the right call for several drivers.
Then came the final pit stops of the day. In addition to Blaney, Joey Logano and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. also put on just two right-side tires, restarting second and third, respectively, for the final run to the finish.
As Blaney took the lead and stayed there, Logano and Stenhouse kept most of their track position. Stenhouse came home in fifth for just his second top-five of the 2024 season; meanwhile, Logano finished just one spot behind Stenhouse in sixth, moving to within six points of the cutline for the playoffs. Taking two tires instead of four wound up being a big net gain for all three of these drivers.
Pit Road Police
There were a few penalties here and there that shook up the race for some drivers.
- During lap 54 pit stops, Justin Haley and his No. 51 Rick Ware Racing crew got penalized for an equipment interference violation. However, Haley was on the right side of the lap 182 caution and drove back up to a respectable 13th-place finish.
- On lap 73, Hemric got caught speeding while exiting pit road under caution, part of a miserable day at Iowa for the No. 31 team. Hemric finished back in 29th.
- Martin Truex Jr. sped entering pit road for his green flag pit stop on lap 166, contributing to an underwhelming 15th-place showing in Truex’s first race since his announcing his impending Cup Series retirement at the end of this season.
Look Ahead to Next Week
The NASCAR Cup Series will move from the Midwest to New England for the running of the USA TODAY 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway next Sunday, June 23.
New Hampshire is a flat 1.058-mile oval track where it is usually difficult to pass. This will put a premium on a good qualifying run as well as increase the potential for two-tire or fuel-only pit calls in order to pass cars on pit road and gain track position.
Andrew Stoddard joined Frontstretch in May of 2022 as an iRacing contributor. He is a graduate of Hampden-Sydney College, the University of Richmond, and VCU. He works as an athletic communications specialist at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va.
Yeah I’ve been hearing that the drivers have some flat tires in both in the xfinity and the cup series so I think that Goodyear really needs to figure out how to prevent flat tires while the race goes on.
The caution for the 31 was a farce and I expected that with Bubba near the front during a long green flag run. It has happened before.