NEWTON, Iowa — While both Brad Keselowski and Ryan Preece both fell short of the ultimate goal of winning today’s NASCAR Cup Series Iowa Corn 350 at Iowa Speedway, the RFK Racing duo led a banner day for the team after enduring more yellows than a ripe corn field.
While one driver fought all day for the win, battling up front and being a contender, the other had to use strategy and timely cautions to work his way through the field and to the front.
Keselowski, part owner of RFK, swept stages one and two for the first time since his win at the 2019 spring race at Martinsville Speedway after having a dominant long run speed at Iowa.
Keselowski made the pass on eventual winner William Byron for the first stage and pulled away to at one point a 2.5-second lead from last year’s Iowa winner Ryan Blaney in stage two, as well as fend off a two-lap sprint to end stage two.
Then, if you’re a fan of NASCAR’s flag graphic on their website, that pretty much turned into corn.
The third stage turned the entire race upside down with seven cautions during the stage that would see multiple different strategies shuffle the running order.
At a few points, Keselowski had to avoid two spinning Toyotas of Erik Jones and Tyler Reddick.
The one constant was Keselowski motoring back into contention behind the Byron, who was saving fuel, and polesitter Chase Briscoe.
“We can’t control what we can’t control,” Keselowski told Frontstretch. “We need to focus on what we can. We couldn’t control all the yellows that shifted the dynamics of the race today away from us. It’s unfortunate.”
In the end, Keselowski couldn’t pass the two and settled for third after leading 68 laps on the day.
“We had an opportunity today,” Keselowski said. “It’s disappointing to not be able to get the win, but we put ourselves in position. I love the position we were in and the speed that we have.”
Despite not getting the win, the No. 6 team has made a considerable climb in the points, moving from 33rd in race 13 after Kansas Speedway to now 19th post-Iowa, but still -121 to the cutoff of teammate Chris Buescher with three races remaining until the playoffs.
“I just feel like we can win any of these next three races,” Keselowski said. “That’s a good feeling.”
As for the No. 60 Ford Mustang of Preece, his bid to make another great memory at Iowa was looking like a nightmare at first after earning an early speeding penalty and nearly going one lap down in stage one.
His fortunes would change after the consecutive cautions saw the Berlin, Conn. native gain valuable track positions with others pitting for fuel and tires as well as excellent restarts down the stretch.
“It was such a struggle,” Preece said. “If you lost track position, it didn’t matter. It was so tough to pass. Once we got it, made sure on that restart to get it back.”
Preece was in the best fuel situation, but with others catching the cautions needed and pace fall off in the final green flag run, Preece came home fifth to secure his third top five of the season and second in a row, applying pressure on Buescher for the playoff cutoff, 23 points behind.
“If we continue to do what we did at the end of this race and even throughout the race, make it better, we’ll have our day,” Preece said. “Right now, all we can do is focus on Watkins Glen, Richmond, Daytona, bringing fast race cars and putting ourselves in the position to possibly win.”
Despite missing out on their playoff berth in Corn Country, Keselowski and Preece were able to secure the first back-to-back double top-five result for RFK since 2012.
“I think we’re executing races,” Preece said. “That’s really what we’re doing. We’re starting to come together as a team. I feel like were [making] little bites and we’ll eventually be like Brad. Brad’s got a lot of experience with this group, and he’s somebody that, between him and Chris, I’m grateful to be teammates with them and be learning in a positive manner.”
Wyatt Watson has followed motorsports closely since 2007. He joined Frontstretch as a journalist in February 2023 after serving in the United States Navy for five years as an Electronic Technician Navigation working on submarines. Wyatt is one of Frontstretch's primary IndyCar correspondents, providing exclusive video content on site. He hosts Frontstretch's Through the Gears podcast and occasionally The Pit Straight.You can find Wyatt's written work in columns such as Friday Faceoff and 2-Headed Monsteras well as exclusive IndyCar features. Wyatt also contributes to Frontstretch's social media team, posting unique and engaging content for Frontstretch.
Wyatt Watson can be found on X @WyattWRacing