This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series returns from its final off week of the season and heads to Iowa Speedway for the Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol.
It will be the third Cup Series race at the 7/8-mile short track. Ryan Blaney won the inaugural event in 2024 before William Byron took the checkered flag in 2025, making the two drivers the only Cup winners at the track.
Denny Hamlin enters the weekend as one of the drivers to beat and is listed at +400 to win, according to DraftKings Sportsbook. Hamlin has struggled in his first two Cup starts at Iowa, finishing 24th in both races, but Joe Gibbs Racing has shown considerable strength with the 2026 short-track package.
Carson Hocevar presents a much different option at +2500. The Spire Motorsports driver has finished inside the top 10 in both of his previous Cup starts at Iowa, including a sixth-place result in 2024 and ninth in 2025.
Defending Iowa winner Byron will also be one to watch after leading 141 laps on his way to victory lane last season. Blaney, meanwhile, won the inaugural Cup race at Iowa and followed it up with a fourth-place finish in 2025.
With regular Through The Gears host Michael Bellifemini on-site covering the weekend at Iowa Speedway, Frontstretch‘s Chris Graham takes over the show this week to break down the betting board, build three increasingly ambitious parlays and give his Speedway Collective fantasy selections as the Cup Series enters the final four races of the regular season.
With fantasy allocations becoming increasingly important, Graham looks beyond simply picking the fastest drivers at Iowa and discusses which stars are worth using now — and which should be saved for the races still to come.
The Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol will take place Sunday, Aug. 9, at 3:30 p.m. ET, with live television coverage on USA Network.
Chris Graham is a motorsports producer, director, and broadcast engineer based in the Philadelphia-area. Through his work with NRN Productions, he’s helped build and execute live race coverage and sports streaming workflows ranging from lean, two-to-three person crews to full broadcast-style productions. Chris has worked across nearly every position in the truck—producing, directing, technical directing, replay, graphics, camera operation, and engineering—and has supported events and partners including FloSports, the ASA STARS National Tour, and Diamond State Digital. He’s also involved in developing live show formats and digital coverage that bring fans closer to the stories behind the racing. He is currently also the producer for the Frontstretch podcast Happy Hour.