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The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) is the sanctioning body for the No. 1 form of motorsports in the United States and owner of 14 of the nation’s major motorsports entertainment facilities. NASCAR sanctions races in three national series (NASCAR Cup Series™, NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series™, and NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series™), four international series (NASCAR Brasil Series, NASCAR Canada Series, NASCAR Euro Series, NASCAR Mexico Series), four regional series (ARCA Menards Series, ARCA Menards Series East & West and the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour) and a local grassroots series (NASCAR Local Racing Series Powered by O’Reilly Auto Parts). The International Motor Sports Association™ (IMSA®) governs the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship™, the premier U.S. sports car series. NASCAR also owns Motor Racing Network, Racing Electronics, and ONE DAYTONA. Based in Daytona Beach, Florida, with offices in five cities across North America, NASCAR sanctions more than 1,200 races annually in 11 countries and more than 30 U.S. states.

Logano Wins at Richmond as Chase Picture Takes Shape

 

Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images

RICHMOND, Va. – Joey Logano issued a not too subtle reminder Saturday night that he is a three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and absolutely ready to position himself for yet another title run.

Logano claimed his second win of the 2026 season – in fact, his second victory in the last four races – driving his No. 22 Team Penske Ford to a dramatic .392-second win in the Cook Out 400 under the lights in front of an enthusiastic sellout crowd at Richmond Raceway.

The veteran led 95 of the 400 laps and has improved from 20th place to ninth place in the championship standings in just the last six races after the slowest season start in his 39-time trophy-hoisting championship career.

“Don’t let the boys get hot, we’re pretty strong right now,” the 36-year old Logano said grinning. “It’s awesome to see the speed in the 22 again. Gosh, it was a great car and we’ve had a great car here in the last five races but weren’t able to capitalize on the win. So close, but sweet redemption today.’’

Logano had to work at it, leading six different times on the night, ultimately taking the point for good during pit stop exchanges with only 25 laps remaining. And even then, he had to hold off what looked like the night’s strongest car, the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driven by Chase Briscoe, whose runner-up showing marked not only his first at the famed .75-mile Richmond track, but his first career top-10 on any short track on the schedule. He led a race-best 171 laps but said an issue with the brakes late in the race may have ultimately hampered his ability to get back by Logano.

“As I lost that [brakes] I just kind of lost my advantage and then I just became not mediocre but not quite as strong as I needed to be to maintain there,’’ said Briscoe, who clinched a position into the 16-driver championship field with his effort Saturday.  “Definitely frustrating from that standpoint but still a huge improvement from what I’ve been here, so go on to the next one.”

Logano’s Penske teammate Austin Cindric finished third in the No. 2 Ford, his work having major championship implications. He was strong all evening and that third-place effort moved him up from 16th to 15th in the standings with the top-16 drivers advancing to settle the 2026 title when the 10-race Chase begins in three weeks at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway

Championship points leader and the Virginia hometown favorite Denny Hamlin was fourth Saturday in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. He now holds a 115-point advantage atop the standings over Richmond polesitter Ryan Blaney, whose No. 12 Team Penske Ford led 88 laps and won Stage 1, but finished 13th.

Chase Elliott finished fifth in the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, notably his first top-10 showing in the last 10 races. A two-time winner this season, he formally clinched his Chase position and sits sixth in the standings with two races remaining to set that 16-driver Chase field.

Following the Richmond race, seven drivers have now earned their title shot – Hamlin, Blaney, JGR’s Ty Gibbs, who finished 15th Saturday as well as five-race winner, 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick, who finished 11th Saturday night answering a disappointing 36th place showing last week in Iowa.

Briscoe, Elliott and JGR’s Christopher Bell also formally claimed a championship chance, now holding positions fifth through seventh in the standings.

Two-time and reigning series champion Kyle Larson finished sixth Saturday in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy, a position ahead of Bell in the No. 20 JGR Toyota. Wood Brothers Racing’s Josh Berry was eighth, followed by Hendrick teammates William Byron and Alex Bowman.

Only two races – at New Hampshire and Daytona International Speedway – now remain to set that 16-driver Chase field. Larson, Logano, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s Chris Buescher, Spire Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar, Byron, Spire’s Daniel Suarez and Reddick’s 23XI Racing teammate Bubba Wallace hold positions eight through 15th now in the standings.

The season’s two-race winner, Trackhouse Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen, claims that pivotal 16th place in the standings. He finished 14th at Richmond and takes a 50-point edge on RFK’s Ryan Preece to next week’s stop in New Hampshire. Ross Chastain is 63 points off his teammate van Gisbergen’s pace.

The run for the title continues as the NASCAR Cup Series heads to the New Hampshire Motor Speedway mile for next Sunday’s Dollar Tree 301 (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Blaney is the defending race winner.

NASCAR Cup Series Race - Cook Out 400

Richmond Raceway

Richmond, Virginia

Saturday, August 15, 2026

                1. (10)  Joey Logano, Ford, 400.

                2. (2)  Chase Briscoe, Toyota, 400.

                3. (23)  Austin Cindric, Ford, 400.

                4. (14)  Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 400.

                5. (13)  Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 400.

                6. (30)  Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 400.

                7. (8)  Christopher Bell, Toyota, 400.

                8. (3)  Josh Berry, Ford, 400.

                9. (5)  William Byron, Chevrolet, 400.

                10. (25)  Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 400.

                11. (32)  Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 400.

                12. (18)  Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 399.

                13. (1)  Ryan Blaney, Ford, 399.

                14. (31)  Shane Van Gisbergen, Chevrolet, 399.

                15. (4)  Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 399.

                16. (20)  Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 399.

                17. (6)  Ryan Preece, Ford, 398.

                18. (35)  Noah Gragson, Ford, 398.

                19. (16)  Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 398.

                20. (7)  Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 398.

                21. (19)  Chris Buescher, Ford, 398.

                22. (12)  John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 398.

                23. (33)  Austin Hill(i), Chevrolet, 397.

                24. (17)  Riley Herbst, Toyota, 397.

                25. (11)  Connor Zilisch #, Chevrolet, 397.

                26. (9)  Brad Keselowski, Ford, 397.

                27. (21)  Erik Jones, Toyota, 396.

                28. (26)  Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 396.

                29. (29)  Cole Custer, Chevrolet, 396.

                30. (27)  Todd Gilliland, Ford, 396.

                31. (28)  Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 396.

                32. (34)  Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 394.

                33. (15)  AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 394.

                34. (37)  Cody Ware, Chevrolet, 392.

                35. (36)  Josh Bilicki(i), Ford, 391.

                36. (24)  Zane Smith, Ford, 366.

                37. (22)  Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, Engine, 279.

Average Speed of Race Winner:  98.343 mph.

Time of Race:  3 Hrs, 3 Mins, 2 Secs. Margin of Victory:  .392 Seconds.

Caution Flags:  4 for 31 laps.

Lead Changes:  29 among 10 drivers.

Lap Leaders:   R. Blaney 0;C. Briscoe 1-2;R. Blaney 3;C. Briscoe 4-6;R. Blaney 7-31;J. Berry 32;T. Gibbs 33;B. Wallace 34-36;R. Blaney 37-78;C. Briscoe 79-106;R. Blaney 107-124;C. Briscoe 125-171;J. Logano 172-178;D. Hamlin 179;R. Blaney 180-181;J. Logano 182-233;D. Hamlin 234;J. Logano 235-243;C. Briscoe 244-279;K. Larson 280-281;T. Reddick 282-288;C. Briscoe 289-323;J. Logano 324;C. Bell 325-341;C. Briscoe 342-360;J. Logano 361;C. Briscoe 362;D. Hamlin 363;C. Bell 364-375;J. Logano 376-400.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Chase Briscoe 8 times for 171 laps; Joey Logano 6 times for 95 laps; Ryan Blaney 5 times for 88 laps; Christopher Bell 2 times for 29 laps; Tyler Reddick 1 time for 7 laps; Bubba Wallace 1 time for 3 laps; Denny Hamlin 3 times for 3 laps; Kyle Larson 1 time for 2 laps; Ty Gibbs 1 time for 1 lap; Josh Berry 1 time for 1 lap.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 12,19,22,2,21,23,11,20,9,24

Stage #2 Top Ten: 22,11,19,2,12,21,9,20,45,24

 

Blaney Continues Qualifying Surge with Richmond Pole

 

David Jensen/Getty Images

By Holly Cain

NASCAR Wire Service


 

RICHMOND, Va. – Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney won his third pole position in the last five races and 16th of his championship career Friday afternoon at Richmond Raceway.

The driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford will lead the field to green in Saturday night’s Cook Out 400 (7 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) after posting a lap of 121.485 mph around the .75-mile oval, claiming the top position in the closing minutes of qualifying session; his fourth pole of the season.

“I wouldn’t kind of specify myself as a very good qualifier; for a little bit I struggled in qualifying and just wasn’t able to find the one-lap speed, I was doing the wrong things behind the wheel,’’ said Blaney, the 2024 series champ. “But I think [crew chief] Jonathan [Hassler] and I kind of worked through, how do we make it better. Adjust that end of race mindset to qualifying. 

“And here [at Richmond] it’s super tough because your last lap in practice to qualifying, you’re qualifying like three seconds faster than what you just ran so it’s mentally, how do you switch over to that and figure out how to do it in one lap because the second lap today wasn’t going to do it. Jonathan has done a good job of just trying to work through how do we get better and it’s been kind of fun to work through that.”

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chase Briscoe will line his No. 19 Toyota up alongside Blaney on the front row, Blaney bettering his qualifying effort by only .050-second. This is Briscoe’s 13th top-10 start of the season. 

Wood Brothers Racing driver Josh Berry was third fastest in the No. 21 Ford, with last week’s Iowa Speedway race winner, JGR’s Ty Gibbs fourth on the grid in the No. 54 Toyota and Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron rounding out the top five in the No. 24 Hendrick Chevrolet. 

NASCAR Cup Series championship leader Denny Hamlin – a five-time Richmond winner - was 14th fastest in qualifying and two-time defending race winner, Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon 16th best in the 37-car field.

Dillon is attempting to become only the third driver in NASCAR history to win three consecutive Richmond races and join the likes of NASCAR Hall of Famers Richard Petty and Bobby Allison, who was the last two do in 1983-84.

“We’ve got to get our car better, we’re not where we were last year in practice, just got to continue to work on it and see what we can do,” said Dillon, driver of the famous No. 3 Chevrolet. “I think we have tendencies of our car that are good but we’ve just got to get a little better so we’ll just go to work and see what we can find for tomorrow.’’

--30--

 

 

Ty Gibbs holds off Christopher Bell for dramatic win at Iowa

 

Sean Gardner/Getty Images

August 9, 2026

 

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

 

NEWTON, Iowa — A two-tire call. An impeccable green-flag run. And Ty Gibbs had his second victory of the season.

 

Leap-frogging Joe Gibbs racing teammate Christopher Bell on pit road—thanks to crew chief Tyler Allen’s two-tire call on Lap 290 of 350—Gibbs kept Bell behind him the rest of the way in front of a packed house at 0.875-mile Iowa Speedway.

 

When Ross Chastain came to pit road to complete the cycle of green-flag stops, Gibbs had the race lead on Lap 331, with Bell close behind him.

 

Bell tried everything. Arcing high into the corner. Running the bottom. Crowding up to the bumper of Gibbs’ No. 54 Toyota and trying to force a mistake. But with Gibbs repeatedly taking his line, Bell couldn’t find a way past his 23-year-old teammate, who had claimed his first career victory at Bristol Motor Speedway in April.

 

Before he could get to a race-winning position, Gibbs had to rally from a blown pit stop that cost him 25 positions at the first stage break. With a cool head after the miscue, he maneuvered his way back to the front.

 

“We made a big step from last year, obviously, and I really appreciate it,” said Gibbs, who has finished in the top four at all four short tracks so far this season. “But I really appreciate all my teammates, too.

 

“I wouldn't be here without all my teammates as well, week in and week out, just help keep developing the program. And, obviously, we're all up front for a reason. I really appreciate Denny (Hamlin) and Chase (Briscoe) and Christopher for all their help, obviously.”

 

For the seventh time this season, and for the fourth time in the last five races, Bell had to settle for second. That he climbed from 10th to sixth in the NASCAR Cup Series standings with the runner-up result was of little consolation.

 

“This is what you call a bad second-place finish, for sure,” Bell said. “I don't know what else to say. Ty did a really good job. He did a great job managing the race.

 

“I could tell that he was slipping and sliding around. Similar to last week or two weeks ago with Corey Heim (at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, he just didn't make a mistake. So P2.”

 

Pole winner Ryan Blaney came home third after leading the first 93 laps and winning the first stage. Josh Berry finished fourth in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford, scoring his first top-five of the season.

 

Overcoming brake problems and a start from the rear of the field, series leader Hamlin ran fifth and extended his advantage in the standings to 103 points over Gibbs, who jumped from fourth to second with the win.

 

“Just had to white-knuckle every lap,” said Hamlin, who complained of a “long” brake pedal early in the race. “Obviously, not knowing where my car was going to land when I got into the corner, obviously you want to have brakes, and that was a crazy race to have to do it the whole time without it.

 

“But you've got to do what you've got to do. The team did an amazing job. I would take that day 100 out of 100 times.”

 

Chase Briscoe finished sixth, followed by Chastain, AJ Allmendinger, defending race winner William Byron and Austin Dillon. Sunoco rookie Connor Zilisch was 11th, matching his best Cup Series result on an oval track (2025 at EchoPark Speedway).

 

Shane van Gisbergen ran 30th, three laps down after spinning, but remained 15th in the standings with a 47-point margin over the current cut line for the Chase.

 

The race wasn’t five laps old when a slip by Tyler Reddick ignited a wreck that had profound implications for the series standings.

 

With both cars running in the top seven, Reddick’s Toyota broke loose in Turn 2 on Lap 4 and collected the Camry of Erik Jones. Both cars slammed the outside wall and sustained damage that knocked them out of the race in 35th (Jones) and 36th place (Reddick).

 

The accident cost Reddick two positions in the standings and dimmed his hopes of overtaking Hamlin for the regular-season title. He’s now fourth in points, 120 behind Hamlin with three races left before the Chase field is set.

 

“Just got out of shape in an area—corner entry—where I thought we were pretty secure all weekend,” a chagrined Reddick said after exiting the infield care center. “For us to take ourselves out is one thing, but to take out a fellow Toyota teammate when they are racing for the Chase… pretty much ended their day as well.

 

“It’s the type of stuff you don’t do to yourself, and you don’t do to a teammate.”

 

The early exit was a crushing blow to Jones, who came to Iowa 18th in the standings, 44 points below the Chase cutoff. He leaves the Hawkeye State 20th in points, 50 behind Austin Cindric in 16th, the last Chase-eligible position.

 

“Yeah, we needed a few perfect weeks, and it needed to start here today, and obviously that didn’t happen,” Jones said. “Just unfortunate with how early it is. I’m just trying to settle in and get going.

 

“You don’t expect it either in the top-10, top-five. You don’t think you are going to get caught up in something crazy like that. It’s a bummer. It’s a huge mountain now from here on out to get to the Chase, so we’ll see.”

 

Iowa once again proved a Waterloo for Kyle Larson, who started second and finished third in Stage 1, only to get collected with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman in a Lap 149 accident after John Hunter Nemechek forced Larson’s Chevrolet up the track and created an untenable four-wide situation on the frontstretch.

 

Larson finished 18 laps down in 33rd, two spots below his average finish for the first two Cup Series races at Iowa Speedway.

 

Blaney led three times for a race-high 129 laps, nine more than Bell’s total. Gibbs led the final 20 laps of the third stage, which ran under a green flag from Lap 219 through 350.

 

NASCAR Cup Series Race - Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol

Iowa Speedway

Newton, Iowa

Sunday, August 9, 2026

 

                1. (6)  Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 350.

                2. (22)  Christopher Bell, Toyota, 350.

                3. (1)  Ryan Blaney, Ford, 350.

                4. (13)  Josh Berry, Ford, 350.

                5. (29)  Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 350.

                6. (20)  Chase Briscoe, Toyota, 350.

                7. (9)  Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 350.

                8. (25)  AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 350.

                9. (19)  William Byron, Chevrolet, 350.

                10. (7)  Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 350.

                11. (8)  Connor Zilisch #, Chevrolet, 349.

                12. (26)  Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 349.

                13. (27)  Chris Buescher, Ford, 349.

                14. (3)  Joey Logano, Ford, 349.

                15. (32)  Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 349.

                16. (14)  Zane Smith, Ford, 349.

                17. (15)  Noah Gragson, Ford, 349.

                18. (16)  Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 349.

                19. (21)  John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 349.

                20. (35)  Ryan Preece, Ford, 349.

                21. (28)  Riley Herbst, Toyota, 349.

                22. (17)  Todd Gilliland, Ford, 349.

                23. (33)  Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 349.

                24. (31)  Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 349.

                25. (11)  Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 349.

                26. (24)  Austin Hill(i), Chevrolet, 349.

                27. (4)  Brad Keselowski, Ford, 348.

                28. (36)  Cole Custer, Chevrolet, 348.

                29. (12)  Austin Cindric, Ford, 348.

                30. (23)  Shane Van Gisbergen, Chevrolet, 347.

                31. (18)  Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 347.

                32. (34)  Cody Ware, Chevrolet, 347.

                33. (2)  Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 332.

                34. (30)  Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, Accident, 194.

                35. (10)  Erik Jones, Toyota, Accident, 4.

                36. (5)  Tyler Reddick, Toyota, Accident, 3.

 

Average Speed of Race Winner:  103.337 mph.

Time of Race:  2 Hrs, 57 Mins, 49 Secs. Margin of Victory:  .253 Seconds.

Caution Flags:  7 for 45 laps.

Lead Changes:  9 among 6 drivers.

Lap Leaders:   R. Blaney 1-93;C. Elliott 94-107;B. Wallace 108-142;R. Blaney 143;C. Bell 144-214;C. Elliott 215-218;R. Blaney 219-253;C. Bell 254-290;R. Chastain 291-330;T. Gibbs 331-350.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Ryan Blaney 3 times for 129 laps; Christopher Bell 2 times for 108 laps; Ross Chastain 1 time for 40 laps; Bubba Wallace 1 time for 35 laps; Ty Gibbs 1 time for 20 laps; Chase Elliott 2 times for 18 laps.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 12,22,5,54,3,1,20,19,88,38

Stage #2 Top Ten: 20,22,1,54,19,11,24,12,38,88

 

Ryan Blaney masters Iowa Speedway with pole-winning run

 

 Chris Graythen/Getty Images

August 8, 2026

 

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

 

NEWTON, Iowa — Ryan Blaney continued his mastery of Iowa Speedway on Saturday, putting his No. 12 Team Penske Ford on the pole for Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol (3:30 p.m. ET on USA, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

 

On his second of two qualifying laps, Blaney navigated 0.875-mile Iowa Speedway in 23.474 seconds (134.191 mph) to knock Kyle Larson off the provisional pole. Blaney’s margin over Larson (134.088 mph)—and over Team Penske teammate Joey Logano, who later posted an identical time—was 0.018 seconds.

 

The Busch Light Pole Award was Blaney’s first at Iowa (where he won the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race in 2024), his second of the season and the 15th of his career.

 

Only once before has Blaney converted a pole earned through qualifying into a race win. That was after his most recent pole, at EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta) in July.

 

“I had a lane in mind that I wanted to run, and I missed it on my first lap,” said Blaney, whose average running position in two Iowa races is a series-bet 3.9. “I tried to adjust a little bit the second lap, and the car got a little bit better for me my second lap.

 

“Between the car getting a little better, and I kind of sneaked my lane down a little bit and hit a better lap, it was kind of a perfect storm of a couple of things coming together. I wouldn’t say I pushed it anymore—I hit my line a little bit better.”

 

Defending series champion Larson gets the nod for the second starting spot over Logano on an owner points tiebreaker. Brad Keselowski qualified fourth at 134.025 mph on his first lap, but on his second circuit he spun and backed his No. 6 RFK Ford into the outside wall, damaging the car extensively.

 

Tyler Reddick (133.911 mph) qualified fifth ahead of Ty Gibbs and Austin Dillon, who posted identical laps at 133.786 mph.

 

Rookie Connor Zilisch nailed his best NASCAR Cup Series qualifying effort on an oval track and will start eighth. Ross Chastain and Erik Jones claimed the ninth and 10th positions on the grid.

 

Series leader Denny Hamlin suffered brake issues in practice, as did teammate Chase Briscoe. Hamlin, who leads second-place Reddick by 84 points in the Cup standings, qualified 29th in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs racing Toyota.  

 

Hamlin’s equipment issues may provide an opportunity for Blaney, who stands third in points, 120 behind the series leader.

 

“(Crew chief) Jonathan (Hassler) and I have discussed it a little bit through the weeks,” Blaney said of the possibility of securing top seeding for the Chase. “I don’t think we’re out of it, but we don’t really look too much at that…

 

“Things swing up and down. That group is obviously incredibly good right now. They’re going to work their way through the field. I’m just trying to focus on how the start of the race is going to be tomorrow and what I think the track is going to go to. One lap at a time.”

 

NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying - Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol

Iowa Speedway

Newton, Iowa

Saturday, August 8, 2026

 

                1. (12) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 134.191 mph.

                2. (5) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 134.088 mph.

                3. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, 134.088 mph.

                4. (6) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 134.025 mph.

                5. (45) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 133.911 mph.

                6. (54) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 133.786 mph.

                7. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 133.786 mph.

                8. (88) Connor Zilisch #, Chevrolet, 133.758 mph.

                9. (1) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 133.667 mph.

                10. (43) Erik Jones, Toyota, 133.503 mph.

                11. (71) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 133.486 mph.

                12. (2) Austin Cindric, Ford, 133.480 mph.

                13. (21) Josh Berry, Ford, 133.463 mph.

                14. (38) Zane Smith, Ford, 133.378 mph.

                15. (4) Noah Gragson, Ford, 133.333 mph.

                16. (47) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 133.232 mph.

                17. (34) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 133.175 mph.

                18. (77) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 133.164 mph.

                19. (24) William Byron, Chevrolet, 133.125 mph.

                20. (19) Chase Briscoe, Toyota, 133.119 mph.

                21. (42) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 133.119 mph.

                22. (20) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 133.057 mph.

                23. (97) Shane Van Gisbergen, Chevrolet, 133.012 mph.

                24. (33) Austin Hill(i), Chevrolet, 132.984 mph.

                25. (16) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 132.906 mph.

                26. (23) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 132.861 mph.

                27. (17) Chris Buescher, Ford, 132.811 mph.

                28. (35) Riley Herbst, Toyota, 132.749 mph.

                29. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 132.565 mph.

                30. (48) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 132.481 mph.

                31. (10) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 132.342 mph.

                32. (9) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 132.247 mph.

                33. (7) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 132.087 mph.

                34. (51) Cody Ware, Chevrolet, 131.965 mph.

                35. (60) Ryan Preece, Ford, 131.447 mph.

                36. (41) Cole Custer, Chevrolet, 131.228 mph.

 

--30--

 

Now a two-time winner, Ty Gibbs has his eyes on a bigger prize

 

August 10, 2026

 

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

 

NEWTON, Iowa — There are two things Ty Gibbs possesses in abundance—confidence and talent.

 

Both his victories this season have come at the expense of elite veteran drivers. In picking up his first career win at Bristol Motor Speedway in April, Gibbs outran NASCAR Cup Series champions Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson in overtime.

 

On Sunday at Iowa Speedway, the driver of the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota did a masterful job of keeping teammate Christopher Bell behind him after vaulting past Bell on pit road with 60 laps left in the Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol.

 

The outcome hinged on a two-tire call by crew chief Tyler Allen. On Lap 290 Gibbs entered pit road behind Bell and exited ahead of his teammate, after Bell stopped for four tires.

 

“We knew after practice the left sides weren't wearing much, and they tended to re-fire okay,” Allen said of the decision to take right sides only. “In terms of coming into the race, it was definitely a viable option.

 

“Really, at that point I thought it was the only thing that was going to get us around the 20 (Bell), and then hopefully we could get enough laps where the tires equalized, and they couldn't get by us.”

 

From that point on, it was up to Gibbs to maintain his advantage. For 30 laps, Bell chased him in traffic during a long green-flag cycle of pit stops. When Ross Chastain finally steered his Chevrolet to pit road and surrendered the top spot in the running order, Gibbs had the lead on Lap 331.

 

For the final 20 laps, Gibbs frustrated his teammate, who now has finished second seven times without a win this season—three times a runner-up to a JGR teammate.

 

“He just didn’t make a mistake,” Bell said after the race.

 

Gibbs has established a pattern in his victories. In Sunday’s race, he led only the last 20 laps. In his win at Bristol, he led only the last 25 laps, including five in overtime.

 

With the win at Iowa, Gibbs moved into second place in the Cup Series standings, 103 points behind another teammate, Denny Hamlin. With three races left in the regular season, top seeding in the Chase may be out of reach for Gibbs, but the 23-year-old has his eyes on a bigger prize.

 

“Week to week for me, but obviously want to win the title,” Gibbs replied when asked about his approach to the upcoming races and the Chase.

 

Gibbs has been fast ever since he broke into stock car racing. It has simply been a matter of harnessing his speed. At this point, there’s no doubt Gibbs thinks he can win a championship.

 

“My teammates have been a big help to me in my career and obviously me to them,” Gibbs said. “We all work hard to get our organization better and our program better, but my confidence doesn't waver. I'm not like a head case, worrying about confidence and feeling good to go race every weekend.

 

“Every single weekend is different, and there's always different things going on. If you're searching for confidence, you need to go do a therapy session or do something else.”

 

Doing something else wouldn’t occur to Gibbs, whose hobby is racing sprint cars and midget race cars on dirt.

 

“I just really like race cars,” said Gibbs, a former NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series champion now in his fourth full season of Cup racing. “Obviously, the first couple years were up and down and everything.

 

“But I feel like if we had the same team now roll off for the first year, it would be the same results. Just took us a little bit to figure out what I needed and what I needed in the team, and now we’ve got it.”

 

Based on his performance on Sunday, it would be hard to argue that point.

 

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NASCAR Cup youth movement makes its mark at the Brickyard

 

July 27, 2026

 

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

 

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Corey Heim and Carson Hocevar are on a collision course—figuratively speaking, that is.

 

Both drivers made impressive statements this past weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Hocevar, 23, won the pole for the Brickyard 400 and held the lead in the race until the first round of green-flag pit stops.

 

Heim, who turned 24 on July 5, grabbed the top spot after a restart on Lap 27 and kept veterans Christopher Bell and Joey Logano at bay for the final 34 laps.

 

Heim is the youngest winner of the Crown Jewel race since Jeff Gordon took the checkered flag in the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway two days after turning 23 in 1994.

 

Indeed, Heim and Hocevar are emblematic of a younger generation in NASCAR racing, a group of 20-something drivers already making a mark in the sport and ready to do battle against each other.

 

All three first-time winners this season—Heim, Hocevar and Ty Gibbs—got their maiden victories when they were 23 years old, the first time in Cup history that three or more drivers that young accomplished the feat.

 

Gibbs, too, was a presence at Indianapolis, leading 46 laps and winning the first stage before finishing 12th.

 

But the focus was on Heim and Hocevar, who have a history dating to the Championship 4 Race in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series in 2023, when both drivers were fighting for the title and wrecked each other in the process.

 

Nor could the drivers avoid a certain degree of controversy in the Brickyard 400. In the second stage, Hocevar steered his car to pit road on Lap 82. He returned to the track right behind the Toyota of Heim, who was leading at the time and running long.

 

For 10 frustrating laps, Heim kept Hocevar in his wake. When Heim finally ducked onto pit road on Lap 92, Hocevar steered toward him and expressed his displeasure with a one-finger salute.

 

“I’m just a fan—I wanted to wave at him,” Hocevar quipped after the race. “He’s number one. He won. It’s fun… if we don’t like each other, but we race really hard. His stuff’s super-fast, obviously, with the car he’s in. He does a really, really good job with it.

 

“I’m looking forward to, when we get our stuff a little better, being in front of him and maybe holding him up.”

 

Hocevar is an imposing 6-foot-4, and he possesses a megawatt smile that can light up a room. He revels in the unusual and outlandish—witness his outside-the-car victory celebration at Talladega—and has developed a huge social media following eager to jump to his defense during online spats with other drivers.

 

Hocevar is undeniably aggressive on the race track. His 27 incidents involving 30 different Cup drivers this season are tops in the series.

 

Heim, on the other hand, is more laid back, but at every level of motorsports he is used to winning. His single-season series-record 12 victories propelled him to the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series title last year as he waited for a full-time Cup ride with 23XI Racing—a career goal that won’t be met until next season.

 

Nevertheless, Heim wasn’t about to let the byplay with Hocevar on Sunday go unaddressed.

 

“I was blocking him, not really too bad I thought,” Heim said. “I was trying to just hold my position. I never threw like a bad block. I was just trying to protect my entry. He didn't like it. He lost and I won, so I don't really care.”

 

Indeed. Heim defied the odds in winning for a second time in a part-time role with 23XI. He also seems to have a penchant for major events, with his first victory coming in the inaugural street course race at Naval Base Coronado, where Hocevar also qualified on the front row before finishing 19th.

 

In a sport that craves rivalries, Heim and Hocevar were front and center on Sunday, and you don’t need a crystal ball to see the future of NASCAR racing.

 

It was right before your eyes at the Brickyard.

 

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nascar reviews & NOTEBOOKS

www.nascar.com

The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) is the sanctioning body for the No. 1 form of motorsports in the United States and owner of 14 of the nation’s major motorsports entertainment facilities. NASCAR sanctions races in three national series (NASCAR Cup Series™, NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series™, and NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series™), four international series (NASCAR Brasil Series, NASCAR Canada Series, NASCAR Euro Series, NASCAR Mexico Series), four regional series (ARCA Menards Series, ARCA Menards Series East & West and the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour) and a local grassroots series (NASCAR Local Racing Series Powered by O’Reilly Auto Parts). The International Motor Sports Association™ (IMSA®) governs the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship™, the premier U.S. sports car series. NASCAR also owns Motor Racing Network, Racing Electronics, and ONE DAYTONA. Based in Daytona Beach, Florida, with offices in five cities across North America, NASCAR sanctions more than 1,200 races annually in 11 countries and more than 30 U.S. states.

  

Friday Richmond Notebook

 

Notebook Items: 

  • Hamlin on Richmond Qualifying
  • SVG Feeling the Chase Push
  • Elliott Back in the Saddle Again
  • Odd and Ends

 

August 14, 2026

 

By Holly Cain

NASCAR Wire Service


 

RICHMOND, Va. — Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell claimed his seventh runner-up finish last weekend at Iowa Speedway tying him with NASCAR legend Harry Gant (1981) for most ever in a single season. His 11 runner-up finishes since 2025 are more than double that of any other competitor – his JGR teammates Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe each have six.

But as frustrating as the close calls may feel in the moment, the 31-year-old conceded after a little time to reflect, he has to look at the efforts in a positive way.  The driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota certainly love to hoist his first trophy of the year in Saturday night’s Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway (7 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), where he has an impressive seven top-10s in 10 NASCAR Cup Series starts; his best career showing – yes – a second place fun in 2022 and he’s led 230 laps.

He does have three wins here in what is now the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, including a two-race sweep in 2018.

“Certainly, all of the second-place finishes - they're trying and, in the moment, it really kind of feels like just a kick to the gut, but then whenever Monday, Tuesday rolls around, you're like, ah, it was a pretty darn good day,’’ conceded Bell, who does have three NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series wins here including a two-race 2018 sweep.

“So, ultimately, the results that we've gotten have meant a lot more this year than what they have in my entire Cup career with the format change. So, it's been nice to stack some good results together and we're performing really well right now. I certainly feel like we're in the mix.”

Bell’s work at Iowa moved him up four positions in the championship standings to sixth place and he’s only four points behind his teammate Briscoe in fifth. With the accumulation of points now setting the Chase field instead of a win-and-you’re-in situation of recent seasons, top-fives and top-10s are impactful.

“They mean more today in this year than they have for the previous format, my entire Cup career and NASCAR career for that matter,’’ Bell said. “The point standings and where you're running at in points is super important, but the entire previous championship format was very much win or bust. I think that mentality is still engraved in at least my mind and probably most of the industry's mind, but in all reality, it's not win or bust anymore.”

Hamlin on Richmond Qualifying

Hamlin, a five-time race winner at his home track, Richmond Raceway, is the last driver to win here from pole position – claiming the win from the number one starting spot in 2016. 

Asked Friday why the Busch Light Pole Winner has so seldom won the race recently, Hamlin paused and gave a well-thought-out answer about his hometown .75-mile oval.

“I think the average starting position for the winner is somewhere around 6.7, something like that,’’ said Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. “So you just kind of put yourself somewhere in that range. I think a lot of the reason is that qualifying here is extremely, extremely technical. 

“I would say it's probably the hardest [track] to qualify to hit your marks. … I think that sometimes whoever's got the best car doesn't qualify on the pole because it's just really, really difficult to put it all together, and sometimes someone with a decent car can just hit the marks just right, and that's when they get the pole. So, I think the technicality of the actual line that you have to run makes it to where you see comers and goers here.”

In 37 starts, Hamlin has an amazing 8.9 starting position and has earned four career poles, the last in 2024 when he finished runner-up in the race.

SVG Feeling the Chase Push

To Bell’s point, the new championship format has shifted the focus of competition and Trackhouse Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen is someone, in particular, who feels the new emphasis. The sport’s reigning road course master had earned previous positions in the Chase with his trophy haul on the road course stops on the schedule. 

The 37-year-old New Zealander has a pair of wins in 2026 but sits 15th in points and currently is title-eligible based on the totality of his work, not only his mastery on the road courses. And it’s something Van Gisbergen sad he has consciously worked on.

“I guess initially, it's probably a good thing for the sport,” van Gisbergen said of the championship format change. “I guess initially, I was brought over here for that ‘win and you’re in’ to guarantee a spot in the playoffs, so yeah, I certainly knew I had to get better at ovals, and I think we've done that. 

“I don't think my mindset has changed every race. I think maybe these couple of races, I'm points racing a little bit, but the rest of the year, you're just driving flat out. I don't think I've ever really points raced trying to stay out of trouble. I think that when you're not driving naturally, you find yourself in trouble. So yeah, I just try and drive every race flat out.”

His emphasis and work is evident. He already has equaled career single season highs in top-fives (five) and top-10s (seven) with 13 races still remaining on the year. Four of his top-10s have come on traditionally difficult ovals and he’s twice set a career best showing on ovals – fifth place at both Nashville and North Wilkesboro (N.C.).

van Gisbergen started his weekend off by winning the pole position for Friday night’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race in the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet– his first career pole in the series and first pole position of any kind on an oval.

Elliott Back in the Saddle Again

Former full-time NASCAR competitor, Virginia-native Elliott Sadler said he got more than 60 requests from friends and family for tickets for Friday night’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ Black’s Tires 250 (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Richmond Raceway – the 51-year old’s first race in a NASCAR premier series in seven years and first truck race in 15 years and first truck race at Richmond since 2001.

He’ll drive the No. 25 “Free Agent” Kaulig Racing Dodge Ram on a Virginia “Dream Team” this weekend – Kaulig’s CEO Chris Rice, and Elliott’s teammates Brendan McQueen and Mini Tyrrell are all Virginia natives too.

Sadler said Rice first approached him about the opportunity in January that his first thumbs-up came immediately from his two teenage children who missed seeing their dad compete.

“When I retired seven years ago, I retired for one reason and that’s to spend time with my kids, I was travelling so much and missing everything they were doing at home and felt like I’d followed my dream long enough and I wanted to help my kids follow their dream,’’ Sadler said.

Noting his kids’ reaction and strong approval of the possibility he’d race again, Sadler said, “They both screamed to the top of their lungs, ‘We miss the track, we miss the people.’ They miss this part of my life and now that that they are older, 16 and 14 now, they were ecstatic, so I called Chris [Rice] back and said, ‘you know what, I’m in.’”

“Once I saw my kids’ faces light up that this would be cool to see their dad race again, it made it a very easy decision.’’

Odd and Ends

Toyota’s 14 wins through the opening 23 races is the most for a manufacturer since Chevrolet won 17 in 2007.

For the first time in Toyota’s history of NASCAR Cup Series competition, it boasts five drivers among the top-six in the championship standings.
JGR’s Hamlin, who grew up in nearby Chesterfield, Va. was honored Friday morning by Richmond Raceway, which dedicated two grandstand seats to his family – longtime season ticket holders at the track.
Front Row Motorsports announced Friday morning that it has extended its contract with driver Noah Gragson.

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NASCAR Weekend Preview: Richmond Raceway

NASCAR Chase battle heats up under the lights at Richmond

August 13, 2026

 

By Holly Cain

NASCAR Wire Service

 

NASCAR Chase battle heats up under the lights at Richmond

 

RICHMOND, Va. – A short track Saturday night marks the next test toward the NASCAR Cup Series championship as the series moves to one of the sport’s most popular venues, Richmond (Va.) Raceway for the Cook Out 400 (7 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

 

Only three races remain to formalize the 16-driver Chase field that will contend for the 2026 season title and there’s plenty of action both atop the standings and at the cutoff line to decide which drivers will have a shot at hoisting the big trophy.

 

One of Richmond Raceway’s best, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin extended his championship lead last week with a top-five effort at Iowa Speedway, but the Iowa winner, his teammate, 23-year-old Ty Gibbs has moved into second place in the standings – tying the highest NASCAR Cup Series championship position in his young career. Both of them – and the Joe Gibbs Racing team overall - are particularly good on short tracks, such as the .75-mile Richmond oval.

 

It’s a particularly sentimental winning ground for Hamlin, who was raised in Virginia. The popular 45-year-old driver of the No. 11 JGR Toyota is a five-time Richmond winner and boasts the best average finish (8.25) among active drivers, the sixth best all-time. Only three drivers – NASCAR Hall of Famers Richard Petty, Rusty Wallace and Bobby Allison – have led more than Hamlin’s 2,367 career total laps at Richmond.

 

Gibbs, driver of the No. 54 JGR Toyota and grandson of team owner, NASCAR Hall of Famer Joe Gibbs, has won two of the four short track races this year (also Bristol, Tenn.) and finished in the top-five in all four. His average finish at short tracks in 2026 is a series best 2.5. And significantly, Gibbs has earned more points in the last six races than any other driver.

 

Furthermore, the championship JGR organization is the most successful team at the track with 19 wins, celebrating in Victory Lane with six different drivers. Richmond along with Pocono (also 19 wins) is site of the team’s best work.

 

Hamlin, Gibbs, Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney and 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick are the only drivers to have clinched berths in The Chase leaving 12 positions to be solidified in these next three races – at Richmond, the New Hampshire mile and the Daytona International Speedway’s famous 2.5-mile high banks.

 

Fifth place in the championship standings, JGR’s Chase Briscoe, and 10th place, Hendrick Motorsports driver and reigning series champion Kyle Larson are separated by only 34 points. Larson has finished 33rd or worse in four of the last five races.

 

JGR’s Christopher Bell, who earned his seventh runner-up finish last weekend, moved up four positions in the standings to sixth, while Hendrick’s Chase Elliott fell four positions and is now seventh. Spire Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar, a Talladega winner in the Spring, also tumbled in the points and fell three positions to eighth place following Iowa.

 

Penske’s Austin Cindric holds the 16th and final spot in the Chase rankings, but is only 29 points up on 17th place, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s Ryan Preece and 47 points ahead of 18th place, Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain, who has made a real move forward in recent weeks.

 

Ranked 27th in the standings, the two-time defending Richmond race winner, Austin Dillon is not among those closely vying for a Chase bid, but he possesses all kinds of motivation – competitively and emotionally - heading into the weekend.

 

The driver of the iconic No. 3 Richard Childress Chevrolet, Dillon stands a shot to become the first driver since NASCAR Hall of Famer Bobby Allison (1982-83) to win three straight races at the track.

 

Although he is 144 points out of the top-16 that will advance to The Chase, Dillon is a multi-time winner at both Richmond and also at the site of the regular season finale in two weeks, Daytona International Speedway.

 

“Last year was the most dominant we have been, but we need to make it better, the other teams will come out swinging," Dillon said of the Richmond weekend. “They will have seen the data of what we’ve been doing, so you need to put it all together and hope it works out.

 

Considering the tragic circumstances the RCR team has endured this season – driver Kyle Busch’s unexpected death from sepsis in May – a victory for this organization would be among the most dramatic and applauded in the sport’s history. Richmond is a place the late two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Busch was among the best all-time and represents great opportunity for Dillon to make history of his own.

 

“We want to go get a win with the No. 3," Dillon said, “If we could do that it would be great for Chevrolet and RCR. We have fought through a lot of adversity this year losing Kyle [Busch]. Making solid runs is what we’re focused on and making sure we’re set up for a good following year, trying to learn as much as we can. We want to win. We want to get to Victory Lane and points follow that.”

 

Of note at Richmond: the driver that leads the most laps has not won in the last nine races here. … Every car was running at the end of two of the last four races. …Three of the last four races had a caution flag fly in the final 10 laps. …Three of the last four races featured a pass for the win in the last 10 laps.

 

Practice for the Cook Out 400 is scheduled for 2:05 p.m. ET Friday, followed immediately by Busch Light Pole Qualifying at 3:30 p.m. ET – both sessions will be on truTV and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Preece is the defending polesitter. Hamlin is the last driver to win from pole at Richmond when he hoisted the trophy in 2016, 17 races ago.

 

This weekend at Richmond is pivotal to setting the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Chase field

 

Only two races remain now to decide the 10 Chase positions that will settle the 2026 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series championship and after a two-week break in competition teams are eager to roll and finalize which five drivers will complete the Chase grid.

 

For championship leader and five-time race winner Layne Riggs, a good showing in Friday night’s Black’s Tire 250 at Richmond Raceway could land him the Chase’s coveted number one seed – even with another regular season race remaining next week at New Hampshire.

 

The Front Row Motorsports driver Riggs, who finished third at Richmond last year, goes into the weekend with a robust 100-point lead on TRICON Garage’s Kaden Honeycutt. Rigg’s teammate Chandler Smith, McAnally-Hilgemann Racing’s Christian Eckes and TRICON’s Gio Ruggiero are the others to have already clinched a Chase spot.

 

ThorSport Racing teammates Ty Majeski and Ben Rhodes, CR7 Motorsports’ Grant Enfinger, McAnally-Hilgemann’ s Daniel Hemric and Halmar Friesen Racing’s Stewart Friesen round out the Chase standings now.

 

However, only 49 points, separate ninth place Hemric from 14th place Brenden McQueen. And Tyler Ankrum is only a slight eight points off Friesen for that crucial 10th place spot.

 

Three of the last six races have been won by Chase contenders. Enfinger won at Richmond in 2020. Smith won in 2022 and Majeski hoisted the trophy in 2024.

 

In last year’s race, eventual season champion Corey Heim - who will steer the No. 5 TRICON Garage Toyota Friday night - led 75 laps ultimately beating the day’s most dominant driver, Majeski by .923-second. But Majeski led 143 of the 250 laps, again proving why Richmond is his best track statistically. He’s averaging a second-place finish in four series starts there and has never finished out of the top-10. The former series champion Majeski is still racing for his first win of the season.

 

The starting grid this week will feature some interesting storylines beyond the championship implications. Former NASCAR Cup Series star and Virginia-native Elliott Sadler, 51, will drive the No. 25 Kaulig Racing RAM in his first truck series start in 25 years. New Zealand NASCAR Cup Series star Shane van Gisbergen is entered in the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet with a 16-year-old teammate, Tristan McKee, who currently leads the ARCA Menards Series East points and is making his Truck Series debut in the No. 77 Spire Chevrolet.

 

Practice for the Black’s Tire 250 gets underway at 1 p.m. ET on Friday followed by Kennametal Pole Qualifying at 2:05 p.m. ET – both sessions televised on FS2. Heim won the race from pole position last year.

 

Saturday Iowa Speedway Notebook

 

Notebook Items:

  • New pavement should enhance racing at Iowa Speedway
  • Haas Factory Team adds Dean Thompson to driver roster
  • Chase Briscoe broadens his racing interests with sprint car team purchase

 

August 8, 2026

 

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

 

New pavement should enhance racing at Iowa Speedway

 

NEWTON, Iowa — Ryan Blaney has mixed feelings about the imminent repaving project at Iowa Speedway.

 

Ryan Preece thinks it’s necessary. Christopher Bell applauds it.

 

On Monday, the speedway will embark on a $20-million renovation project that includes a complete repave of the racing surface.

 

The new asphalt will replace the hybrid surface that was partially repaved in the corners before the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race in 2024.

 

Blaney has enjoyed enormous success in the two events at Iowa. He won the debut in 2024 and finished fourth last year. His average running position for the two races is a series-best 3.9.

 

“I think the track, the way it is now, has a lot of character in it,” Blaney said. “…I think with the full repave, I hope they do a decent job with progressive banking the way it needs to be, where we can run up the track…

 

“I hope they bank up the third and fourth lanes, and it’ll be a heck of a race track if you’re not locked onto the bottom. Time will tell.”

 

Preece’s opinion is based on a first-hand inspection of the racing surface.

 

“Brad (Keselowski), Chris (Buescher) and I kind of did the track walk earlier, and you could see separation between some of the lanes,” Preece said. “So, I think it needs (a repave), unfortunately.

 

“I’m curious to see if they’re going to do anything different with banking, but yeah, it’s time.”

 

Bell believes the repaving has the potential to widen the track. The driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs racing Toyota won twice and scored two poles and two runner-up results at the track from 2017-2019.

 

“Iowa was my favorite track before this half-repave thing that we have right now,” Bell said. “Right now, you have two grooves, and it’s never going to get any more than two grooves. At least now, with the fresh repave, it’s going to have the opportunity to get a lot wider.”

 

Haas Factory Team adds Dean Thompson to driver roster

 

Dean Thompson will join Haas Factory Team’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series roster as the organization adds a third car next season, team president Joe Custer announced Saturday at Iowa Speedway.

 

“It’s a multi-year deal,” Custer said. “We’re super excited about Dean coming on board. We are expanding at Haas Factory Team to a three-car O’Reilly program. We love the O’Reilly Series.

 

“Regarding Dean, I’ve known Dean for a long time… He’s a Southern California kid. We’re from Southern California. Watched him grow. Watched him experience all different forms of racing. He comes from a family of racers—his grandfather, his father. His whole family supports racing.”

 

Thompson, 24, currently drives for Sam Hunt Racing. In his second full season with that organization, he has posted a pair of top-10 finishes with a best of sixth at Talladega in April. Last year, he scored his only career top five in the O’Reilly Series, a fifth-place finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

 

“I grew up racing around Cole (Custer, Joe Custer’s son),” Thompson said. “Joe’s been a big part in my growth as a driver. We’ve known Joe my whole life. Where to go, who to talk to, who we race for—he’s always led us in the right direction and given us good contacts.

 

“Finally, it all comes together full circle.”

 

Custer said the organization is still working through its O’Reilly Series plans for 2027. Current drivers are Sheldon Creed, who scored his first career victory this season at EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta), and Sam Mayer, who won back-to-back races at Iowa Speedway in 2024 and 2025.

 

As of yet, neither Mayer nor Creed has re-signed with the organization for next year.

 

Custer asserted the organization’s commitment to its single-car NASCAR Cup Series operation, with Cole Custer as the driver.

 

“We have unfinished business in the Cup Series as Haas Factory Team,” Joe Custer said. “We are dead committed. (Team owner) Gene Haas is an F1 owner, a NASCAR Cup owner and an O’Reilly owner, and we intend to keep it that way…

 

“We’re going to try to figure out Cup as a single-car team, and we have a ways to go. Stay tuned.”

 

Chase Briscoe broadens his racing interests with sprint car team purchase

 

Like his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe now owns a race team.

 

Unlike Hamlin’s organization, Briscoe’s new acquisition doesn’t race stock cars.

 

Briscoe announced Saturday morning at Iowa Speedway that he has acquired Brent Marks Racing and will field 410 winged sprint cars, with Marks as the driver and general manager, in the High Limit Racing Series founded by Cup driver Kyle Larson and champion sprint car racer Brad Sweet.

 

“We’re excited to announced that we’ve bought out Brent Marks Racing, and it will become Chase Briscoe Racing in the High Limit Series,” Briscoe said. “We’re excited to have a full-time car on a national tour. It’s something for me that’s been a childhood dream.”

 

With Marks, Briscoe gets a fully operational elite team and a championship-caliber driver. Marks’ resume already includes victories in the high-paying Kings Royal, the Historical Big One and Williams Grove National Open.

 

Christopher Bell, another of Briscoe’s JGR teammates and himself an elite dirt racer, voiced his approval.

 

“I’m happy for him,” Bell said. "I think it’s really cool. I think it’s great for dirt-track racing. Brent’s a great driver. I think (Briscoe) did really good getting an organization that is already acclimated to each other. They should have success right out of the gate.”

 

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NASCAR Weekend Preview: Iowa Speedway

After week off, William Byron heads to Iowa Speedway with confidence

In a season of struggle, and with the Chase approaching, William Byron could use a turnaround—and Iowa Speedway may be the perfect place to find it.

 

After a rare week off, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to the 0.875-mile short track for Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol (3:30 p.m. ET on USA, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

 

Byron is the defending race winner, but after six straight seasons of at least one victory, the driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet has yet to post a win this year.

 

Iowa Speedway might just be the ideal place for Byron to end the dry spell, which has reached 23 races. In 2016, he won there in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series.

 

The following year, he picked up his first NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series victory at the Newton, Iowa, track that was the brainchild of leading designer and NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace. 

 

In 22 races this season, Byron has posted just five top fives and nine top 10s. The 28-year-old from Charlotte, N.C., is 12th in the Cup Series standings, a relatively comfortable 88 points above the current cut line for the Chase, with the next four races providing an opportunity to improve that position.

 

“Iowa is just a track that has always clicked for me and that I really love,” Byron said. “I’ve had success there in all three series, and last year’s win really felt great to complete the sweep.

 

“I think having the off time, and this being the next track we go to, really gives our team confidence of what we can accomplish. I’m looking forward to it.”

 

Sunday’s race is the fourth of seven short track contests this season. Byron is the only driver to have won twice in the last 10 short-track races (Iowa and Martinsville last year), but the last six short-track races have been won by six different drivers.

 

In the two Cup races held at Iowa, five drivers have finished in the top 10 in both events—Byron, who was second in 2024; Ryan Blaney, the winner in 2024; Brad Keselowski; Alex Bowman; and Joey Logano.

 

Blaney, who was fourth last year, boasts the best average running position at Iowa of 3.9, with Byron second at 5.6. Blaney and Byron each led the most laps in their respective victories, Blaney with 201 of 350 in 2024, and Byron with 141 of 350 last year.

 

Kyle Larson is another driver who could use a turnaround at Iowa, but in order to break his 46-race winless streak, he’ll have to make a quantum improvement at the track. Larson’s average finish there is a dismal 31.0.

 

Among the top three drivers in the standings, third-place Blaney holds a decided edge over series leader Denny Hamlin and second-place Tyler Reddick. Hamlin finished 24th in both Iowa races. Reddick, who trails Hamlin by 84 points, posted respective results of 22nd and 19th.

 

Blaney is 120 points behind Hamlin as the Cup Series heads to Iowa, Richmond, New Hampshire and Daytona to complete the regular season.

 

After a recent review following the NASCAR weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in late July, all three NASCAR Series will race under new stage break procedures for the rest of the season.

 

If a caution falls within 10 or fewer laps prior to the advertised end of Stage 1 or Stage 2, the stage will be deemed official at the time of caution. The leader will return to the start/finish line to receive the green/checkered flag along with the yellow. The caution process that follows will serve as the stage break.

 

The finishing order of the stage, with the top 10 scoring points, will be determined using all available resources, just as it is whenever points are paid.

 

Two-time defending champ Sam Mayer seeks first 2026 win at Iowa

 

NASCAR Cup Series drivers have raced at Iowa Speedway only twice. For the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, however, Iowa is familiar territory.

 

The latter series will race at the 0.875-mile short track for the 23rd time in Saturday’s Hy-Vee Perks 250 (5 p.m. ET on CW, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

 

After a four-year absence, the O’Reilly Series returned to the short track in Newton, Iowa, in 2024. Sam Mayer won that race and successfully defended his victory last year, giving him a 100-percent success rate at the track.

 

That puts Mayer in an elite group of drivers in the series who have “batted 1.000” in multiple starts at a particular venue. Christopher Bell triumphed in all four of his New Hampshire starts, and Connor Zilisch has won all three times he has raced at Watkins Glen.

 

Other drivers who, like Mayer, have gone 2-0 at a particular track are Shane van Gisbergen at the Chicago Street Course and Chandler Smith at Richmond.

 

Like William Byron in the NASCAR Cup Series, Mayer is winless this season coming to Iowa as the defending winner. His victory last year was the first for the newly formed Haas Factory team. In 2024, he took the checkered flag in a JR Motorsports Chevrolet.

 

Mayer and Justin Allgaier (2018) are the only former Iowa winners in the field for Saturday’s race. Allgaier already has clinched top seeding in the Chase, which begins Sept. 5 at Darlington Raceway after events at Iowa and Daytona International Speedway.

 

Allgaier may have locked up the regular-season title, but the race for the final Chase spots is very much in doubt. Three Joe Gibbs Racing drivers surround the current cut line, with Brent Crews and Taylor Gray 11th and 12th in the standings and William Sawalich (13th) the first driver out.

 

Sawalich trails Gray by seven points, with JR Motorsports’ Rajah Caruth 20 points back in 14th. Caruth, however, returns to his preferred No. 88 JRM ride for the rest of the season after driving the No. 32 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet for the last time at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

 

"I'm really happy to get back with (crew chief) Mardy (Lindley) and everyone on the No. 88 team for the rest of the season,” Caruth said. “I haven't raced at Iowa since the repave (before the 2024 race), so it'll definitely be a different challenge than the last time I was there.

 

“The track has changed quite a bit, so we'll spend practice learning what it wants and making sure we're ready for the race. We've had speed on tracks like this all season, and if we can execute all day, I think we'll have a good shot at a strong finish and gaining some ground in the points.”

 

--30--

 

 

 

   nascar cup series

NASCAR Cup Series schedule 2026

(All times Eastern)

DateRaceTrackTime
Feb. 1Cook Out Clash at Bowman GrayBowman Gray Stadium8 p.m.
Feb. 12Duel 1 at DaytonaDaytona International Speedway7 p.m.
Feb. 12Duel 2 at DaytonaDaytona International Speedway8:45 p.m.
Feb. 15Daytona 500Daytona International Speedway2:30 p.m.
Feb. 22Autotrader 400EchoPark Speedway3 p.m.
March 1DuraMax Grand PrixCircuit of the Americas3:30 p.m.
March 8Straight Talk Wireless 500Phoenix Raceway3:30 p.m.
March 15Pennzoil 400Las Vegas Motor Speedway4 p.m.
March 22Goodyear 400Darlington Raceway3 p.m.
March 29Cook Out 400Martinsville Speedway3:30 p.m.
April 12Food City 500Bristol Motor Speedway3 p.m.
April 19AdventHealth 400Kansas Speedway2 p.m.
April 26Jack Link's 500Talladega Superspeedway3 p.m.
May 3Wurth 400Texas Motor Speedway3:30 p.m.
May 10Go Bowling at the GlenWatkins Glen International3 p.m.
May 17All-Star RaceDover Motor Speedway3 p.m.
May 24Coca-Cola 600Charlotte Motor Speedway6 p.m.
May 31Cracker Barrel 400Nashville Superspeedway 7 p.m.
June 7FireKeepers Casino 400Michigan International Speedway3 p.m.
June 14Cup Series race at PoconoPocono Raceway3 p.m.
June 21Anduril 250Naval Base Coronado4 p.m.
June 28Toyota/Save Mart 350Sonoma Raceway3:30 p.m.
July 5Cup Series race at ChicagolandChicagoland Speedway6 p.m.
July 12Quaker State 400EchoPark Speedway7 p.m.
July 19Window World 400North Wilkesboro Speedway7 p.m.
July 26Brickyard 400Indianapolis Motor Speedway2 p.m.
Aug. 9Iowa Corn 350Iowa Speedway3:30 p.m.
Aug. 15Cook Out 400Richmond Raceway7 p.m.
Aug. 23Cup Series race at New HampshireNew Hampshire Motor Speedway3 p.m.
Aug. 29Coke Zero Sugar 400Daytona International Speedway7:30 p.m.

NASCAR Cup Series playoff race schedule 2026

(All times Eastern)

DateRaceTrackTime
Sept. 6Southern 500Darlington Raceway5 p.m.
Sept. 13Enjoy Illinois 300World Wide Technology Raceway3 p.m.
Sept. 19Bass Pro Shops Night RaceBristol Motor Speedway7:30 p.m.
Sept. 27Hollywood Casino 400Kansas Speedway3 p.m.
Oct. 4South Point 400Las Vegas Motor Speedway5:30 p.m.
Oct. 11Bank of America ROVAL 400Charlotte Road Course3 p.m.
Oct. 18Freeway Insurance 500Phoenix Raceway3 p.m.
Oct. 25Yellawood 500Talladega Superspeedway2 p.m.
Nov. 1Xfinity 500Martinsville Speedway2 p.m.
Nov. 8Cup Series Championship RaceHomestead-Miami Speedway3 p.m.

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