William Byron had strong runs at Michigan and Indianapolis turn sour due to fuel shortages in the past two months, but the Sunday race in Iowa was a real gas.
The two-time Daytona 500 winner nursed his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet home on fumes to win the Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol at Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa.
With a 1 1/2-secord lead over polesitter Chase Briscoe in the final 20 laps, the 27-year-old Charlotte, N.C., native beat Briscoe by 1.192 seconds for his second win of the year. He captured the season-opening Daytona 500 for the second straight time.
Byron had gone eight straight races without a top-five finish before having enough in the tank to beat Briscoe.
“How about that for some fuel mileage?” quipped Byron, who led a race-high 141 laps on the 0.875-mile short track during his 15th career victory. “We’ve had our fair share of things not go our way with fuel mileage. … We’ve been through a lot of growing pains this year. It’s been tough on us.”
Briscoe posted a runner-up finish in his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota for the third time in the past four races.
“I thought I was running William down and in the catbird’s seat,” said Briscoe, who topped the field for 81 laps. “I just got there and kind of stalled out. … For us to finish second was a good recovery.”
Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney and Ryan Preece rounded out the top five in the race, which had 12 cautions for 72 laps.
A Chevrolet driver won for the fourth time in the past six races.
In his 100th career NASCAR Cup Series start, John Hunter Nemechek finished 15th.
Driving a backup car and starting last after wrecking in practice on Saturday, two-time Cup champ Kyle Busch came in 20th.
In NASCAR’s return to the Hawkeye State for the second straight time, Byron gapped Briscoe right from the start and led the first 67 laps, but Keselowski’s No. 6 Ford came alive and put pressure on Byron.
With Byron’s car getting tight and lacking full braking, Keselowski, a three-time winner at Iowa in the Xfinity Series, passed the No. 24 for the 10 bonus points for winning Stage 1.
Austin Cindric, Byron, Blaney and Briscoe filled the top five finishers in the first segment of the 350-lap race.
In Stage 2, Briscoe displayed the speed he had in qualifying and took the point, while defending Iowa winner Blaney stayed within a half-second behind the first-year JGR driver.
With Keselowski leading on Lap 170, the first caution for incident occurred when Shane van Gisbergen looped his Chevrolet between Turns 1 and 2.
After Ty Dillon’s spin set up a shootout to decide Stage 2, Keselowski won another segment, this time with Carson Hocevar wrecking deeper in the field as Keselowski took the checkers. Blaney, Cindric and Ty Gibbs earned the next three spots in that stage, but Busch finished fifth in that segment after losing a lap early in the race.
The second half of the race featured a slew of cautions after only two in the first 170 laps. In all, 10 more yellows flew as much of the final 180 circuits were slowed and pit stops became more frequent.
–Field Level Media
