NEWTON − Two days into the first-ever NASCAR Cup Series weekend at Iowa Speedway, the fan turnout has been fantastic. Which leads to the question: Will 2024 be a one-off, or will stock-car racing’s premier series return to Newton in 2025?
NASCAR won’t release its official schedule until the middle of college football season, but a combination of fan turnout and exciting racing would seem to cement Iowa’s status for at least another year. The first half of that equation is a lock; the second half is to be determined.
The sport’s top drivers on Saturday were hesitant to predict a show-stopping Iowa Corn 350 (6 p.m. CT Sunday, USA Network) after a partial repave of the track has removed some potential lanes of door-to-door racing and passing that for years have made the product here in NASCAR's second- and third-tier series so much fun to watch.
But they generally feel that Iowa deserves another Cup race in 2025 after what they’ve seen and experienced this weekend. A sold-out crowd was expected for Saturday’s Xfinity Series race, and it’ll be packed Sunday night in a race that’ll finish under the lights.
“It’s crazy how quickly these things can sell out when you have a race in an area where NASCAR hasn’t been in a little bit; Cup race, first time here,” said reigning NASCAR champion Ryan Blaney, whose No. 12 Ford will start second Sunday. “The excitement level is through the roof for a Midwestern race fan. That’s healthy. You want to go to tracks that have a healthy fan base. This place definitely does have that. So yes, I would like to see us back here again next year and for many more years.”
Fellow Ford driver Chase Briscoe, who won the last Xfinity race here in the summer of 2019, added that, "Iowa should always be on the schedule. It's such a good part of the country for motor sports.
“It's a really cool racetrack. Selling it out is not going to hurt the fact that we're probably going to come back. Hopefully if they keep selling the place out, and it gets good TV numbers we can continue to come here."
That was the one caveat Joey Logano, a two-time Cup Series champion who won here in a K&N Series event way back in 2007, said about Iowa. Short-track racing hasn't been great in the Cup Series this year, and it remains to be seen whether Sunday's race delivers.
“We probably got to wait and see what happens Sunday,” Logano said. “I’d say the fact that the fans show up? Then yes.”
Xfinity Series veteran Justin Allgaier believes it would be hard to take the track off the Cup Series schedule after one year.
"As someone who's come here since it opened it'd be really disappointing," Allgaier said. "Resurfaces are hard to manage. I think it has potential. We just have to figure it out. But even if the new pavement isn't exactly what we want, I hope we get some time on it to let it season in and get a couple years down the road before we jump to conclusions that this isn't where we need a Cup race."
Kyle Larson will be the pole-sitter Sunday night after his No. 5 Chevrolet turned the fastest qualifying lap following a morning rain shower Saturday. Larson is a two-time winner of the Knoxville Nationals and, thus, has experienced the warm welcome that Iowa can provide to all forms of racing.
We’ve seen IndyCar have great success here among fans, too. It would seem to be a no-brainer for Iowa to get another crack in 2025. But if for some reason that doesn’t happen, Iowans should savor this Father’s Day opportunity in the auto-racing spotlight.
“Midwestern fans, not only from Iowa but from all the other states around this region, are really into racing – sprint car, midget, dirt late models,” Larson said. “All of us, even drivers included, wanted a race here.
“We probably all wish it would have come earlier so we could have raced on the older pavement, but regardless I think it’s great for this fan base.”
Larson still keeping an eye on Knoxville Nationals
Larson has already become a legend in Iowa with his two titles at the Knoxville Nationals, including last summer’s A-main in sprint-car racing’s biggest annual event. He has been going back and forth this weekend from Newton to Knoxville to compete in the World of Outlaws events, too.
Larson looked to be on his way to winning Friday’s A-main, but blew an engine while leading in his No. 57 winged sprint car with six laps to go.
“Sure, it's disappointing to have a part failure. But at the same time, I think everybody there is more focused on Knoxville Nationals,” Larson said. “We had a lot of speed. We were able to drive from 10th to the lead and pass some really good cars. So, I was probably not as disappointed as you might think, because we were fast. And hopefully that means we’ll be fast when we come back in August.”
What a story it would be if Larson could win the first-ever Cup race at Iowa and come back and win the Knoxville Nationals finale on Aug. 10. It certainly wouldn't be a surprise if Larson posted his fourth Cup win of the 2024 season on Sunday.
Who are the drivers to beat?
Much has been made of the partial repave at Iowa, which saw several blown tires in Friday’s practice as teams tried to figure this place out again. Tire blistering early in Saturday's Xfinity race also was prevalent. While there is frustration that drivers may not be able to move around as much as usual on the track, there is an element of unpredictability entering Sunday.
“Normally we have so much data and so much information,” said Daniel Suarez, driver of the No. 99 Chevrolet who will start 13th Sunday. “We’re going to go to qualifying (Saturday) and try to figure it out.”
Suarez normally watches old races to learn about a track but said watching the 2019 Xfinity race here is worthless. Even Larson said most of a recent seven-hour test session here was largely inconsequential. Drivers were going to be paying close attention to Saturday’s Xfinity race to try to find what works and what doesn't.
An informal poll of drivers on Saturday provided a wide range of potential winners.
Briscoe said he thought the No. 5 Chevy of Larson, No. 45 Toyota of Tyler Reddick (starting eighth) and No. 11 Toyota of Denny Hamlin (starting 12th) were among the top favorites. He noted that Alex Bowman, in the No. 48 Chevy, “was in a league of his own” on long runs in Friday’s practice session. But Bowman qualified poorly (33rd out of 36). Suarez liked the speed he saw from Chase Elliott (whose No. 9 Chevy will start ninth) and teammate Ross Chastain (whose No. 1 Chevy will start 17th).
Chastain would be a great story with a win Sunday. He won the 2019 Trucks race here but then was disqualified for a car-height violation after his watermelon-smashing victory-lane celebration and winning press conference. In a TV interview with NBC on Saturday, Chastain revealed he kept the trophy from that race five years ago.
Another driver to watch is Christopher Bell, whose No. 20 Toyota will start from the rear despite a strong qualifying run after a hard crash in Friday’s practice forced him into a backup car. Bell, Hamlin and Larson were among the early betting favorites.
Stewart-Haas Racing has shown good speed this weekend, too, led by Briscoe’s No. 14 Ford and Noah Gragson’s No. 10 (he was fastest in Friday’s practice), but Suarez expressed concern about SHR’s long-run speed based on data he saw.
“There are still so (many) unknowns, so that’s exciting for race fans, even drivers,” Larson said. “There are probably more drivers in the field that feel like they have an opportunity to have a good run. Because if this place was worn-out, bumpy, your Hendrick and Gibbs teams would be the ones dominating.”
A big weekend for Kyle Busch
One of the more intriguing and polarizing drivers in NASCAR is Kyle Busch, a two-time Cup Series champion whose winless streak has now stretched for more than a year. Busch’s last two races have come with on-track incidents, including with Larson at Gateway and last week with Chastain on the last lap at Sonoma Raceway.
Busch has an Xfinity Series win here and sorely needs a good result in his No. 8 Chevy with Richard Childress Racing. He is currently one spot outside the cut line to make the 16-driver playoff.
Busch’s cars aren’t as good as some of his competitors. Others are taking advantage of that. Busch spoke about that on-track dynamic Saturday. He’ll certainly be one to watch Sunday at Iowa, where he qualified seventh.
“The good ones, like Denny and a couple others, they take their time and know the pass is eventually going to be made. And there are other guys out there where you run them and run them and run them because you’ve been run into before,” Busch said. “And they’ll run as hard as they can until they run into you again. That’s just the nature of how you race people, I guess. And then the nature of how hard you run guys. Sometimes you’ve got to pick and choose those battles. You’d like to think you could race side-by-side with some of these guys, but sometimes you can’t.”
Hawkeyes columnist Chad Leistikow has served for 29years with The Des Moines Register and USA TODAY Sports Network. Chad is the 2023 INA Iowa Sports Columnist of the Year and NSMA Co-Sportswriter of the Year in Iowa. Follow @ChadLeistikow on Twitter.
