NEWTON, Iowa — Ryan Blaney dominated the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway on Sunday night to earn his first win of the season and a playoff berth.
Blaney led four times for a career-high 201 laps, finishing 0.716 seconds ahead of William Byron for his 11th Cup victory. The defending series champion entered the race 12th in the standings.
Blaney regained the lead on lap 263 after changing just two tires in a caution pit stop. He led the rest of the way, weaving through passing traffic as Byron tried to get closer.
Blaney, whose mother, Lisa, is from Chariton, Iowa, won in front of a crowd of approximately 40,000 fans, including 80 of his friends and family.
It was fitting that the first Cup Series race at the 0.875-mile track went to a Team Penske driver: Penske cars have won seven IndyCar Series races and three NASCAR Xfinity Series races at this track.
Chase Elliott was third. Christopher Bell, who had to start from the back of the field in a backup car after crashing during Friday practice, was fourth. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who like Blaney used two tires in the final pit stop, finished fifth.
Joey Logano finished sixth. Rookie Josh Berry, who led 32 laps, was seventh, followed by Alex Bowman, Daniel Suarez and Brad Keselowski.
Kyle Larson, the series points leader and race pole winner, led 81 laps and won the second stage, but hit the wall on lap 219 after contact from behind Suarez. Larson had emerged in the middle of a three-way jam, with Suarez to his left and Keselowski to his right, when contact occurred. Larson finished 34th in the 36-car field.
Getting a Cup race was an accomplishment for the track, located 40 miles from Des Moines. The facility opened in 2006 and was on the NASCAR Xfinity Series and Truck Series schedules from 2009 to 2019. NASCAR has owned the track since 2013.
