Fuel mileage has been an issue for William Byron in three races this season, costing him a victory at Michigan and a third-place finish at Indianapolis, but at Iowa Speedway he conquered his nemesis in the Iowa Corn 350 and walked off with his second victory this season.
Normally, a fuel window at the seven-eighths-mile Iowa track is 110 to 120 laps, but with crew chief Rudy Fugle constantly telling Byron to save fuel and back it down, the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet made the final 144 laps on the 20-gallon tank of gas.
“I think our (fuel) calculations were a lot more refined,” said Byron, who made his final pit stop on lap 206 of the 350-lap NASCAR Cup race.
“They were coaching me on what to do. In the car I’ve had to look at what can I do to save fuel when there’s nothing going on. So, today when there was nothing going on I was managing the fuel. It was kind of amazing there at the end, just our pace, how good it was, even going 50 percent down the straightaways. Rudy did a really good job coaching me in the last 20 laps of the race just to say, ‘Hey, I need more. I need more.’”
The 27-year-old Byron, who led twice for 141 laps, started on the outside of the front row and led the first 67 laps. However, he then reported brake issues. He didn’t lead again until lap 277 when he inherited it from Chase Elliott who pitted from the No. 1 position.
“Our season has been so up and down and so many growing pains,” Byron said after claiming his 15th career victory. “I feel like in a lot of ways we’ve had to do everything right to win, and it’s just not been happening. Today, it felt like all of those things that have happened kind of trained us for today.”
Byron’s victory allowed him to retake the regular season point lead over Elliott, who finished 14th. With three races remaining before the playoffs begin, Byron leads Elliott by 18 points.
Briscoe Calls Move ‘Boneheaded’
Chase Briscoe finished 1.192 seconds behind Iowa Corn 350 winner William Byron, but the first thing on his mind in his post-race interview was to apologize to fellow Toyota drivers Tyler Reddick and Christopher Bell for an incident in the NASCAR Cup race at Iowa Speedway.
On lap 253 of the 350-lap race, a collision in the second turn sent Bell and Reddick spinning. Bell eventually finished 17th and Reddick 19th.
“First off, (I) just want to apologize to the 45 (Reddick) and 20 (Bell),” Briscoe said. “That was a really boneheaded move on my part and got in there and got loose and ruined their day. That’s 100 percent on me.”
Briscoe’s runner-up finish in the Iowa Corn 350 was his third in the last four races.
“I felt like I was kind of the second best there at the end,” said Briscoe, who started on the pole. “I just kind of died there at the end of the run.”
RFK Racing Fighting for Playoff Positions
Brad Keselowski led three times for 68 laps and appeared at one time to be the one to beat in the Iowa Corn 350 before settling for a third-place finish. If he had won, he would have knocked teammate Chris Buescher below the playoff cutline with fellow RFK Racing driver Ryan Preece.
However, with William Byron winning, Buescher’s 22nd-place finish kept him 23 points above the cutline, while Preece’s fifth-place finish moved him to within 23 points of Buescher.
“I thought if we had a bunch of restarts, we were going to be OK because we were so, so good in the third lane,” said Preece, who was penalized for speeding on pit road early in the race, nearly went a lap down once during the event, and at one point thought he had a wheel problem.
“But it just seemed that long run, that last run, wasn’t the best thing for us. On that restart when we were able to get to third, I thought we were going to have a shot at it. It seemed we could close in on the 19 (Chase Briscoe) and the 24 (William Byron) a little bit and then I just got loose. When Brad was catching me, I
thought ‘What is the best thing to do for a teammate and for the company?’ and wanted to give him the opportunity even if it was at a deficit for us. All three of us (RFK) can still get in (to the playoffs). It is going to take a lot of perseverance and a lot of luck.”
The three races remaining in the regular season are Watkins Glen, Richmond, and Daytona.
Wallace Overcomes Problems
Bubba Wallace overcame a broken toe link on his 23XI Racing Toyota and a two-lap deficit to place sixth to winner William Byron for his third straight top-10 finish.
“I was just relaxed the whole time,” said Wallace, who snapped a 100-race winless streak a week earlier at Indianapolis. “I was ready to just debrief the whole car mid-race and figure out what we need to do to just wholesale it.
“I thought our crew did an amazing job making all the repairs. I said earlier this weekend that we have to expose our weaknesses, and I think we put everyone to the test today.”
NASCAR Cup Series Iowa Corn 350
Iowa Speedway
1. (2) William Byron, Chevrolet, 350.
2. (1) Chase Briscoe, Toyota, 350.
3. (5) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 350.
4. (6) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 350.
5. (33) Ryan Preece, Ford, 350.
6. (15) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 350.
7. (16) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 350.
8. (7) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 350.
9. (14) Joey Logano, Ford, 350.
10. (18) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 350.
11. (28) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 350.
12. (4) Austin Cindric, Ford, 350.
13. (12) Josh Berry, Ford, 350.
14. (8) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 350.
15. (29) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 350.
16. (25) Erik Jones, Toyota, 350.
17. (17) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 350.
18. (9) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 350.
19. (22) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 350.
20. (37) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 350.
21. (20) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 350.
22. (27) Chris Buescher, Ford, 350.
23. (10) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 350.
24. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 350.
25. (26) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 350.
26. (19) Cole Custer, Ford, 350.
27. (13) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 350.
28. (3) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 350.
29. (31) Noah Gragson, Ford, 350.
30. (24) Riley Herbst #, Toyota, 350.
31. (21) Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, 349.
32. (35) Cody Ware, Ford, 349.
33. (30) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 347.
34. (34) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 347.
35. (32) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 346.
36. (23) Zane Smith, Ford, 344.
37. (36) Joey Gase(i), Ford, 340.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 92.905 mph.
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 17 Mins, 47 Secs. Margin of Victory: 1.192 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 12 for 72 laps.
Lead Changes: 10 among 6 drivers.
Lap Leaders: C. Briscoe 0;W. Byron 1-67;B. Keselowski 68-73;C. Briscoe 74-154;B. Keselowski 155-172;R. Blaney 173-187;B. Keselowski 188-231;R. Blaney 232-245;A. Cindric 246-265;C. Elliott 266-276;W. Byron 277-350.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): William Byron 2 times for 141 laps; Chase Briscoe 1 time for 81 laps; Brad Keselowski 3 times for 68 laps; Ryan Blaney 2 times for 29 laps; Austin Cindric 1 time for 20 laps; Chase Elliott 1 time for 11 laps.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 6,2,24,12,19,5,77,9,16,7
Stage #2 Top Ten: 6,12,2,54,8,21,48,43,60,3
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