IOWA
Saturday, June 15 — NASCAR Xfinity Series, 3:30 p.m. ET (USA)
Sunday, June 16 — NASCAR Cup Series, 7 p.m. ET (USA)
This weekend will mark the NASCAR Cup Series debut at Iowa Speedway, a ⅞ mile short track located in Newton, but it’s not that unfamiliar to many of the competitors because the NASCAR Xfinity Series has conducted 20 races at the facility. Iowa Speedway opened with single events in 2009 and ‘10 before hosting two races a year from 2011-19.
INAUGURAL RACE SUCCESS
Ford has had its share of success when it comes to inaugural races and no driver has had more than Team Penske’s Joey Logano, who has captured three such events in the last three years. The two-time Cup champion started his streak by winning the first series race on dirt in more than 50 years when he won at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2021. He followed that up with a pair of inaugural victories in 2022 at the season-opening Clash at the Coliseum and later in the year at World Wide Technology Raceway. The only other active Ford driver with an inaugural win is defending champion Ryan Blaney, who won the first race on the Charlotte Roval in 2018.
INAUGURAL RACE WINNERS
Joey Logano at World Wide Technology Raceway on June 5, 2022
Joey Logano at the Clash at the Coliseum on Feb. 6, 2022
Joey Logano at the Bristol Dirt Race on March, 29, 2021
Ryan Blaney at the Charlotte Roval on Sept. 30, 2018
Mark Martin at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 1, 1998
Jeff Burton at Texas Motor Speedway on April 6, 1997
LEADER OF THE IOWA PACK
As noted above, the NASCAR Xfinity Series has had 20 races at Iowa Speedway and Ford leads all manufacturers with nine victories, followed by Toyota (7) and Chevrolet (4). Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Brad Keselowski are tied for the most wins among drivers with three each while Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe and Chris Buescher also have a victory at the short track.
Austin Cindric: “I know they were going to pave over the patchwork in three and four that’s been there for a little while, so obviously new pavement is gonna add grip and you’re gonna have to run through it. I think it all just kind of depends on how wide it is. Even at North Wilkesboro, that’s an extreme example with an extremely old surface. You would put your tire literally on the freshest piece of asphalt and that would be the racing line no matter what track shape or geometry would tell you is the correct racing line. It’s where the grip is, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it becomes a favored spot on the racetrack just because of that, but, otherwise, I think we’re all really excited about going to Iowa.”
Joey Logano: “Until you get there you don’t really know. It’s probably the most interesting repave-ish thing that we’ve seen. Like I said, I can’t really form an opinion until I make laps on it, but it’s definitely unique. Good or bad, I guess we’ll have to wait and see. Going off the tire test at Wilkesboro, I thought that was gonna be a single lane race that wasn’t gonna have any passing, and I was completely wrong about that. The track was up to the wall, so who knows. Maybe things have changed. You just don’t know.”
Todd Gilliland: “I’m very interested to see how Iowa is. I’ve seen pictures and it’s like there’s one lane paved here, and it goes to two lanes and then back to one lane. From my side of it, when I last raced at Iowa it was extremely worn out, so I think the difference between the old pavement and the new pavement is gonna be on a different level.”
200TH SERIES VICTORY
Two years after his historic win in the Daytona 500, Trevor Bayne provided another milestone for Ford when he notched its 200th all-time victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Iowa Speedway on June 9, 2013. Bayne, who got married earlier in the week, took the lead from Austin Dillon with 12 laps to go and held on to register his second series victory. Ford currently has 286 all-time NXS wins with Mark Martin holding down the top spot for most victories with 47. Carl Edwards is second with 38.
FORD’S NASCAR XFINITY SERIES WINNERS AT IOWA
2011 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (Sweep)
2012 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (1)
2013 – Trevor Bayne (1) and Brad Keselowski (2)
2014 – Brad Keselowski (2)
2015 – Chris Buescher (1) and Ryan Blaney (2)
2019 – Chase Briscoe (2)
