IOWA
Saturday, August 2 – NASCAR XFINITY Series, 4:30 p.m. ET (CW)
Sunday, August 3 – NASCAR Cup Series, 3:30 p.m. ET (USA)
This weekend will mark the second straight year that Iowa Speedway is hosting a doubleheader with the NASCAR Cup and NASCAR Xfinity Series. Two current Ford drivers are the defending winners of each race as Sam Mayer and Ryan Blaney look to make it two in a row in their respective events.
BLANEY GOING FOR IOWA REPEAT
Ryan Blaney dominated the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway last year, leading 201-of-350 laps as he completed a sweep by winning in all three of NASCAR’s top series at the ⅞-mile short track. In addition, it was the second time Blaney won an inaugural Cup race, following his triumph on the Charlotte Roval in 2018. Ultimately, Blaney and Penske teammate Joey Logano faced on a restart with 84 laps to go. As both drivers filled the front row, they battled door to door before Blaney eventually got clear and set sail to the checkered flag as the race went without a caution down the stretch.
MUSTANG CONTINUES WINNING TRADITION
The victory by Blaney last year at Iowa Speedway marked the 19th different track in which Mustang has won a NASCAR Cup Series race since hitting the circuit in 2019. Since then, the iconic muscle car took checkered flags at Nashville Superspeedway and Watkins Glen, meaning there are only four tracks on this year’s schedule where Mustang hasn’t gone to Victory Lane. Those four are Circuit of The Americas, Homestead-Miami Speedway, Sonoma Raceway and the streets of Chicago. Overall, Mustang has 69 Cup points wins, along with victories in the inaugural Clash at the Coliseum and All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
(For more on how many Mustangs are racing globally this week, please see the bottom of this week’s advance.)
GILLILAND’S BIG DAY
Todd Gilliland matched his best-career finish on an oval in the NASCAR Cup Series at the Brickyard 400 when he survived the late-race delays and fuel mileage calculations to come home in sixth place. It was Gilliand’s second consecutive sixth-place finish at the Indianapolis oval after securing the same finishing position on the 2.5-mile oval in 2024. Gilliland’s best career finish also came at Indianapolis. However, that came on Indy’s road course when he finished fourth in 2022.
RYAN BLANEY: “Hopefully Iowa goes well. I’ve been really proud of our speed this year and I think we’ve had some great pace. We haven’t really finished many races as I would have liked, but I just try to always look for where our speed is at. Our team is working together properly and they’re doing a great job. Some bad finishes we can’t control, but I think our group is really firing on all cylinders right now. I think we got the pace and the teamwork to do it and our pit crews in a great spot.”
JOSH BERRY: “I’m excited to get back to Iowa. We really had a good race there last year, led laps, and we found ourselves in contention. So hopefully we can go back and do the same thing. I think it should be a good opportunity for us, and we’ve proven when we get to execute and get the car like we need to, we can get to the front.”
AUSTIN CINDRIC: “Fortunately we were able to get there for the tire test, and the track has changed a ton. It’s hard to go in and feel like we have a leg up on the field after winning as a team last year, everybody had a chance to really learn the big chunks from last year. I’m sure there’s some confidence in the shop but it’s a pretty unique track as well with the partial repave and the challenge you have.”
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 Xfinity series wins with Mark Martin holding down the top spot for most victories with 47. Carl Edwards is second with 38.
LEADER OF THE PACK
The NASCAR Xfinity Series has had 21 races at Iowa Speedway and Ford leads all manufacturers with nine victories, followed by Toyota (7) and Chevrolet (5). 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.
MAYER GOING FOR TWO STRAIGHT
Sam Mayer has consistently been at the front this season as he and Sheldon Creed continue along in their first season with the Haas Factory Team. A year ago, Mayer outdueled Riley Herbst in overtime to capture the HyVee Perks 250 for his sixth career series triumph. The Wisconsin native went on to win once more on the Charlotte Roval before finishing the 2024 season third in the point standings.
MAYER TAKES FIRST POLE OF 2025
Sam Mayer earned his first NASCAR Xfinity Series pole of 2025 on the oval at Indianapolis Motor Speedway when he secured the top spot on the grid for the Pennzoil 250. It was his first pole since Portland in 2024, which started a run of four top-five qualifying performances in the next seven races, including a fifth-place start at Iowa a couple weeks later.
FORD NASCAR CUP SERIES WINNERS
AT IOWA
2024 – Ryan Blaney
FORD 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)
The Ford Mustang, celebrating its 61st anniversary in 2025, is the world’s best selling sports car. It is also one of the planet’s most popular race cars. With Mustang-based race cars competing in international sports car competition (GT3 and GT4), NASCAR, NHRA, Formula Drift, in Australian Supercars, at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb and in its own bespoke one-make series – Mustang Cup and Mustang Challenge – the platform has an unprecedented global reach. This weekend, 44 Mustang race cars are scheduled to race across all disciplines. Learn more at FordPerformance.com.
