Spire Motorsports Iowa Corn 350 Race Advance

• In six previous NASCAR Cup Series starts at Iowa Speedway in Newton, Spire Motorsports has one top-10 and two top-15 finishes. Carson Hocevar earned the team’s best result at Iowa in 2025 with an eighth-place finish. Spire Motorsports fields the No. 7, 71 and 77 for Daniel Suárez, Michael McDowell and Hocevar, respectively.
• The Iowa Corn 350 powered by Ethanol will be televised live on USA Sunday, August 9 beginning at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The 23rd of 36 points-paying races on the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series calendar will also be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Daniel Suárez – Driver, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

• Daniel Suárez will pilot Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation Chevrolet ZL1 in Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350 powered by Ethanol at Iowa Speedway.
• The Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation (CRSF) empowers communities with clean, safe places for underserved youth to play, learn, and grow. Since 2018, Group 1001 and the CRSF have combined efforts to build 17 youth development parks and install 20 STEM centers nationwide. Group 1001 employees have joined CRSF to host and volunteer for four Community Enhancement Projects. CRSF and Group 1001 have impacted over 100,000 youth in their joint effort to promote active lifestyles and educational opportunities. For more information, visit https://ripkenfoundation.org/.
• The 2026 Coca-Cola 600 winner holds claim to the second largest improvement in points position through 22 races, making a major jump in the NASCAR Cup Series standings from 29th last year to 11th. Suárez has backed up that climb with one win, two top-five finishes and six top-10s, along with an average finish of 14.7. He has finished outside the top 20 just four times this season and has put himself in a strong position with 14 races remaining.
• The Monterrey, Mexico, native will make his third NASCAR Cup Series start at Iowa, where he owns one top-10 finish in two starts. He has an average starting position of 19.5, an average finish of 17.0, and has led four laps at the 0.875-mile oval. His best result came in 2024 when he finished ninth, while he finished 25th in last season’s race.
• Two weeks ago at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Suárez earned a venue-best starting position of second, next to Hocevar on the front row, missing the pole by just 0.056 seconds. He finished seventh in Stage 1 and 10th in Stage 2, before ultimately finishing 17th following a 34-lap green-flag run to end the race.
• In the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, Suárez has made four starts at Iowa Speedway, earning one top-five and two top-10 finishes. He has started from the pole twice and from the second position in his other two starts, while leading 110 laps.
• Suárez’s lone start in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series at Iowa came in 2016, when he qualified 17th and finished sixth.
• In the ARCA Menards Series East (formerly NASCAR K&N Pro Series East), Suárez recorded seven starts at Iowa from 2011-2014, earning one top five, four top-10 and seven top 20 finishes.
• Suárez is a veteran of 345 Cup Series starts and has notched three wins, 26 top fives and 81 top 10s. He’s led 947 laps and earned three poles since making his series debut in 2017.

Daniel Suárez Quote
What does Iowa mean to you and what will it take to be successful this weekend?
“Iowa Speedway is a special place for me because I have a lot of history there. From my K&N days to my time in the O’Reilly Series, it’s a track where I learned a lot and built a lot of confidence. Coming back now with Spire Motorsports, the goal is to take everything I’ve learned over the years and use that experience to help our team keep improving. Iowa is the kind of place where myself, my crew, and the setup all have to work together, and that’s what makes it such a challenge and such a fun track to race.”

Ryan Sparks – Crew Chief, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

• Ryan Sparks is the crew chief for Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and driver Daniel Suárez in the NASCAR Cup Series. Sparks has called 224 Cup Series races where he’s earned one win, six top-five and 16 top-10 finishes.
• In total, Sparks has called two Iowa Speedway races, where he earned a venue-best 21st-place in 2024 with Corey LaJoie at the controls.
• Sparks joined Spire Motorsports in 2021, where he served as both Crew Chief and Competition Director, leading the organization’s competitive and technical efforts. In 2026, Sparks serves in a singular role as crew chief for Daniel Suárez. He brings more than a decade of experience across all three national series, highlighted by 13 seasons at Richard Childress Racing and contributions to title-winning campaigns in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (2011) and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series (2013).

Michael McDowell – Driver, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

• Michael McDowell will pilot Spire Motorsports’ No. 71 Delaware Life Chevrolet ZL1 in Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350 powered by Ethanol at Iowa Speedway.
• Delaware Life is an insurance and annuity company that empowers financial professionals with a wide array of customizable solutions. A subsidiary of Group 1001 Insurance Holdings LLC, Delaware Life focuses on delivering a seamless experience for advisors. The company understands how important it is to find the right fit for every client, every situation and every individual need. Delaware Life is passionate about equipping advisors with annuities that give their customers peace of mind and a successful future, allowing them to plan with confidence for whatever’s next.
• McDowell has made two Cup Series starts at Iowa Speedway. In his most recent outing in Newton, Iowa, he qualified 13th and finished 27th. His prior start resulted in a 23rd-place effort.
• The Glendale, Ariz., native tallied eight O’Reilly Auto Parts Series (NOAPS) starts at the 0.875-mile oval, collecting two top fives and seven top 10s, highlighted by a runner-up finish in August 2014.
• The former NOAPS winner’s best average finish in the series came at Iowa with an average starting position of 8.3 and an average finishing position of 6.9, nearly a 10-position increase from his second-best track.
• While transitioning from open-wheel racing to stock cars, McDowell made a pair of ARCA Menards Series appearances at Iowa in 2006 and 2007, finishing seventh and second.
• In the Cup Series’ most recent race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the 2021 Daytona 500 Champion earned a career-best qualifying effort of sixth and finished 18th, respectively.
• The No. 71 Spire Motorsports machine has collected two top-five and five top-10 finishes in 2026. Across the last 11 races, the 2021 Daytona 500 Champion holds an average finish of 16.2.
• After 22 points-paying races on the 2026 calendar, McDowell is 20th in the Cup Series championship point standings. With four races remaining before The Chase begins in September at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, the father-of-five sits 76 points below the cutline.

Michael McDowell Quote
What makes Iowa Speedway so challenging?
“Iowa is great. The last few years have put on some fun shows. I’ve raced there a bunch in O’Reilly and ARCA. Even in years when I wasn’t running full-time in O’Reilly, I’d still do the standalone races for some of the bigger organizations or whoever had an open seat.

“It was honestly my best track from a results standpoint, but going back there with the Cup car was so different. The track had aged in some areas, then there were new asphalts and patches. It was a very different racetrack.

“The heat, surface, roughness, changes and grip differences from patch to patch or from old asphalt and newer asphalt. There’s so much going on in one lap there. It’s really hard to describe. Iowa is very tricky; it’s like a puzzle piece that you’re putting together, where you catch that grip strip and how you come off it, but I am looking forward to getting there and trying to get it right.”

Travis Peterson – Crew Chief, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

• ravis Peterson is the crew chief of Spire Motorsports’ No. 71 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in the NASCAR Cup Series with driver Michael McDowell.
• During his time as a race engineer at JR Motorsports, Peterson collected one top five and three top 10s, highlighted by a fourth-place result with Chase Elliott in May 2014.
• The West Bend, Wisc., native is a 2012 mechanical engineering graduate of the Williams States Lee College of Engineering at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Carson Hocevar – Driver, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

• Carson Hocevar will race Spire Motorsports’ No. 77 Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350 powered by Ethanol at Iowa Speedway, his third start at “The Fastest Short Track on the Planet” in NASCAR’s premier division.
• Zeigler Automotive Group is one of the largest privately-owned dealer groups in the U.S. with 88 franchises across 41 locations in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. Vehicle brands represented include all the domestic and majority of the imported manufacturers. Besides its extensive automotive portfolio, the organization owns and operates Zeigler Motorsports, an 85,000-square-foot motorsports dealership and action park, offering 19 different powersports brands, plus its own onsite restaurant: Trak Houz Bar & Grill. Additionally, Zeigler Motorsports houses the Elevate Leadership & Team Building Academy, an executive training company. The Kalamazoo-based dealer group also owns three Byrider franchises, three finance companies, several insurance firms, and a leasing firm.
• Through 22 races, the Portage, Mich., native sits fifth in the NASCAR Cup Series point standings and has already set career-highs in multiple categories:
• Season-to-date results of one win, five top fives, nine top 10s
• 638 points scored
• 10.4 average start
• 14.1 average finish
• The 23-year-old driver has been the most improved driver on the circuit compared to 2025. The team’s average starting and finishing positions have each improved by over eight spots compared to this point in 2025. Hocevar is on pace to improve his average finish by 7.5 positions at the end of the season, while his fifth position in the series’ points is an 18-position improvement compared to the end of 2025. He leads all drivers in both categories.
• In two previous Iowa starts, Hocevar has collected finishes of 14th and eighth in 2024 and 2025, respectively, while collecting a seventh-place qualifying effort last season.
• In addition to his two Iowa Cup Series starts, Hocevar also owns a sixth-place effort in last season’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race and a fourth-place finish in the 2019 ARCA Menards Series event at the venue.
• Last time out at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Hocevar collected his third-career pole award and paced the field for the opening 31 circuits. He tallied fourth- and sixth-place finishes in Stage 1 and Stage 2, respectively, adding 12 stage points to his total on the day. After restarting 12th following a caution on Lap 121, Hocevar battled to a ninth-place finish, his ninth top-10 result of the season.
• The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year registered his first-career victory earlier this season at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. He survived a late-race restart with three laps remaining and brought home the checkered flag to register Spire Motorsports’ second Cup Series win and first since the 2019 Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.

Carson Hocevar Quote
What makes Iowa a difficult track to race?
“It is difficult to race because everyone is fighting for two lanes and you’re all on top of each other. It is really bumpy getting into Turn 1. When you are three or four wide on a restart, if you bottom out over those bumps it is very unpredictable. The lane also moves around a little with the patch, so you are constantly racing the bumps and surface changes. It is a really challenging track, but super fun to race at.”

Luke Lambert – Crew Chief, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

• Luke Lambert is the crew chief of Spire Motorsports’ No. 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in the NASCAR Cup Series with driver Carson Hocevar.
• Lambert is in his third season at Spire Motorsports and fourth with Hocevar. The duo has logged three pole awards, one win, eight top-five and 24 top-10 finishes in 102 races.
• The 43-year-old called a pair of O’Reilly Auto Parts Series races at Iowa Speedway in 2012, both with driver Elliott Sadler. After a second-place finish in May, the duo returned to the facility in August to take victory from the pole position. Sadler took the lead with 58 laps remaining and held off a late-race charge to claim the checkered flag. The victory marked the fourth and final for the pairing in their championship runners-up campaign.

About Spire Motorsports …
Spire Motorsports fields full-time entries in the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series and Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing.

The team, co-owned by longtime NASCAR industry executive Jeff Dickerson and TWG Motorsports CEO Dan Towriss, earned its inaugural NASCAR Cup Series victory in its first full season of competition when Justin Haley took the checkered flag in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway July 7, 2019. Less than three years later, William Byron drove Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado its first NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series win April 7, 2022, at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. The team’s most recent victory came May 24, 2026, when Daniel Suárez won the NASCAR Cup Series Series’ Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway.

In 2026, Spire Motorsports campaigns the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1s in the NASCAR Cup Series and the Nos. 7 and 77 Chevrolet Silverado RSTs in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. The Mooresville, N.C., organization also fields the No. 77 410 sprint car in Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing competition.