Ty Gibbs capitalized on a late, gusty pit call that enabled him to cycle to the front and win the third annual running of the Iowa Corn 350 at Iowa Speedway on Sunday, August 9.
The 2022 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series champion from Charlotte, North Carolina, led the final 20 of 350-scheduled laps in an event where he qualified in sixth place and raced competitively towards the front in the early stages as he nabbed a fourth-place result following the first stage’s conclusion.
Then prior to the second stage period, Gibbs endured a slow pit service during the first stage’s break period that sent him towards the tail end of the lead lap field. Through four caution periods that ensued through the second stage period, Gibbs was able to muscle his way back to the front and settle in fourth place for a second consecutive stage period.
After spending a majority of the third and final stage period racing towards the front, Gibbs was racing in second place when he peeled off the racetrack to pit under green flag conditions right behind teammate and the leader, Christopher Bell, with 60 laps remaining. With crew chief Tyler Allen making the call for only a two-tire pit service for Gibbs’ No. 54 Toyota entry, this allowed Gibbs to overtake Bell on pit road and blend back on the track ahead of pole-sitter Ryan Blaney. Once Gibbs cycled to the race lead with 20 laps remaining, he spent the event’s remainder fending off a late charge from Bell to notch his second career victory in NASCAR’s premier series in Newton, Iowa.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Ryan Blaney secured his third Cup pole position of the 2026 season with a pole-winning lap at 134.191 mph in 23.474 seconds. Kyle Larson started alongside Blaney on the front row with a lap of 134.088 mph in 23.492 seconds.
Prior to the event, a trio of names that included Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments that were made to their respective entries.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, pole-sitter Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson dueled for the lead in front of a stacked field through the first two turns until Blaney, who started on the outside lane, motored his No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry ahead through the backstretch. Amid the early jostling of spots within the field, Blaney cycled back to the frontstretch and led the first lap.
Blaney proceeded to lead the next three laps before the event’s first caution flew when Tyler Reddick, who was racing in seventh place, ran over a bump, got loose and veered to the right in front of Erik Jones before both wrecked hard against the first turn’s outside wall. The incident sent both Jones and Reddick to the garage and out of further contention. It also implicated Jones’ hopes of racing back above the top-16 cutline to make the Chase while Reddick was strapped with a sixth result of 30th or worse through a nine-race span.
As the event restarted on Lap 12, Blaney and Larson briefly dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Blaney used the outside lane to motor ahead entering the backstretch for a second consecutive restart. As Blaney led the next lap, Larson retained the runner-up spot ahead of Joey Logano while Ty Gibbs, Austin Dillon, Connor Zilisch, Ross Chastain, Zane Smith, Josh Berry and Austin Cindric trailed in the top-10 mark, respectively, by the Lap 15 mark.
Through the Lap 25 mark, Blaney was leading by more than a second over Larson and by more than two seconds over teammate Logano while Gibbs, Austin Dillon, Zilisch, Chastain, Zane Smith, Berry and Cindric were racing in the top-10 mark ahead of Bubba Wallace, Carson Hocevar, Christopher Bell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chase Briscoe, William Byron, John Hunter Nemechek, Austin Cindric, Noah Gragson and Riley Herbst, respectively. Meanwhile, Denny Hamlin was mired in 26th place ahead of Austin Hill, Brad Keselowski and Ryan Preece while Chase Elliott was strapped in 32nd place behind Chris Buescher. With Hamlin only gaining a spot and Elliott retaining his respective spot over the next 10 laps, Blaney extended his lead by more than three seconds over both Larson and Logano at the Lap 35 mark.
By Lap 50, Blaney stabilized his lead to more than three seconds over teammate Logano while third-place Larson trailed by four seconds. Behind, Gibbs and Austin Dillon continued to race in the top five ahead of Zilisch, Chastain, Zane Smith, Berry and Todd Gilliland while Bell, Briscoe, Wallace, Byron and Stenhouse followed suit, respectively. Meanwhile, Hocevar, who was dealing with an alternator issue, had dropped to 22nd place behind Hamlin while Blaney, who spent the next 10 laps reeling in the tail end of the field while also lapping Cole Custer, Cody Ware and Chris Buescher, had his lead shrink to above a second on Lap 60.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 70, Blaney captured his fifth Cup stage victory of the 2026 season. Logano trailed in the runner-up spot by more than a second while Larson, Gibbs, Austin Dillon, Chastain, Bell, Briscoe, Zilisch and Zane Smith were scored in the top 10, respectively. By then, 29 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap while names that included Chase Elliott, Chris Buescher, Ryan Preece and Cole Custer were scored a lap down, with Elliott receiving the free pass for being the first competitor scored a lap down.
Under the event’s first stage break period, the field led by Blaney pitted for the first time. Following the pit stops, Blaney retained the lead by exiting pit road first while Logano, Larson, Chastain, Austin Dillon, Briscoe, Bell, Zilisch, Zane Smith and Wallace followed suit, respectively. During the pit stops, Gibbs endured a slow pit service and rejoined the track in 28th place.
The second stage period started on Lap 78 as Blaney and Logano occupied the front row. At the start, Blaney and Logano nearly dueled for the lead for a full lap as Logano, who restarted on the inside lane, managed to draw within a fender alongside Blaney, but Blaney led the next lap. As both Team Penske competitors battled for the lead just past the Lap 80 mark, Larson, Chastain, Bell and Briscoe followed suit before Wallace muscled his way up to sixth place. Wallace, who qualified in 26th place, continued his steady march to the front by overtaking Bell for fifth place before he proceeded to battle Chastain for fourth place while Blaney retained the lead.
On Lap 90, the caution returned when Shane van Gisbergen, who was racing in the midfield section, got loose from the bottom lane and spun towards the outside wall within Turns 3 and 4, where he then had issues re-firing his No. 97 Red Bull Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry. During this caution period, most of the field led by Blaney returned to pit road for service while Elliott remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Blaney exited pit road first ahead of Logano, Larson, Chastain and Wallace.
The event’s next restart on Lap 98 did not last long when Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who was mixed within a four-wide battle that involved Michael McDowell, Austin Hill and Todd Gilliland through the backstretch, got clipped by McDowell and spun backward into the outside wall through Turns 3 and 4. At the moment of caution, Elliott retained the lead over Blaney, Logano, Wallace and Larson, respectively.
For the next restart on Lap 103, Elliott and Blaney dueled for the lead in front of Logano, Wallace and the field for a full lap. Then for the next lap, Blaney got briefly loose entering Turn 3, which allowed Wallace to move into the runner-up spot and challenge Elliott for the lead by Lap 105. Wallace dueled alongside Elliott until the former moved the latter up the track through the first two turns and cleared Elliott to assume the lead on Lap 108. As Wallace led by Lap 110, Blaney tried to reel in Elliott for the runner-up spot while Logano was being challenged by Austin Dillon and Larson for fourth place.
By Lap 120, Wallace was leading by two-tenths of a second over Blaney while Elliott, Logano, Austin Dillon, Chastain, Larson, Bell, Hamlin and Berry were in the top 10 ahead of Zilisch, John Hunter Nemechek, Zane Smith, William Byron, Briscoe, Gragson, Herbst, Alex Bowman, Gibbs and Ty Dillon, respectively. Wallace proceeded to slightly stretch his advantage to eight-tenths of a second over Blaney by Lap 130 and by nine-tenths of a second on Lap 140 before the caution flew when Hocevar, who was two laps down due to his alternator issue, got loose and spun by himself through Turns 3 and 4.
During the recent caution period, a majority of the field led by Wallace pitted while some, including Bell, Hamlin, Briscoe and McDowell, remained on the track. With various pit strategies ensuing, Logano exited pit road first ahead of Chastain, Zilisch, Byron and Blaney. During the pit stops,, Elliott endured a slow pit service and rejoined the track in 28th place while Wallace was penalized for speeding on pit road, which relegated him back to 30th place.
When the event restarted on Lap 147, teammates Bell and Hamlin dueled for the lead in front of teammate Briscoe, McDowell and Logano for a full lap. Seconds later, the caution returned when Larson, who made a move to the outside lane at the event’s launch before he drifted up the track after contact from Nemechek through Turns 3 and 4, was pinned in a tight four-wide battle through the frontstretch and resulted in teammate Alex Bowman getting squeezed and turned off the front nose of Larson while wrecking through the outside wall. Ryan Preece, who was also mixed in the four-wide battle, sustained damage to his entry as Herbst was also mixed within the four-wide battle.
As the event restarted on Lap 154, Bell and Hamlin battled dead even for the lead in front of Logano, Briscoe and the field before Bell motored ahead from the outside lane through the backstretch by Lap 155. While the field fanned out and jostled for spots, teammates Briscoe and Hamlin along with Logano battled closely for the runner-up spot behind Bell while Chastain, Byron, Zane Smith, Zilisch, McDowell and Gibbs trailed in the top-10 mark by Lap 160.
At the halfway mark on Lap 175, Bell extended his lead to more than two seconds over teammate Briscoe and by three seconds over teammate Hamlin while Logano, Chastain, Byron, Gibbs, Zane Smith, Zilisch and Berry. Behind, Austin Dillon, McDowell, Blaney, Gragson, Herbst, Ty Dillon, AJ Allmendinger, Wallace, Preece and Keselowski were racing in the top 20 while Nemechek, Stenhouse, Buescher, Austin Hill, Cindric, Gilliland, Elliott, Daniel Suarez, van Gisbergen and Cody Ware trailed in the top 30, respectively. Meanwhile, Larson was mired three laps down in 33rd place as Bell’s lead stood at three seconds over Logano on Lap 200 while Briscoe, Chastain, Gibbs and Hamlin pursued in the top six, respectively.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 210, Bell captured his fourth Cup stage victory of the 2026 season. Logano settled in second place by more than a second while Chastain, Gibbs, Briscoe, Hamlin, Byron, Blaney, Zane Smith and Zilisch settled in the top 10, respectively. By then, 29 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap.
During the event’s second stage break period, nearly the entire field led by Bell pitted for service while Elliott remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Blaney exited pit road first ahead of Bell, Chastain, Gibbs, Hamlin and Briscoe. During the pit stops, Logano had to reverse back into his pit stall to have a left-rear wheel tightened, and he plummeted back outside the top-25 mark.
With 132 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Elliott and Blaney occupied the front row. At the start, Blaney battled and fended off Elliott to lead the next lap while a variety of on-track battles and shuffling ensued towards the front. While Blaney started to slowly pull away from the field, Elliott battled Bell to retain the runner-up spot in front of Chastain, Gibbs, Byron and Hamlin before AJ Allmendinger motored his way up to sixth place. As Blaney led by one-and-a-half seconds with 120 laps remaining, Austin Dillon, Briscoe and Elliott were racing from seventh to ninth, respectively, and Byron dropped to 10th place. Meanwhile, Logano was mired in 21st place and Wallace was in 16th place while Bell, Chastain, Gibbs, Hamlin and Allmendinger were in the top six, respectively.
Down to the final 100 laps, Bell, who reeled in Blaney for the lead, trailed Blaney by three-tenths of a second while third-place Gibbs trailed the lead by more than two seconds. Fourth-place Chastain trailed by nearly four seconds and fifth-place Hamlin trailed by four seconds before Bell used the outside lane from Turn 1 to Turn 3 to assume the lead from Blaney with 96 laps remaining. By then, Elliott pitted under green for fuel as Bell grew his lead to eight-tenths of a second over Blaney with 90 laps remaining.
With 75 laps remaining, Bell stretched his late advantage to more than two seconds over both Blaney and teammate Gibbs while Chastain and Hamlin rounded out the top five ahead of Briscoe, Berry, Allmendinger, Austin Dillon and Byron, respectively. Gibbs would then overtake Blaney for the runner-up spot three laps later despite the latter two getting loose through the first two turns a lap prior, and Gibbs would trail Bell by more than two seconds with 70 laps remaining.
Then with 66 laps remaining, a late cycle of green flag pit stops commenced as Blaney pitted from third place. Ty Dillon also pitted with Blaney before Hamlin and Allmendinger pitted two laps later. As Bell retained the lead by more than two seconds with 60 laps remaining, he then pitted his No. 20 DeWalt Toyota Camry XSE entry from the lead along with teammate Gibbs before Byron, Preece and McDowell pitted another two laps later. By the time both Bell and Gibbs completed their green flag pit stops, Gibbs, who pitted for only two tires, managed to overtake Bell while both were able to blend back on the track in front of Blaney. While more names that included Briscoe, Berry and Herbst pitted, Chastain, who has yet to pit, was leading while Gibbs remained in front of Bell and Blaney as the highest-running competitor to just pit with 50 laps remaining.
As the event reached its final 45-lap mark, Chastain continued to lead by more than nine seconds over Gragson, with Zane Smith, Zilisch and Wallace racing in the top five. Behind, Gibbs, who was up into eighth place, was a tenth of a second ahead of a hard-charging Bell while Blaney was mired as the last competitor a lap down in 13th place while also trailing Gibbs by five seconds. Over the next 10 laps, Chastain remained on the track and retained the lead by 11 seconds while Gibbs, who moved his No. 54 SiriusXM Toyota Camry XSE entry up to third place, continued to fend off Bell while Blaney was mired in seventh place.
Then with 25 laps remaining, both Gibbs and Bell overtook Gragson to move into second and third, respectively, on the track as Chastain continued to lead by more than 13 seconds. By the time Chastain surrendered the lead to pit with 21 laps remaining, Gibbs and Bell cycled to the front, with Gibbs leading by four-tenths of a second. While Blaney trailed by more than six seconds in third place, Berry, Hamlin and Briscoe were in the top six as Chastain blended back on the track in seventh place in front of Allmendinger, Byron and Buescher. Amid Bell’s pursuit, Gibbs’ lead stood at three-tenths of a second with 15 laps remaining.
Down to the final 10 laps, Gibbs continued to fend off teammate Bell as the former led by two-tenths of a second while Blaney trailed in third place by seven seconds. As Bell continued to struggle with executing his late reel on Gibbs for the lead through all lanes, the turns and straightaways, Gibbs’ lead stood at three-tenths of a second with five laps remaining.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Gibbs remained in the lead by a tenth of a second over a hard-charging Bell. As Bell tried to mount a final lap charge, he could not execute for a final cycle as Gibbs fended off the latter to claim his second career checkered flag by two-tenths of a second.
With the victory, Gibbs, who clinched his berth to this year’s Chase two weeks ago after Indianapolis Motor Speedway, became the 146th competitor overall to achieve multiple Cup Series victories, and he became the sixth competitor to notch multiple victories in 2026.
Gibbs also became the third winner in the Cup Series’ three-year history at Iowa Speedway while delivering the first Cup Iowa win for both Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing. In addition, Joe Gibbs Racing achieved its seventh victory of the 2026 season with Toyota also notching its 14th win through 23-scheduled events.
“I just had to keep my head down, gel up and stay in it,” Gibbs said on the frontstretch on USA Network. “[It’s] Just people that want to support each other. We have a big step from last year, obviously, and I really appreciate, but I really appreciate all my teammates too. I wouldn’t be here without all my teammates as well week in and week out. Just help keep developing the program, and obviously, we’re all up front for a reason. I really appreciate Denny [Hamlin] and Chase [Briscoe] and Christopher [Bell] for all their help, obviously. Let’s lock in. Hammer down.”
Bell, who led 108 laps compared to Gibbs’ 20, settled in the runner-up spot for a seventh time in 2026 as he also recorded his 11th top-five result through 23-scheduled events.
“This is what you call a bad second-place finish, for sure,” Bell said. “I don’t know what else to say. Ty [Gibbs] did a really good job. He did a great job managing the race. I could tell that he was slipping and sliding around. Similar to two weeks ago with Corey Heim, he just didn’t make a mistake. P2.”
Ryan Blaney, who led a race-high 129 laps, finished in third place for his fifth top-three result of the 2026 season while Josh Berry and Denny Hamlin finished in the top five, respectively. Chase Briscoe, Ross Chastain, AJ Allmendinger, William Byron and Austin Dillon completed the top-10 results, as all were also the only competitors to finish on the lead lap.
This event featured nine lead changes for six different leaders, and seven cautions for 45 laps.
Following the 23rd event of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, Denny Hamlin continues to lead the regular-season standings by 103 points over teammate Ty Gibbs, 110 over Ryan Blaney, 120 over Tyler Reddick, 260 over teammate Chase Briscoe and 264 over teammate Christopher Bell.
Results:
- Ty Gibbs, 20 laps led
- Christopher Bell, 108 laps led, Stage 2 winner
- Ryan Blaney, 129 laps led, Stage 1 winner
- Josh Berry
- Denny Hamlin
- Chase Briscoe
- Ross Chastain, 40 laps led
- AJ Allmendinger
- William Byron
- Austin Dillon
- Connor Zilisch, one lap down
- Bubba Wallace, one lap down, 35 laps led
- Chris Buescher, one lap down
- Joey Logano, one lap down
- Chase Elliott, one lap down, 18 laps led
- Zane Smith, one lap down
- Noah Gragson, one lap down
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr., one lap down
- John Hunter Nemechek, one lap down
- Ryan Preece, one lap down
- Riley Herbst, one lap down
- Todd Gilliland, one lap down
- Daniel Suarez, one lap down
- Ty Dillon, one lap down
- Michael McDowell, one lap down
- Austin Hill, one lap down
- Brad Keselowski, two laps down
- Cole Custer, two laps down
- Austin Cindric, two laps down
- Shane van Gisbergen, three laps down
- Carson Hocevar, three laps down
- Cody Ware, three laps down
- Kyle Larson, 18 laps down
- Alex Bowman – OUT, Accident
- Erik Jones – OUT, Accident
- Tyler Reddick – OUT, Accident
Next on the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway in Richmond, Virginia. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, August 15, and air at 7 p.m. ET on USA Network, MRN Radio, SiriusXM, and HBO MAX.
