Ryan Blaney sped to his third Busch Light Pole Award of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season for the Iowa Corn 350 at Iowa Speedway on Saturday August 8.
The event’s starting lineup was determined through an on-track qualifying session that consisted of a single-car, two-lap qualifying format. During the session, each of the 36 competitors vying for 36 starting spots cycled around Iowa twice to post the fastest lap amongst one another. The competitor who posted the fastest lap was awarded the pole position.
During the session, Blaney, who was the fifth-fastest competitor during Saturday’s practice session, utilized his two-lap qualifying session to post his fastest lap at 134.191 mph in 23.474 seconds. Blaney’s lap was enough for the 2023 Cup Series champion from High Point, North Carolina, to secure his third pole position of this season.
With the pole, Blaney, who is wearing a Kyle Busch tribute helmet for this weekend’s event, recorded his 15th Cup Series career pole for his 401st series start, his fourth on a short track venue, his first at Iowa and his first since EchoPark Speedway in July. The qualifying result left Blaney pleased with the handling of his No. 12 Team Penske Ford entry as he strives to contend for his second victory in Newton, Iowa.
“[A] Really, really cool day,” Blaney said. “[I] Appreciate the really fast car. The No. 12 Menards Pennington Ford Mustang was fast in practice. I was able to lay down a good lap and honestly, my first lap wasn’t what I wanted. Fortunately, we had enough grip, kind of car came in, changed my line up a little bit for the second one to run a little bit faster and hang on for the pole…It’s gonna be a tough one tomorrow. This track changes a lot. It’s gonna be pretty warm. It’s a long day, long race, so really important to try to keep up with it, but it’s nice to start off strong and hopefully, we can continue that for tomorow.”
Blaney will share the front row with Kyle Larson, the latter of whom was the 19th-fastest competitor in practice. Larson rebounded by posting the second-fastest lap at 134.088 mph in 23.492 seconds. Joey Logano, who also posted his fastest lap at 134.088 mph in 23.492 seconds, will start in third place ahead of Brad Keselowski and Tyler Reddick in the top-five mark, respectively. Keselowski managed to post a blistering lap during his first of two qualifying laps before he wrecked into the Turn 1 wall.
Ty Gibbs, Austin Dillon, Connor Zilisch, Ross Chastain and Erik Jones, the latter of whom was the fastest in practice, completed the top-10 starting grid, respectively. Notably, Chase Elliott, who spun in practice, will start in 32nd place while Denny Hamlin, the points leader, will start in 29th place. William Byron, the defending Cup Iowa winner, will start in 19th place.
With 39 competitors vying for 39 starting spots, all made the main event.
Iowa – Qualifying Position, Best Speed, Best Time:
- Ryan Blaney, 134.191 mph, 23.474 seconds.
- Kyle Larson, 134.088 mph, 23.492 seconds
- Joey Logano, 134.088 mph, 23.492 seconds
- Brad Keselowski, 134.025 mph, 23.503 seconds
- Tyler Reddick, 133.911 mph, 23.523 seconds
- Ty Gibbs, 133.786 mph, 23.545 seconds
- Austin Dillon, 133.786 mph, 23.545 seconds
- Connor Zilisch, 133.758 mph, 23.550 seconds
- Ross Chastain, 133.667 mph, 23.566 seconds
- Erik Jones, 133.503 mph, 23.595 seconds
- Michael McDowell, 133.486 mph, 23.598 seconds
- Austin Cindric, 133.480 mph, 23.599 seconds
- Josh Berry, 133.463 mph, 23.602 seconds
- Zane Smith, 133.378 mph, 23.617 seconds
- Noah Gragson, 133.333 mph, 23.625 seconds
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 133.232 mph, 23.643 seconds
- Todd Gilliland, 133.175 mph, 23.653 seconds
- Carson Hocevar, 133.164 mph, 23.655 seconds
- William Byron, 133.125 mph, 23.662 seconds
- Chase Briscoe, 133.119 mph, 23.663 seconds
- John Hunter Nemechek, 133.119 mph, 23.663 seconds
- Christopher Bell, 133.057 mph, 23.674 seconds
- Shane van Gisbergen, 133.012 mph, 23.682 seconds
- Austin Hill, 132.984 mph, 23.687 seconds
- AJ Allmendinger, 132.906 mph, 23.701 seconds
- Bubba Wallace, 132.861 mph, 23.709 seconds
- Chris Buescher, 132.811 mph, 23.718 seconds
- Riley Herbst, 132.749 mph, 23.729 seconds
- Denny Hamlin, 132.565 mph, 23.762 seconds
- Alex Bowman, 132.481 mph, 23.777 seconds
- Ty Dillon, 132.342 mph, 23.802 seconds
- Chase Elliott, 132.247 mph, 23.819 seconds
- Daniel Suarez, 132.087 mph, 23.848 seconds
- Cody Ware, 131.965 mph, 23.870 seconds
- Ryan Preece, 131.447 mph, 23.964 seconds
- Cole Custer, 131.228 mph, 24.004 seconds
The 2026 Iowa Corn 350 at Iowa Speedway is scheduled to occur on Sunday, August 9, at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network, MRN Radio, SiriusXM and HBO MAX.
