By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service

NEWTON, Iowa — Sam Mayer took control of Saturday’s Hy-Vee Perks 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Iowa Speedway after a Lap 221 restart and maintained it the rest of the way to record the first victory for the Haas Factory team and the first in the series for Ford this season.

Mayer won at Iowa for the second straight year, having triumphed in a JR Motorsports Chevrolet last season. The eighth victory of his career ended Sunoco rookie Connor Zilisch’s three-race winning streak.

Driving the No. 41 Haas Factory Team Ford, Mayer edged ahead of pole winner and runner-up Jesse Love on Lap 223 before Brandon Jones spun in oil from Matt DiBenedetto’s Chevrolet to cause the eighth caution of the afternoon.

On the subsequent restart on Lap 234, Mayer streaked away and left Love and other pursuers in his wake. After taking the white flag, Mayer was cruising to the victory when Garrett Smithley’s spin caused the ninth and final caution and froze the field, with Mayer in the winning position.

“This one’s everything right here,” Mayer said. “First win for Haas Factory Team — that’s awesome. This car was fast all day long. I tried to botch it on pit road, but we didn’t.

“I can’t believe it. This is one of the most special wins I have. These guys (Mayer’s team), they love me to death, I love them to death, and we’re just some good ol’ boys trying to go racing.”

After finishing fourth in the first stage, Mayer overshot his No.1 pit stall, which sits at a difficult angle around a curve near the exit from pit road. Mayer restarted 16th on Lap 71 but worked his way back through the field and regained the fourth spot by the end of Stage 2.

“I missed my pit box, but the car was so good it didn’t even matter,” Mayer said. “We ran up through there—no problem. It was great.”

Ross Chastain finished third behind Mayer and Love, with Zilisch running fourth and Harrison Burton fifth.

For practical purposes, Zilisch’s bid for a fourth straight Xfinity Series ran into immediate trouble during the first stage break. After winning Stage 1, Zilisch brought his No. 88 Chevrolet to pit road for service, but the front tire changer failed to get all lugs tight on the left front wheel.

Zilisch restarted 25th on Lap 71 and initially made rapid progress through the field. As the second stage progressed, Zilisch stalled out in traffic, with his Camaro getting increasingly loose behind other cars.

The 19-year-old phenom finished the stage in 17th-place and restarted the final stage in the same position on Lap 130. He climbed as high as third in the running order but couldn’t find a way to prevail during a succession of late restarts.

In fact, Zilisch’s car broke loose in a three-wide scenario with teammates Chastain and reigning series champion Justin Allgaier on Lap 214. Contact from Zilisch’s car knocked Chastain sideways into Allgaier’s Chevrolet.

With Allgaier finishing 16th, he and Zilisch’s are now tied for the series lead with four races left in the regular season.

Burton took a major step toward the Playoffs with his second top-five finish of the season. He’s now 11th on the current Playoff grid, 17 points ahead of 12th-place Ryan Sieg and 19 points ahead of cousin Jeb Burton, the first driver below the elimination line.

Jeb Burton finished 29th Saturday after dealing with a cracked track bar and suffering through the afternoon with an ill-handling car.

Driving the No. 11 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet after the abrupt release of Josh Williams from the ride, Carson Hocevar finished sixth, followed by Sheldon Creed, Ryan Sieg, Carson Kvapil and Christian Eckes.

NASCAR Xfinity Series Race – Hy-Vee Perks 250
Iowa Speedway
Newton, Iowa
Saturday, August 2, 2025

(5) Sam Mayer, Ford, 250.
(1) Jesse Love, Chevrolet, 250.
(11) Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 250.
(4) Connor Zilisch #, Chevrolet, 250.
(17) Harrison Burton, Ford, 250.
(3) Carson Hocevar(i), Chevrolet, 250.
(14) Sheldon Creed, Ford, 250.
(7) Ryan Sieg, Ford, 250.
(8) Carson Kvapil #, Chevrolet, 250.
(25) Christian Eckes #, Chevrolet, 250.
(2) William Sawalich #, Toyota, 250.
(16) Justin Bonsignore, Toyota, 250.
(28) Parker Retzlaff, Chevrolet, 250.
(6) Austin Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 250.
(9) Sammy Smith, Chevrolet, 250.
(15) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 250.
(36) Taylor Gray #, Toyota, 250.
(24) Kyle Sieg, Ford, 250.
(26) Nick Sanchez #, Chevrolet, 250.
(22) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 250.
(29) Josh Bilicki, Chevrolet, 250.
(27) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 250.
(12) Brandon Jones, Toyota, 250.
(18) Corey Day, Chevrolet, 249.
(34) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 249.
(19) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 249.
(33) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 249.
(21) Blaine Perkins, Chevrolet, 249.
(32) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 249.
(35) Patrick Emerling(i), Chevrolet, 249.
(20) Dean Thompson #, Toyota, 248.
(23) Thomas Annunziata, Chevrolet, 248.
(30) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 247.
(37) Tyler Tomassi, Ford, 240.
(13) Matt DiBenedetto, Chevrolet, Accident, 221.
(10) Daniel Dye #, Chevrolet, Accident, 200.
(31) Mason Massey, Chevrolet, Suspension, 172.
(38) Dawson Cram, Chevrolet, Vibration, 93.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 87.832 mph.

Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 29 Mins, 26 Secs. Margin of Victory: Under Caution Seconds.

Caution Flags: 9 for 61 laps.

Lead Changes: 13 among 8 drivers.

Lap Leaders: J. Love 1;C. Zilisch # 2-7;J. Love 8;C. Zilisch # 9-64;J. Love 65-83;R. Chastain(i) 84-124;T. Gray # 125;S. Smith 126-128;R. Chastain(i) 129-207;T. Gray # 208;B. Jones 209-211;J. Allgaier 212;J. Love 213-222;S. Mayer 223-250.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Ross Chastain(i) 2 times for 120 laps; Connor Zilisch # 2 times for 62 laps; Jesse Love 4 times for 31 laps; Sam Mayer 1 time for 28 laps; Brandon Jones 1 time for 3 laps; Sammy Smith 1 time for 3 laps; Taylor Gray # 2 times for 2 laps; Justin Allgaier 1 time for 1 lap.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 88,2,9,41,18,1,11,10,25,7

Stage #2 Top Ten: 9,20,54,41,18,00,2,25,1,39

Toyota GAZOO Racing – Chase Briscoe
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

NEWTON, Iowa (Aug. 2, 2025) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Chase Briscoe was made available to the media on Saturday after winning the pole for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway.

Briscoe added to his series-high sixth pole position by earning the top spot for Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350.

CHASE BRISCOE, No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing

Does winning the pole get old?

“No. It’s definitely better than starting mid-pack. It’s getting old not converting them to race wins though, that’s for sure. Anytime you can lead the field to green it gives you the opportunity to get stage points and all those things like stage points and a good pit stall. Maybe they can change it where you win five poles you can trade it in for a race win or something (laughing). It’s been frustrating from that standpoint to be able to convert them. Qualifying on the pole means a lot to our entire race team.”

Where does the speed seem to be coming from?

“The racecars are really, really good. My entire career, even at SHR (Stewart-Haas Racing) we always seemed to exceed where we should probably qualify. It’s been probably my strongest thing. And now I’ve been getting in racecars that have helped me run really good lap times. Now my cars are faster and I’ve been running really fast lap times. It’s been fun to be able to do it today. I did not think it was going to be good enough. I got out and told my guys that it was going to be sixth or seventh and I was pleasantly surprised I was able to hang on. It was definitely encouraging for tomorrow.”

You were in Iowa for the tire test in June. How’s the track feeling now that you’ve had a chance to practice and qualify today?

“It’s way different than what we had at the test. It’s kind of like a whole new racetrack. We are running eight-tenths faster than what we ran in the test. In the test we didn’t even think about leaving the bottom white line and now we are way up the track. I feel like the test really didn’t do anything, if anything it hurt me in the first few laps of practice. It’s really gripped up. It’s kind of surprising how fast the top lane is this time around. Last year this was really slick whereas this time it’s been really fast from the get-go. It’s tough because you are limited, you can’t really go any higher because it’s the old surface. I would like to see them pave it all the way to the wall, it would be unbelievable. We would be back on the fence here. Going to be interesting tomorrow to just kind of see what it will do from a racing standpoint, but it was really fast today.

What are your expectations for tire fall off tomorrow?

“From what we saw today, there’s no real tire fall off. It seems like your car just keeps getting faster and faster and better from a driving standpoint. Who knows what it will do after 100 laps. I think tomorrow you’ll see different strategies because I don’t think tires are going to be that big of a deal. Track position or whatever you will do to get up there, two tires or fuel only, who knows. It’s definitely going to be crew chief race for sure I feel like.”

Have you had a conversation with fellow Indiana native Ryan Newman after all this qualifying dominance this season?

“I have not talked to Ryan. There must be something in the water there in Indiana. It’s cool though, I remember as a kid watching the rocket man dominate and winning pole after pole after pole. It’s neat to kind of be that guy now. There’s definitely a lot of confidence that goes along with that being in the racecar. Even the team guys, there’s a ton of pride when you could lay your head down at night and know you are the fastest car that day. There’s just a tone that comes along with that. It’s been really neat to do that. I have no idea how many Ryan ended up getting in a year, but it would be cool just to be on the same level as him in anything because he was really good at it.”

The Toyota’s looked fast in practice and now on the pole. What does that mean for the race tomorrow?

“It’s definitely important. For us it’s trying to maximize playoff points, so starting up front puts you in a really good position to win that first stage. It’s going to be something we are going to need to try and do. The Toyota’s are fast everywhere we go, it doesn’t matter what kind of racetrack. It feels like we’ve hit our stride here as a manufacturer the last month or two and hopefully we can continue that.”

What’s it mean to win the pole at Iowa?

“This has been a place that’s been really good to me. It does drive totally different, but there are still some things you can do here that we used to do here before they repaved it. Just especially on how you can get into turn 1 with the bumps. It’s nice, even with the racetrack change I’ve still been able to be decent here because it has been a great track for me. I was glad I was able to carry some of that over to be able to win the pole here and have a chance to win in a Cup car here tomorrow.”

Historically Iowa has been good to driver who have started up front. How does starting up front help for tomorrow’s race?

“Everywhere we go it’s important to start up front for track position, but especially after practice just seeing how tight the times were and no tire fall off really. It’s going to be hard to pass, I know Christopher (Bell) pulled out in front of me in practice and I was stuck behind him, I had nothing else I could do. That kind of just flipped the switch and start focusing on what I needed to do in qualifying. Practicing behind him just technique wise was there something I could do to make up a little bit of time and obviously I was able to make it work.”

You have the first pit stall around the bend. Does it make for a different challenge than other places with the shape of the pit road here in Iowa?

“This is a very unique pit road. We do have some that have a corner to it with the turn at the end of pit road where you are bumping up your RPM. This is one of the more extreme corners. I don’t know if I’ve been in the first stall here, but I know it’s really blind and such a tight turn around the corner and you can’t really see where your turn-in is if you are in the first stall. When you are in stalls four through nine, it’s really easy to get lost. It will definitely be a challenge tomorrow. It will be tough for the pit crew guys too because the angle of the car coming in. All those things you get as an advantage of pit stall 1 you have to take it, but it changes things when you pit in a corner from your typical routine because everything is different. It will be a challenge for us tomorrow.”

How much of gaining playoff points over the next few races are on the mind of you and your team?

“It’s something James (Small, crew chief) and I have talked a lot about. As a race team we feel like we are a championship four contender with the speed we have right now. But with the playoff grid it’s really top heavy, but the rest of the field only has five or seven points. Even if we can get just a couple of playoff points with a stage win, but especially a race win where you can get five extra points is a huge deal right now. It’s something that’s definitely on our mind. We are 17 points behind (Ryan) Blaney for seventh in points, so that’s another thing we are focused on right now. The biggest thing for right now is to get as many playoff points as we can so you can get through the Round of 16, you can get through the Round of 12 with that deficit we are at. But when you get to the Round of 8, if you have a 20 or 30 point deficit it’s so hard to do anything. It’s extremely important for us right now.”

Do you find it unusual you are faster than some of your other Toyota teammates?

“Yeah, more so than on the 1.5-mile track where aero and mechanical grip doesn’t play as big of a role. I feel like James and the engineers on the No. 19 crew have done just a really good job, especially these last two months, of understanding what I want and what I need out of my racecar. I’ve noticed a switch with James over the last two or three weeks where it’s gone from you need to be doing this different to we got to get the car better for you now. They’ve started to understand me more and the performance has been better. I think James has done such a good job of understanding what I need when it comes to Saturday in qualifying. He worked harder than anyone in the field and it shows.”

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for nearly 70 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.

Toyota directly employs nearly 64,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 49 million cars and trucks at our 14 manufacturing plants. In spring 2025, Toyota’s plant in North Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for electrified vehicles. With more electrified vehicles on the road than any other automaker, Toyota currently offers 31 electrified options.

For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.