NEWTON, Iowa – William Byron saved just enough fuel to hold on and win the Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol at Iowa Speedway on Sunday afternoon.
Byron stretched the fuel mileage of his Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Raptor Chevrolet for 144 laps to win his second race of the 2025 season. The incredible feat had absolutely no room for error as Chase Briscoe and Brad Keselowski were just behind him and Ryan Blaney was cutting his way through the field with immense speed.
“Man, how about that for some fuel mileage,” Byron said. “We’ve had our fair share of things not go our way with fuel mileage, and just super thankful for Rudy, all these guys, all the engineers, all the engineers back at the shop. Just this whole race team, we’ve been through a lot this year. It’s been a lot of growing pains. It’s been tough on us. But it feels really good today to get a win.”
While the race came down to the wire, Byron had been dominate all afternoon. He started the race on the front row and led a race high of 141 laps, including the final 74 laps. The win was a much needed confidence booster for the team. Over the past eight races leading into the weekend, only three finishes were inside the top-20, including two top-10 finishes.
“Yeah, I think our confidence in each other never wavered,” Byron said. “I feel like our speed has been better than it’s ever been, and that’s a big reason why we stay confident. I feel like every week we work really hard together and show up prepared, show up fast, and yeah, we needed just one to go our way, and today it did.”
Briscoe continued the momentum of the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet with a runner-up finish, his third top-two in the last four races. Briscoe started on the pole for the second weekend in a row and led 81 laps throughout the afternoon.
“There at the end, I was running William down,” Briscoe said. “I thought I was really in the catbird seat there and I just got there and kind of stalled out. I kind of experienced that when I was leading earlier. I caught the back of the field, and same thing; as soon as I got there, I just kind of died.”
Keselowski, who swept Stages 1 and 2, Blaney and Playoff bubble driver Ryan Preece rounded out the top-five. Completing the top-10 was Brickyard 400 winner Bubba Wallace, Alex Bowman, Carson Hocevar, Joey Logano and Austin Dillon.
There were 10 lead changes among six drivers.
The caution flew 12 times for 72 laps. Nine cautions were for accidents.
With just three races remaining before the NASCAR Playoffs, the bubble battle is heating up. Bowman, who sits 15th, is 63 points to the good. Chris Buescher in 16th is only 23 points above the cutline. Below the cutline includes Preece (-23), Kyle Busch (-73) and Ty Gibbs (-87).
As for the Regular Season Championship battle, Byron leads Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott by a mere 18 points.
The NASCAR Cup Series will visit Watkins Glen International on Sunday, Aug. 10 for the Go Bowling at The Glen. Live coverage will broadcast on USA at 2 p.m. ET.
Photo Credit: Sean Gardner/Getty Images
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