NEWTON, Iowa — Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney returned to victory lane with a thrilling win in Iowa Speedway's first NASCAR Cup Series race.
Blaney led the most laps in Sunday's 350-lap event. He held off a hard-charging William Byron in the closing laps to score his first win of the season in what has been a season of perpetual bad luck for Blaney. The season's first 16 races of the year saw Blaney involved in crashes, photo finish losses, and an empty gas tank while leading on the last lap.
"This place means a lot to me and my mom," Blaney, who had around 80 family members in attendance, said to the media after the win. "Our car was really fast all night. [Taking] two tires was a good call... it makes up for two weeks ago."
Byron finished in second just under a second behind Blaney. Chase Elliott, William Byron, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. rounded out the top five.
Kyle Larson was likely to challenge Blaney for the win as he spent just as much time in the front as Blaney in the first half of the race. But Larson was involved in a late crash, dashing his chances at picking up the win.
Larson and Blaney started on the front row and dueled for the lead in the early goings. Corey LaJoie spun on lap four to bring out the race's first caution.
Blaney passed Larson on a late restart in the first stage to win that period.
Strategy was split a bit between drivers taking two tires or four tires on pit stops. Tire wear was a lingering issue for drivers throughout the race but did not hurt the field as much as some anticipated. Michael McDowell, Ross Chastain, and Kyle Busch were some of the drivers who lost tires during the race but no cautions were called.
John Hunter Nemechek made contact with Noah Gragson on lap 80, which brought out a caution. During that caution period, Larson gave up the lead to pit after feeling a problem in one of his tires.
Larson raced his way back to the lead as the field later hit pit road under green. An opportune caution left him and about a dozen cars who hadn't yet pitted in front with of most of the field trapped a lap down. Larson won stage two with ease.
Chris Buescher stayed out after the stage break caution to gain track position. The move kept Buescher in the top five for a while but he later lost a tire and caused a caution.
Larson's bid for the win ended after he made contact with Daniel Suárez and turned into the wall, collecting Denny Hamlin. Larson settled for 34th. Suárez suffered minimal damage and finished ninth.
Kyle Busch ran around the top 10 for most of the race but was sidelined late with a mechanical issue. It's another disappointing finish for Busch, who sits two spots outside the playoff cutline with nine races left in the regular season.
Iowa's fight for a cup series race lasted nearly 20 years. The track opened in 2006 and was one of the more popular events on the NASCAR Xfinity Series and IndyCar Series but never could quite attract the NASCAR Cup Series. When NASCAR left the track in 2019, it seemed the track would never get the opportunity. But NASCAR decided to visit the track with its top two series in a geographically-accurate "Field of Dreams" moment.
The NASCAR Cup Series is next in action at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday, June 23.