Ryan Blaney wins inaugural NASCAR Cup race at Iowa Speedway

NEWTON, Iowa — Ryan Blaney dominated the inaugural NASCAR Cup Sequence race at Iowa Speedway on Sunday evening for his first victory of the season and a spot within the playoffs.

Blaney led 4 instances for a career-high 201 laps, ending 0.716 seconds forward of William Byron for his eleventh Cup victory. The defending collection champion got here into the race twelfth within the standings.

Blaney regained the lead on Lap 263 after taking simply two tires on a caution-flag pit cease. He led the remainder of the best way, getting by lapped site visitors as Byron tried to shut.

Blaney, whose mom, Lisa, is from Chariton, Iowa, gained in entrance of a sellout crowd of an estimated 40,000 followers that included 80 of his family and friends.

It was becoming the primary Cup Sequence race on the 0.875-mile monitor would go to a Group Penske driver — Penske automobiles have gained seven IndyCar Sequence races and three NASCAR Xfinity Sequence races on the monitor.

Chase Elliott was third. Christopher Bell, who needed to begin from the again of the sector in a backup automotive after crashing throughout observe Friday, was fourth. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who like Blaney took two tires on the ultimate pit cease, completed fifth.

Joey Logano completed sixth. Rookie Josh Berry, who led 32 laps, was seventh, adopted by Alex Bowman, Daniel Suarez and Brad Keselowski.

Kyle Larson, the collection factors chief and pole-sitter for the race, led 81 laps and gained the second stage, however hit the wall on Lap 219 after contact from behind by Suarez. Larson had surged into the center of a three-wide jam, with Suarez to his left and Keselowski to his proper, when the contact occurred. Larson completed thirty fourth within the 36-car area.

Getting a Cup Sequence race was an accomplishment for the monitor, positioned 40 miles from Des Moines. The ability opened in 2006 and was on the schedules of NASCAR’s Xfinity Sequence and Truck Sequence from 2009-19. NASCAR has owned the monitor since 2013.