Great news, bad news for NASCAR Cup drivers ahead of
The NASCAR Cup Series goes back to Iowa Speedway after in 2015’s inaugural event.Kyle Larson, Denny
Hamlin and Ryan Blaney have integrated to win 11 of the last 14 short track races. Larson and Hamlin have 4 wins each during that stretch and Blaney has 3, consisting of last year’s race at Iowa.Here is a look at the good news and problem for Cup groups heading into Sunday’s 3:30 p.m. ET race on USA Network. 23XI Racing– Excellent news: Bubba Wallace snapped his 100-race winless streak with his triumph
last weekend at Indianapolis. … Wallace’s win was the first for 23XI Racing this season. … All 4 of Wallace’s top-five surfaces on brief tracks in Cup have actually been available in the last 7 races. … Riley Herbst, who is making his very first Cup start at Iowa, finished second in 2015’s Xfinity race there. Problem: Tyler Reddick stopped working to end up last weekend at Indianapolis, the very first time he’s not end up a race this year. … Reddick has three top-10 finishes in the last 23 short track races. Bubba Wallace’s trip to triumph lane at Indianapolis was more than a 400-mile journey, it was a journey of years. Front Row Motorsports– Good news: Todd Gilliland placed 6th at Indianapolis last week, snapping an eight-race streak of surfaces outside the top 20. … That surface was Gilliland’s best given that he scored a sixth-place outcome at Indy the year before. Problem: Ryan Bergenty, team chief for Zane Smith, noted on social media this week that in the last laps at Sonoma, Dover and Indianapolis– the last three races– Smith has actually lost a total of 51 positions(due to incidents on track). … Noah Gragson has ended up 30th or even worse in 4 successive races.Haas Factory Group– Excellent news: Cole Custer’s 20th-place surface last weekend at Indy is his finest lead to the last four races. Bad News: Custer has begun 20th or even worse in 10 of the last 12 races,
consisting of the last four.Hendrick Motorsports– Great news: Hendrick Motorsports has actually had at least one vehicle surface in the top 10 in the last 30 races. … Hendrick vehicles have actually led 39.5 %of the 5,511 laps run this year. … The company has the top three chauffeurs in the points (Chase Elliott, William Byron and Kyle Larson ). … Larson has actually ended up in the top 10 in the last five short track races, connected for his longest streak on brief tracks. … Larson’s 14 top-10 surfaces this season are the most in the series. … While Byron has just one win in his last 50 Cup races, he has six runner-up finishes and six third-place finishes, throughout that time– suggesting he has put in the leading 3 in 26%of the last 50 races. … Alex Bowman has 5 top 10s in the last seven races. Bad news: Byron lacked fuel on the last lap at Indy, the second time given that Michigan in June he has lacked fuel before the checkered flag and cost him a top-five surface. … After leading at least a lap in 13 of the very first 16 races this season, Byron has actually not led a lap in the last six races. Chase Elliott leads the points but the next 3 drivers in the standings are within 20 points with four races left in the routine season. Hyak Motorsports– Excellent news: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. completed fifth at Iowa last season. Problem: Stenhouse has one top-10 surface in the last 11 races.Joe Gibbs Racing– Good news: Denny Hamlin posted the fastest lap last weekend at Indy, the 6th time in 22 races this season he’s done that. … Hamlin scored the most points in the 4 races of July at 155. … Chase Briscoe scored 147 points in the four races of July to rank second in the series for the month. … Hamlin has actually completed in the leading 5 in the last fivebrief track races. … Briscoe ranks 3rd in speed rating in the last nine races after ranking 19th in the very first 13 races of the year. … Briscoe’s 10 top-10 finishes this season tie for his most ever in a year. … Ty Gibbs won the $1 million In-Season Obstacle last weekend at Indy. … Christopher Bell ended up fourth at Iowa in 2015 after beginning in the rear in a backup car after a crash in practice. Problem: Bell has ended up 16th or worse in 5 of the last 8 races.Kaulig Racing– Great news: The organization has had a vehicle surface in the leading 20 in 8 of the last 10 races. Problem: Ty Dillon’s 28th-place finish snapped his streak of four consecutive top-20 finishes. … Dillon has actually never completed better than 13th in 38 Cup brief track races. … AJ Allmendinger has one top-20 finish in his last 11 short track starts.Legacy Motor Club– Excellent news: John Hunter Nemechek will make his 100th
profession Cup start this weekend at Iowa. … Five motorists have actually won in their 100th career Cup start, the most current is Nemechek’s colleague, Erik Jones, who did it in the 2019 Southern 500. … Both Nemechek(eighth )and Jones(ninth) rank in the leading 10 in laps finished this season at more than 97%. Problem: After qualifying third at Indy, Jones saw his race end with a crash after
the ideal front tire wasn’t tightened up on a pit stop. … Jones’36th-place surface at Indy marked his fourth race in a row he’s positioned outside the top 25. … Nemechek has positioned outside the top 20 in the last eight Cup brief track races.Richard Childress Racing– Great news: Kyle Busch was one of 3 drivers to take part in a Goodyear tire test at Iowa in June, signing up with Austin Cindric and Chase Briscoe. … Austin Dillon has three leading 10s, including a win at Richmond, in the last five brief track races. Problem: While Kyle Busch has 16 Cup short track wins, his last victory at such a track can be found in 2019. Austin Hill will miss Saturday’s Xfinity race at Iowa Speedway. Rick Ware Racing– Great news: Cody Ware makes his
first start in any series at Iowa this weekend. Bad news: Ware finished
a season-worst 37th last weekend at Indianapolis. … Ware’s seven DNFs ties Ryan Blaney for the most this season.RFK Racing– Excellent news: Brad Keselowski has six top-10 surfaces in the last 10 races after not scoring a top-10 result in the very first 12 races of the season.
… Ryan Preece is coming off a fourth-place surface last weekend at Indy. … Chris Buescher continues to lead the series this season in average starting position at 10.4. Bad news: Buescher, who is on the playoff cutline, has ended up outside the top 10 in the last seven brief track races. RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher holds the last playoff spot and teammate Ryan Preece is the first motorist below the cutline heading to Sunday’s race at Iowa. Spire Motorsports– Good news: Carson Hocevar’s 10th-place finish at Indy last weekend ended a streak of 3 successive finishes of 30th or even worse. … Justin Haley’s 11th-place surface was his best outcome since Homestead in March. … Haley’s result at
Indy gives him 3 consecutive top-20 finishes, the very first time he’s done that this season. Problem: Michael McDowell has four surfaces of 30th or even worse in the last eight races.Team Penske– Excellent news: Ryan Blaney led a race-high 201 laps in winning last year’s race at Iowa. … Blaney seeks to become the very first motorist considering that 2001-02 to win the first 2 races at a track(Jeff Gordon won the very first 2 races at Kansas and Kevin Harvick won the first two racesat Chicagoland Speedway ). … Blaney has five top-10 finishes, including two wins, in his last seven brief track races. … Austin Cindric was among three motorists to take part in a Goodyear tire test at Iowa, signing up with Chase Briscoe and Kyle Busch. … Cindric has led a career-high 291 laps this season. Problem: Joey Logano has not end up better than ninth in the last 8 races.Trackhouse Racing– Good news: Ross Chastain has completed in the top 10 in each of the last 5 short track races. … Shane van Gisbergen certified 11th at Indy, his finest certifying outcome on an oval in his Cup career. Bad news: Chastain has stopped working to complete 3 of the last 5 races, all due to mishaps. … Daniel Suarez has actually ended up 26th or
worse in 4 of the last 5 races.Wood Brothers Racing– Good news: Josh Berry ranks 11th in the series in laps led with a career-high 169. … Berry started third and completed seventh at Iowa last year. Bad news: Berry has just one top-10 result because his success at Las Vegas in March.