Penske driver Ryan Blaney has his first win as defending NASCAR champion in the bag – Kyle Larson involved in crash right after Stage 2 win
Ryan Blaney (Penske-Ford) won the first race in the history of NASCAR’s top division at Iowa Speedway on Sunday. The 2023 NASCAR champion has now secured his first win of the 2024 season after narrowly missing out on several opportunities.
In February, Blaney missed out on victory by just 0.003 seconds in a thrilling three-wide photo finish with Daniel Suarez and Kyle Busch at Atlanta. And two weeks ago, the victory in St. Louis that he thought was certain slipped through his fingers. Now last year’s champion has made a successful comeback.
Almost exactly 19 years passed between the ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of the 0.875-mile oval in Newton in the US state of Iowa and the first Cup race. When the black and white checkered flag was shown under floodlights on Sunday evening, race winner Ryan Blaney had relegated all the Hendrick drivers William Byron and Chase Elliott to second place. However, his strongest opponent for a long time was another Hendrick driver, Kyle Larson.
Kyle Larson (Hendrick-Chevrolet) claimed the first pole in the history of NASCAR’s top division at Iowa Speedway. He was fastest in qualifying on Saturday, which only included a single segment due to rain.
When the 350-lap race got underway early Sunday evening shortly after 6:00 pm local time (1:00 am CEST), Larson had reigning NASCAR champion Ryan Blaney alongside him on the front row.
Stage 1: Ryan Blaney prevails over Kyle Larson
The race started with a side-by-side duel between Larson and Blaney. At the end of the second lap there was a slight contact between the two and Blaney was the front runner. Just over a lap later there was the first of eight caution periods. The first Cup race at the Iowa Speedway was characterized by numerous punctures.
The first race segment (Stage 1) saw two caution periods over the course of 70 laps. Kyle Larson regained the lead he had initially lost to Ryan Blaney on the first restart. After the first pit stop, however, Blaney was able to counterattack. He managed the maneuver just a few laps before the first stage flag.
The Stage 1 victory thus went to Ryan Blaney ahead of Kyle Larson and Daniel Suarez (Trackhouse Chevrolet), whose strategy in the first segment was based on track position, not fresh tires.
Stage 2: Larson crowns recovery after safety pit stop
The second race segment (Stage 2) saw three caution periods over the course of 140 laps. The duel between Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson initially continued at the front. However, front-runner Larson was then one of the very few to pit during a caution period. Why? He was worried about the right front tire.
Crew chief Cliff Daniels therefore played it safe and had all four tires changed on the 5 Hendrick-Chevrolet before Larson could have joined the list of those with major problems. Six drivers all suffered a puncture on the right front tire in succession: A.J. Allmendinger, Michael McDowell, Zane Smith, Ross Chastain, Erik Jones and Chris Buescher. The fact that Larson was still unable to finish later in the race had nothing to do with the tires
After the precautionary pit stop with fresh tires all round, Larson immediately stormed back from the end of the lead lap towards the front. He cracked the top 10 within a few laps. Although his forward momentum was somewhat slower, he had regained the lead by the end of the second race segment.
It worked in his favor that Hendrick teammate William Byron and Ricky Stenhouse (JTG-Chevrolet) got in each other’s way at a restart and Larson was able to get past both of them in one fell swoop. Larson took the Stage 2 win ahead of Josh Berry (Stewart/Haas-Ford) and Chase Elliott (Hendrick-Chevrolet).
Larson involved in crash directly after Stage 2 victory
The third race segment then got off to a turbulent start. At the restart after the stage caution, Chris Buescher (RFK-Ford) led on old tires ahead of teammate Brad Keselowski on two fresh tires and the rest of the field on four fresh tires. One lap after the restart there was a crash.
Keselowski was on the outside, Daniel Suarez was on the inside and between the two in the middle was Stage 2 winner Kyle Larson. That didn’t go well. There was contact between Suarez and Larson, which caused Larson’s car to spin to the outside. Keselowski just about got away, but Denny Hamlin (Gibbs-Toyota) had no chance of escaping the crash.
From then on, others dominated the picture at the front. Josh Berry temporarily led for the four-car team Stewart-Haas Racing, which was closing at the end of the season. However, his strategy ultimately did not lead to success. In the end, Berry finished seventh
Strategy and speed bring Blaney back to Victory Lane
At the last pit stop, last year’s champion Ryan Blaney, just like Penske teammate Joey Logano, only picked up two fresh tires. This turned out to be the right decision for the early leader in conjunction with the speed of his 8 Childress Chevrolet suffered a rear suspension failure in the final race segment, which ultimately led to his retirement.
Next Sunday (June 23), the action continues directly at the one-mile oval in Loudon (New Hampshire). It was there that Martin Truex Jr., who retired at the end of the year, clinched his last victory to date last year.
