This article is part of our NASCAR Barometer series.
The NASCAR Cup Series held its series debut at Iowa Speedway Sunday evening. The new track, partially repaved, meant a new challenge for the teams, and produced some good side-by-side racing despite the higher speeds generated by the new pavement. Up front, was Ryan Blaney, though. The Team Penske driver seemed to have the measure of the competition right from the start of the weekend's on-track activity. He qualified on the front row and never fell far from the lead throughout the race's 350 laps. He led 201 of those laps in total and claimed the regular-season win that eluded him up to that point.
Blaney's win leaves six playoff spots up from grabs by another first-time winner this season. Bubba Wallace still holds the 16th and final spot with a mere six-point gap back to Joey Logano in 17th. Only nine races remain for drivers to win their way into the championship battle and several bigger names remain in that category. The stress continues to mount as the series heads back east to New Hampshire this week.
UPGRADE
Ryan Blaney - Blaney was poised for a good race at Iowa after qualifying on the front row, and he came good on that promise just a few weeks after victory slipped through his fingers at Gateway. He battled for the lead in the early laps Sunday evening and claimed victory in the first stage. He finished fourth in the second stage and then used a two-tire stop to get back to the lead for the last 88 laps to win by nearly a second. It was his first victory since Martinsville last season, and this particular victory means he has now won in all three of NASCAR's major series at Iowa's short oval. With a spot in the playoffs assured he and the team can focus on building momentum for a title defense over the next nine races. Up first is New Hampshire, where Blaney has four top-10s from 11 tries and finished 22nd last season.
Christopher Bell - Bell was an early favorite at Iowa after participating in the tire test prior to last week's race. A tire failure in practice and being forced to move to a back-up car and start from the rear of the field made that status moot, though. Despite the early-weekend trouble, Bell came out well with a consistent march up the order. The team's methodical and consistent approach to the race paid off as Bell made his way into the top 10 in the second stage and ultimately finished fourth when all was said and done. It was his fifth top-five and 10th top-10 finish of the season. Due to his win at Phoenix, Bell remains one of the drivers to watch in the playoffs, and efforts like Sunday's show the championship caliber of the No. 20 more generally. They should be competitive again this week at New Hampshire where Bell won in 2022 and started from pole at last season.
Chase Elliott - Elliott's positive momentum continued through the weekend at Iowa. The former champion scored his second top-five in a row and and third top-10 in the last four races with his third-place finish Sunday. He started the afternoon inside the top 10 and held station toward the front of the field throughout Sunday's race distance. The effort earned stage points in both segments and added another top finish to the list of his season's achievements. Elliott sits atop the points tally with an eight-point advantage over teammate Larson. While the No. 9 team is having a fine run of finishes, wins are still their goal. Elliott has just one so far this season and is waiting for his opportunity to grab another. At New Hampshire, he has three top-10s from 10 starts. He was the runner up there in 2022 and finished 12th last season.
Josh Berry - Berry's seventh-place finish Sunday was his second top-10 from the last four races. He needs to be scoring finishes that attract attention of those in the garage after Stewart-Haas Racing announced it would be ceasing operations following the current season. That effectively means that Berry has the remainder of the season to showcase his abilities to earn a spot on the grid in 2025 with a different team. The weekend's race at Iowa should help that cause. Berry was quick in qualifying and started third. He went on to score stage points in both segments before consolidating the top-10 finish. Berry sits 21st in points and has a 100-point gap to the playoff spots, which effectively means he needs a win to be part of the playoff picture. Consistent top-10 finishes like Sunday's will go a good distance to helping him extend his time in the series, though.
DOWNGRADE
Kyle Busch - Busch recorded his fifth consecutive finish outside of the top 10 Sunday at Iowa when a mechanical issue struck, taking him out of the race with a series of problems. It was the second race in a row where the former champion was in position to land a top-10 finish but came up short due to trouble and he fell out of the playoff positions in the standings as a result. Busch and team have work to do to get their season turned around, and they do not have the luxury of a race win to have playoff security. With nine races remaining in the regular season, the turnaround needs to come sooner rather than later. The coming week's New Hampshire stop could be a good barometer of their progress, too. Busch is a three-time winner at the track but has crashed out of three of the last four.
Kyle Larson - Larson had one of the quickest cars but wasn't able to get the result Sunday at Iowa. The Hendrick Motorsports driver qualified on pole and spent a good amount of laps in the lead in the early miles. He finished second in the first stage, and went on to continue his quest for another win by taking the checkered flag in the second segment. Shortly after the start to the final stage, Larson was in the middle and contact between him and two other cars ended his night prematurely, though. The team attempted to return the car to the track but the time lost meant his night was effectively over and it was his second finish outside of the top 30 from the last four races. Larson has never won at New Hampshire but has scored seven top-10s from 13 series starts at the track. He finished third in last year's race with six laps led after starting 15th.
Denny Hamlin - Hamlin was one of the cars that suffered as a result of the incident with Kyle Larson. The No. 11 was on the outside and squeezed hard into the wall when Larson and Daniel Suarez made contact to his inside. The damage to the No. 11 wasn't enough to end his day, but he dropped two laps to the leaders and finished 24th with the wounded machine. It was an especially disappointing weekend for the No. 11 team considering how strong they have been on short tracks this season. Iowa, with its similarity to Richmond, should have been a place Hamlin expected a top finish from. Instead, the race ended with his second finish in a row outside of the top 20. With his spot in the playoffs booked, the next nine races are just one of building momentum for the elimination rounds, though.
Joey Logano - Last week's trip to Iowa was another good one for Logano. His sixth-place finish there was his second top-10 finish from the last three races and kept him within striking distance of the playoff positions. After teammate Blaney went to Victory Lane, Logano is the only Team Penske driver without a win yet this season. There is a six-point margin that separates him from Bubba Wallace in the last of the 16 playoff positions with nine races remaining in the regular season. Iowa's good outing plus a return to New Hampshire could help him close that gap, though. Logano has won two times at the northeastern oval and was last year's runner-up finisher. He also finished in the top five in three of the last four races there and the top 10 six of the last seven. Logano will be working hard to ensure this is the last week he sits outside of the playoff positions.
Martin Truex Jr. - The Iowa race weekend appeared to have been another missed opportunity for Truex. He started the race weekend with the announcement that the current season would be his last one as a full-time driver in the series. Despite calling an end to his great career, Truex was still expected to be one of the contenders among the top 10 in Sunday's race. A qualifying effort of 31st made that a challenge, though. A speeding penalty when entering pit road in the second stage made that more difficult yet. The veteran soldiered on and scooped up a 15th-place finish from an otherwise frustrating day, though. Truex remains in good position on points, but with nine race remaining before the playoffs commence, a win would do him a world of good. He won last year's New Hampshire race and led more than 100 laps in the last two races at the track.
BIGGEST SURPRISE
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. - Stenhouse's fifth-place finish Sunday at Iowa was his second top-five finish of the season and first top-10 not on a superspeedway this season. The weekend initially looked as though it would be more of the same struggle for the No. 47 when they qualified 35th, but Stenhouse marched through the field to be inside the top 15 by the end of the second stage. As the track gained more grip, Stenhouse moved his car up the track, which enabled him to be the highest mover by the finish, coming forward 30 positions to finish fifth. Iowa is a track he knows well from his early career, and he put that knowledge to good use to claim one of his best finishes of the season. Looking ahead, Stenhouse has two prior top-10 finishes at New Hampshire and finished 18th last season with three laps led.
