William Byron secured a thrilling victory at Iowa Speedway in a race filled with strategic fuel mileage challenges and fierce competition. The event, held recently, highlighted Byron’s resilience and the team‘s determination to overcome a series of setbacks earlier in the season. His measured approach and the ability to conserve fuel ultimately led to a last-lap triumph, marking a crucial win in a difficult year.
Byron Reflects on Tough Season and Team Effort Behind the Win
Throughout the race, Byron and his team managed the delicate balance of maintaining pace while preserving fuel, a recurring issue for them this season. Byron credited the entire crew, including engineers and Rudy, for their relentless effort in navigating the race’s complexities and finally breaking through with a victory.
“Man, how about that for some fuel mileage? We’ve had our fair share of things not go our way with fuel mileage, and just super thankful for Rudy, all these guys, all the engineers, all the engineers back at the shop. Just this whole race team, we’ve been through a lot this year. It’s been a lot of growing pains. It’s been tough on us. But it feels really good today to get a win. Honestly felt like we had a good car and just kind of raced it and just tried to be there at the end, and we were, and luckily the fuel was enough there at the end. I think I ran out right there. That’s why I stopped. … Yeah, I think our confidence in each other never wavered. I feel like our speed has been better than it’s ever been, and that’s a big reason why we stay confident. I feel like every week we work really hard together and show up prepared, show up fast, and yeah, we needed just one to go our way, and today it did. Honestly, (the races) haven’t, but today it did.”
—William Byron
Chase Briscoe Finishes Strong Despite Race Challenges
Chase Briscoe, who finished second, admitted to an error during the race that impacted other competitors but praised the Toyota team‘s effort and recovery throughout the event. Despite an earlier mistake that affected racers in the No. 45 and No. 20 cars, Briscoe kept his focus and attempted a late charge against Byron before falling short.
He noted the difficulties in maneuvering on the newly repaved track but expressed satisfaction with the team’s rebound from a difficult caution period.
“First off, just want to apologize to the 45 and 20. That was a really boneheaded move on my part, and got in there and got loose and ruined their day. That’s 100 percent on me. There at the end, I was running William down. I thought I was really in the catbird seat there, and I just got there and kind of stalled out. I kind of experienced that when I was leading earlier. I caught the back of the field, and same thing; as soon as I got there, I just kind of died. Yeah, unfortunate. You’re kind of limited where you can go with the repave and everything, but yeah, overall great finish for our Toyota. For us to end up second was a good recovery. Our day kind of got flipped upside down whenever that caution came out and trapped us and was able to rebound. Congrats to William. He did a really good job, and go on to the next one.”
Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney Deliver Competitive Runs
Brad Keselowski came home third after a race with numerous caution periods that affected fuel strategies, especially impacting drivers who pitted outside of typical windows. Keselowski battled his way up from 24th, showing resilience but ultimately could not overtake the leaders in the closing laps.
“Yeah, this is the way the yellows fell. We had so many yellows there in stage three that it got the 24 and the 19 and where they could make it on fuel, pitting way outside the window. And we just couldn’t get back by them. Got back by a lot of guys. We started 24th there after we pitted. Got way up to third, but that was as far as I could get. Yeah, great run for both of our RFK cars. Obviously we want to win, but we’re in contention. That’s for sure. Watkins Glen has been good for us. It’s been a good track for me. My teammate won there last year. Just keep putting solid runs on the board, and I feel like this will come to us, and we’ve got some pretty strong Ford Mustangs right now. (Ryan) Blaney was really faster than he had a little bit newer tires. He was running us down, so I feel like I was going to get the 19, but Blaney was going to pass me, and it was just a solid day. Just needed a few more things the other way.”
—Brad Keselowski
Ryan Blaney, who finished fourth, shared his thoughts on the challenging passing conditions late in the race and the endurance it took to maintain competitiveness. Though he ran down Keselowski, traffic and cautious driving near the bottom of the track limited his passing options.
“I would have loved to have 20 (more laps). I just restarted a little bit further back than those guys and took me longer to just get in a decent spot you know and honestly it kind of surprised me how hard those guys tanked at the end, and my car kind of kept trucking along. But then I ran Brad down, but everyone’s so free, it’s hard to pass anybody. You’re worried to spin it out, and you’re kind of creeping around the bottom. But yeah it was a fun race overall. Really proud of our group for sticking it out. Yeah, really good showing and just trying to keep going. It’s been a good last few weeks for us. So I think the speed is there. Just got to keep putting these races together.”
—Ryan Blaney
Ryan Preece Focuses on Teamwork and Future Races
Ryan Preece finished fifth after an eventful race highlighted by strategic caution restarts that gave his RFK team chances to advance. He acknowledged some mistakes during the long run but emphasized his desire to support his teammate to achieve a better overall result for the company. Looking ahead, Preece expressed optimism toward upcoming races at Watkins Glen, Richmond, and Daytona.
“Pretty eventful. So yeah, eventful would be the word of the day. But I am super proud of everybody at RFK. Derrick and the entire group for making solid adjustments having a little bit of luck there when that caution came out and and allowed us to kind of take another shot at it. So thanks to RFK. I thought if we had a bunch of restarts, we were going to be OK because we were so so good in that third lane, but it just seemed like the long run that last run wasn’t wasn’t the best thing for us. When we were able to get to third, I thought we were going to have a shot at it, and it seemed like we could close in on the 19 and the 24 a little bit, and then I just got loose and when Brad was catching me, I thought of what’s the best thing to do for a teammate in the company. I wanted to give him the opportunity even if it was a deficit for us, but ultimately I look forward to Watkins Glen, Richmond and Daytona. All three of us can still get in, and it’s going to take a lot of perseverance and a lot of luck but we have fast race cars, and we can get the job done.”
—Ryan Preece
Bubba Wallace and Alex Bowman Overcome Mid-Race Challenges
Bubba Wallace battled through a rough day with damage and setbacks but managed to climb into the top six by the finish. Despite initial struggles, the team’s strong repair efforts allowed Wallace to rally to a solid placement.
“We had an up and down day. I was ready to just debrief the whole car midrace and figure out what we need to do to just wholesale it. Had our damages, had our issues, and just really fought hard to get our Camry back in the top 10. Felt really good firing off and I was a little hesitant on how that was going to last. Here we are P6 after that middle of the race. If you had told me I would finish six, I would have told you, ‘Yeah, right!’ It ran good at the end. So there’s some things to take from there. I thought our crew did an amazing job fixing all the repairs. So I said earlier this weekend, we’ve got to expose our weaknesses. And I think we put everybody to the test here today and it’ll be nice to see where we did fall because I didn’t see anything there but just a hell of a team effort all day.”
—Bubba Wallace
Alex Bowman, finishing seventh, reflected on a poor restart that overheated his right-rear tire, affecting his performance. Despite this, Bowman took pride in his team‘s effort and felt the day was a recovery after early problems including speeding on pit road.
“I got the right-rear tire really hot on that last restart and hurt myself there. I got a bad restart. We came down in second gear and William really slowed the pace down, but I knew he was in second too so I thought it would be OK. The No. 19 (Chase Briscoe) just hammered him and got him going. I got pinned on the bottom; slid the right-rear a couple of times and got it hot. That was on me. I just need to do a better job there. But overall, just proud of this No. 48 Ally Chevrolet team. Once this tire seems to get hot, it seems like it just tanks and you can’t really get it back. I just tried to take care of it from then on. Honestly, I needed to just not speed on pit road early in the race. That hurt us, but it was a good day overcoming that.”
—Alex Bowman
Carson Hocevar and Ross Chastain Make Steady Progress
Carson Hocevar, who finished eighth, described the race as a challenge that required overcoming adversity to achieve a strong result. Crediting crew chief Luke Lambert and team communication, Hocevar remained optimistic after the performance, aiming to build momentum for upcoming races.
“It was just another work of art from Jeff Dickerson, wanting us to fight through adversity and be able to come out with a good result. That’s what he’s preached, and that’s what we’ve been focusing on. We were turned around at one point and just struggling go anywhere. We were just able to reset and regroup. Luke (Lambert, crew chief) did a really good job for this No. 77 Chevrolet team to at least put something on the board and be able to go into next weekend with a little momentum with two top-10s in a row.”
—Carson Hocevar
Ross Chastain, who placed 11th, pointed out the long green flag runs and a series of caution periods that complicated strategy. His team worked relentlessly throughout the day and made steady improvements to the car, which helped him gain positions by the end.
“That was a long day. The race went green for so long and then we had bunch of cautions strung together. That really played a role in all the different strategies. Phil and the guys continued to work on the car all day and we got it better and just kept clicking off spots to finish 11th. We’ll take it and move on to Watkins Glen next weekend.”
—Ross Chastain
Austin Dillon Proud of Top-Ten Finish Amid Tough Circumstances
Austin Dillon’s top-10 finish stood out as a strong performance given recent difficulties. He acknowledged that cautions affected their strategy but affirmed that the Chevrolet team had one of the fastest cars, feeling confident they could compete for higher placements under different circumstances.
“Top 10 for our Chevrolet. That feels like a win with the way things have been going. We had a really fast car today. Cautions did not go our way. I feel like we have a top-five car for sure if things had played out a bit differently. It was a blast out there and felt good to race up front with those guys and be in contention.”
—Austin Dillon
Kyle Busch and Shane van Gisbergen Face Setbacks
Kyle Busch encountered challenges after using a backup car, spending much of the race fighting for track position with limited success. Although crew chief Randall Burnett made strategic calls that provided some stage points, Busch’s Chevrolet struggled handling traffic and dirty air, which hampered his ability to move forward.
“We started the weekend in a deficit after going to a backup car on Saturday, and spent most of the day Sunday just battling for track position in our Chevrolet. Crew chief Randall Burnett made some race strategy calls that got us into the top 10 and earned us some stage points, but we lost that track position in Stage 3 and struggled to return to the front. Our Chevy couldn’t turn in traffic, even with the freshest tires and dirty air didn’t help. We busted our behinds out there today but didn’t have enough.”
—Kyle Busch
Shane van Gisbergen struggled with damage that compounded over the race, leading to a disappointing 31st-place finish. Despite the difficulties, van Gisbergen praised his team for repairs that allowed him to stay on the lead lap and noted progress in his restart skills, which have been a previous weakness.
“We just ran long and I was getting looser and looser. I just made an error and it finally bit me. We were just damaged, but the No. 88 Chevrolet team did a great job repairing it. They got us back on the lead lap, but it was ultimately too damaged to get a good result. I felt like on most restarts, that’s where we were making our gains. We had good speed and were getting right in the mix. That’s been a weakness of mine, and I feel like we’re getting better and better every week. We just need to get building on that. It’s not a great result, but there’s a lot of positives that have come out of today.”
—Shane van Gisbergen
Implications and Looking Ahead to Upcoming Races
William Byron’s win at Iowa Speedway marks a significant morale boost for his team, reflecting growth despite a season filled with challenges. The tight competition among the top drivers, including Chase Briscoe and Brad Keselowski, underscores the intense rivalry shaping this year’s series. As teams recover from their setbacks and fine-tune strategies, attention now turns to upcoming races at Watkins Glen, Richmond, and Daytona, where perseverance and tactical decisions will remain key to success.
