Iowa Corn 350 – Iowa Speedway
Newton, Iowa – August 3, 2025

AUSTIN CINDRIC No. 2 MENARDS/IDEAL DOOR FORD MUSTANG DARK HORSE

START: 4TH
STAGE 1: 2ND
STAGE 2: 3RD
FINISH: 12TH
POINTS: 17TH

RACE RUNDOWN: Austin Cindric and the No. 2 Menards/Ideal Door Ford Mustang Dark Horse showed strength all day in Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350, leading laps, scoring stage points and ultimately finishing 12th after a chaotic final stretch filled with cautions and strategy shifts. Cindric started fourth after a strong qualifying effort and quickly settled into the top three, running second in the early going and finishing Stage 1 in the runner-up position to earn nine stage points. He reported the car was trending freer as the track tightened up, prompting a four-tire stop and air pressure adjustment before restarting fifth for Stage 2. The team navigated a long green-flag run in the middle of the race, contending in the third position before a timely caution on Lap 170 came out during the pit cycle. Cindric then headed to pit road for four tires, fuel and adjustments and lined up third for the dash to the Stage-end. He finished third and accumulated eight more valuable points. With track position at a premium, the team opted to stay out multiple times during the final Stage, putting Cindric in position to restart as the race leader on Lap 250. After leading briefly, a series of cautions followed and the team ultimately chose to pit for four fresh tires and fuel under caution on Lap 263, restarting deep in the field in 28th. He methodically worked his way back through the pack during a turbulent final stretch that featured several more cautions. Cindric recovered to 12th at the finish and heads to Watkins Glen with momentum on his side as the regular season winds down.

CINDRIC’S THOUGHTS:

“Proud of the fast race car and, honestly, good execution. There’s no predicting all those cautions that happened. I thought Brian and the team called a great strategy to really get ourselves ahead for the final stage and a run to the checkered – a shot to win – but also a car fast enough to drive back through the field on unequal tires, too. Not the result we deserved, but a great showing and a very playoff -esque run- what we need here in a couple months.”

 

RYAN BLANEY No. 12 WABASH FORD MUSTANG DARK HORSE

START: 6TH
STAGE 1: 4TH
STAGE 2: 2ND
FINISH: 4TH
POINTS: 7TH

RACE RUNDOWN: Ryan Blaney and the No. 12 Wabash Ford Mustang Dark Horse team posted a pair of top-five stage finishes en route to a fourth-place finish Sunday at Iowa Speedway, marking their eighth top-five finish of the season. Blaney, the defending winner of the Iowa Corn 350, had strong pace from the drop of the green flag Sunday as he maintained his track position for the entirety of the opening, 70-lap stage before crossing the line fourth in the segment. After gaining a spot on pit road during the stage break, Blaney battled the No. 19 for the lead before settling into second during the run. A caution in the middle of the green flag pit cycle on lap 170 prompted another four tire stop as the 12 crew won the race off pit road, allowing Blaney to start from the outside of row one for a two-lap shootout to the end of the stage. Despite settling for a second-place result in Stage 2, Blaney continued to battle for the top spot before a caution on lap 228 saw a mix of the leaders pit while he stayed out, allowing the Wabash Ford to assume the lead with 115 laps remaining. A string of cautions that followed saw varying strategies unfold throughout the field as crew chief Jonathan Hassler made the call to bring Blaney down pit road on lap 245 from the lead, ensuring he could make it to the end on fuel. After restarting 24th, Blaney began his charge towards the front and made his way back into the top-10 with 64 laps to go. As the laps clicked off, Blaney continued to pick off car after car in the closing laps as he chipped away at the deficit to the leaders before ultimately taking the checkered flag fourth.

BLANEY’S THOUGHTS:

“I just restarted a little further back than those guys and it took me longer to get in a decent spot. Honestly, it sort of surprised me just how hard those guys tanked at the end and my car kept chugging along. I ran Brad [Keselowski] down but everyone is so free it is hard to pass anybody. You are scared of spinning out and you are creeping around the bottom but it was a fun race. I am really proud of our group for sticking with it. I appreciate Wabash and Ford and Menards for doing what they do. Really good showing and just kept going. It has been a good last few weeks for us. I think the speed is there, just have to keep putting these races together. We had a good shot to win today but it just didn’t work out. The strategies just got really weird with all those cautions. We were on the back end of it and it just kind of cycled me behind. We recovered really nicely. Really proud of the 12 group.”

JOEY LOGANO No. 22 SHELL-PENNZOIL FORD MUSTANG DARK HORSE

START: 14TH
STAGE 1: 18TH
STAGE 2: 21ST
FINISH: 9TH
POINTS: 12TH

RACE RUNDOWN: Joey Logano and the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse team rallied for a ninth-place finish in Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350. Logano took the green flag from 14th and dealt with handling issues early on as he came away with finishes of 18th and 21st in the first two stages, respectively, as the No. 22 team continued to make adjustments throughout the first 200-plus laps. Following a caution in the opening laps of the final segment while running 25th, crew chief Paul Wolfe called Logano to pit road – who was one of nine cars to pit at the time – with the thought of making it to the end on fuel with the help of another caution or two while a majority of the field still had to make one more stop. However, six cautions over the next 53 laps easily got the 22 team to their fuel number, allowing Logano to make his charge through field without the need to save fuel the rest of the way. After the final caution flag flew on lap 281, Logano lined up to restart 12th with 64 laps remaining and worked his way into the top-10 by lap 304 and continued to press forward, making his way up to eighth in the running order with 25 to go before taking the checkered flag ninth to cap off the day.

LOGANO’S THOUGHTS: “Really proud of the effort from this 22 team to come out of here with a top-10 finish. We really struggled early on but maintained in the top-20 range while we kept working on it. Paul [Wolfe’s] call to pit early in the final stage really paid off in the end and allowed us to get towards the top-10 as the cautions kept coming. Gives us something to build on heading into Watkins Glen.”

The NASCAR Cup Series returns to road course racing at Watkins Glen on Sunday, August 10. Coverage of the Go Bowling at The Glen begins at 2:00 p.m. ET Sunday on USA, MRN, and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

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