NEWTON, Iowa — Team Penske driver Ryan Blaney had his concerns heading into the final laps of Sunday night’s race at Iowa Speedway, which was hosting a NASCAR Cup Series event for the first time.
The problem was he didn’t hear his crew chief’s reassurance.
There was no need to worry, though, with the reigning series champion holding on for his first victory of the season and a spot in the playoffs later this year.
Blaney seemed in control of the race, but he was worried about fuel in his No. 12 Ford a couple of weeks after running out on the final lap while leading at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois. That’s why crew chief Jonathan Hassler came on the radio with less than 10 laps to go Sunday to let him know he was good on gas.
“I don’t even remember him saying that,” Blaney said. “I figured we were. But I don’t remember him saying that.”
Hassler, in his third year as the No. 12’s chief, said he was trying to make sure Blaney “knew the whole situation.”
“Sometimes I forget he doesn’t know what I know,” Hassler said. “So I just try to communicate as much as I can so he knows what’s going on.”
Blaney led four times for a career-high 201 laps, finishing less than a second (0.716) ahead of William Byron for the 11th victory of his Cup Series career.
Byron put the Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet in victory lane three times in the first eight points races this season. He had been third twice in the eight races since then going to Iowa, but this was the closest Byron has come to another win since his victory in early April at Virginia’s Martinsville Speedway.
“Ryan and those guys were really good,” Byron said. “He had a really good car. He was up front, contending a lot.”
Blaney regained the lead on the 263rd lap after taking just two tires on a pit stop with the caution flag out. He led the rest of the way, getting through lapped traffic as Byron tried to close.
While the fuel situation was satisfactory to Hassler, what concerned him was the decision to take two tires on a weekend when rubber wear was a concern for cars on both the top-tier Cup Series and the second-tier Xfinity Series on the partially repaved track.
“There were not a lot of guys on two tires,” Hassler said. “At some point those guys are going to be a little bit better than you are. So, yeah, really nervous.”
Blaney — whose mother Lisa is from Chariton, about an hour south of the track — won in front of a sellout crowd of an estimated 40,000 fans that included 80 of his friends and family.
It was fitting the first Cup Series race at the 0.875-mile track would go to a Team Penske driver. Roger Penske’s cars have won seven IndyCar Series open-wheel races and three Xfinity Series races at the track.
“I think, as a whole company, we do a good job of these places we go to for the first time,” said Blaney, who also has wins at the track in the Xfinity Series and the third-tier Truck Series.
Blaney, who started on the outside of the front row with Hendrick’s Kyle Larson in pole position, admitted he had concerns about how good his car would be for the race, though.
“Friday, I didn’t feel very good,” he said. “I wasn’t very confident in the speed in our car. And we really went to work — we got a lot better qualifying to the race and got better through the night tonight, and I think were great at some points of the night. The last few runs were phenomenal. “
Chase Elliott was third in another Hendrick Chevy. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell, who had to start from the back of the 36-car field in a backup car after crashing during practice Friday, was fourth in the best finish for a Toyota driver and the only one in the top 14. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who like Blaney took two tires on the final pit stop, finished fifth in a Chevy for JTG Daugherty Racing.
Penske’s Joey Logano finished sixth. Cup Series rookie Josh Berry of Stewart-Haas Racing, who led 32 laps, was seventh, followed by Hendrick’s Alex Bowman, Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez and RFK Racing’s Brad Keselowski.
Larson, the series points leader, led 81 laps after starting on the pole and won the second stage, but he hit the wall on the 219th lap after contact from behind by Suarez. When the contact happened, Larson had surged into the middle of a three-wide jam, with Suarez to his left and Keselowski to his right. Larson finished 34th.
Getting a Cup Series race was an accomplishment for the track, located 40 miles from Des Moines. The facility opened in 2006 and was on the schedules of the Xfinity Series and the Truck Series from 2009-19. NASCAR has owned the track since 2013.
AP photo by Jeremias Gonzalez / Co-drivers Miguel Molina, right, Antonio Fuoco, left, and Nicklas Nielsen, inside and behind the wheel, celebrate on their WEC team’s Ferrari 499P Hybrid Hypercar after winning the Le 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance sports car race on Sunday in France.Ferrari wins Le Mans
LE MANS, France — Ferrari made it two in a row as its trio of Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen outlasted Toyota to win a weather-affected 24 Hours of Le Mans, with the No. 50 car crossing the finish line 14 seconds ahead of the No. 7 of Nyck de Vries, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez.
The No. 51 Ferrari helmed by James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi and Alessandro Pier Guidi rounded out the top three on Sunday in the latest running of the most iconic sports car race in the world.
Former French soccer star Zinedine Zidane waved the flag to start the race on Saturday afternoon, and it quickly became evident this year’s edition of the race would be tightly contested as Ferrari, Toyota, Porsche and Cadillac jostled for rank under the graying skies.
Rain and fog brought out the safety car for nearly four hours in the early morning with Ferrari jostling with Toyota and Porsche for top spot. With dawn breaking, though, the racing resumed under a green flag with five teams still in contention and separated by less than a minute.
With less than six hours remaining, the No. 50 Ferrari made its move just before more rain fell with Fuoco moving up the grid. Nielsen then survived more late drama when a flapping door forced the car into an unscheduled pit stop but managed to hang on for victory in the treacherous wet conditions.
“Fantastic! It really is a dream come true,” Nielsen said. “The victory seemed very difficult for part of the race, even at the end, when we had a problem with the door. But then everything went well.
“The last lap was very long, impossible to imagine. I worried about avoiding any risks and getting to the finish line as quickly as possible. I just had to manage the lead.”
It was Ferrari’s 11th win at Le Mans in the 101st running of the endurance event.