Ty Gibbs paced the field ONCE in Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350 at Iowa Speedway, and it was only for the final 20 laps of the 350-lap contest.
The Mooresville, North Carolina-native ran towards the front all afternoon and looked like he’d compete for a top five result, until Tyler Allen, the crew chief on the No. 54 SiriusXM NASCAR Camry XSE, made a gutsy decision to put two tires on the car (instead of four) on the final pit stop.
That decision was solely responsible for putting the 23-year-old driver out in front of his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell as they merged back onto the racetrack, and when Ross Chastain pitted to end the cycle at Lap 331, put Gibbs at the top of the scoring pylon.
Gibbs spent the final 20 circuits of the event fending off a number of competitive advances from Bell, including one with two laps to go that nearly allowed the No. 20 DEWALT Toyota Camry XSE to get to the race-lead, but the No. 54 prevailed, winning by 0.253 seconds.
“Yeah, I just had to keep my head down, gel up and stay with it.”
“We made a big step from last year, obviously, and I really appreciate it. But I really appreciate all my teammates too. I wouldn’t be here without all my teammates as well, week in and week out, just help keep developing the program,” said Gibbs. “And obviously we’re all up front for a reason. I really appreciate Denny [Hamlin], and Chase [Briscoe] and Christopher [Bell] for all their help, obviously.”
Christopher Bell finished in the runner-up position – again – the seventh time this season that the driver of the No. 20 Toyota Camry XSE has had to settle for one spot short of Victory Lane. Bell has yet to visit Victory Lane in the NASCAR Cup Series this season.
Polesitter Ryan Blaney led a race-high 129 laps on Sunday but faded in the second half of the race to finish in third place. Josh Berry recorded his first top five of the season, finishing fourth in the No. 21 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Wood Brothers Racing.
Denny Hamlin, who spent the weekend fighting extensive brake issues, rounded out the top-five.
Chase Briscoe finished sixth, with Ross Chastain in seventh, AJ Allmendinger eighth, William Byron ninth, and Austin Dillon completing the top-10. Rookie Connor Zilisch matched his best oval finish in the NASCAR Cup Series, finishing 11th.
The race had only reached Lap 4 when Tyler Reddick and Erik Jones crashed into the Turn 1 SAFER Barrier, ending both of their afternoons before they even really began. As a result, Jones drops out of contention to make the post-season, with Reddick sliding back to fourth in NASCAR Cup Series point standings.
Leaving Iowa, Denny Hamlin holds a 103-point advantage over second-place in point standings Ty Gibbs, with three races remaining in the regular-season. Ryan Blaney is third, with Tyler Reddick fourth, and Chase Briscoe fifth.
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Richmond Raceway for its next event on Saturday, August 15 at 7:00 PM ET on USA Sports.
