Cup Series Preview Sunday, August 9, 2026

Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol

Iowa Speedway

Laps 350 Distance 306 mi Type short Coverage USA · 3:30 PM ET Stages 70 / 210 / 350

0.875

asphalt

Surface

Race Date

Sunday, August 9, 2026

3:30 PM ET

Pre-Race Race Day Post-Race

Band A · The Hook

Your watchlist, historical context, and race-week curiosities.

Your Drivers' Outlook

Historical Context

Tyler Reddick has 10 starts at Iowa Speedway with a 12.5 average finish.
Chase Elliott has 8 starts at Iowa Speedway with a 9.5 average finish.
Denny Hamlin has 1 start at Iowa Speedway with a 24.0 average finish.

Based on Cup Series results at Iowa Speedway from 1949-2026.

DID YOU KNOW?

Iowa Speedway is one of the most unpredictable tracks in NASCAR with an average chaos score of 64.5.

Explore Iowa Speedway stats

LAST TIME HERE

The last Cup race at Iowa Speedway was the 2025 Iowa Corn 350 (chaos score: 58.2).

Track history

Band B · The Story

The narrative arc, drivers to watch, and race-weekend color.

Band C · The Data

Schedule, predictions, entry list, track history, fantasy, and betting angles.

TV & Start Time

What channel is the Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol on?

The Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol airs on USA on Sunday, August 9, 2026 at 3:30 PM ET, broadcast from Iowa Speedway. The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series schedule splits between FOX, FS1, TNT, NBC, USA, and Amazon Prime Video.

What time does the NASCAR Cup race start today?

The Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol green flag is set for 3:30 PM ET on Sunday, August 9, 2026, airing on USA. All NASCAR start times are listed in Eastern Time.

NR-Rating Track Rankings

#	Driver	Badge	Elo Rating	Starts	Wins	Last Finish
1	Kyle Larson		1656	2	0	P28(2025)
2	Ryan Blaney	Prev Winner	1648	2	1	P4(2025)
3	Denny Hamlin		1623	1	0	P24(2025)
4	Christopher Bell		1594	3	0	P17(2025)
5	Joey Logano		1577	3	0	P9(2025)
6	Chase Elliott		1575	2	0	P14(2025)
7	William Byron	Prev Winner	1550	2	1	P1(2025)
8	Ty Gibbs		1544	1	0	P21(2025)
9	Ross Chastain		1539	3	0	P11(2025)
10	Brad Keselowski		1536	2	0	P3(2025)

NR-Rating: Elo-based rating from the NR-Rating prediction model. Higher = stronger at this track type. = Previous winner at this track

NR-Rating Predictions

Last updated: Wed, May 13, 2026, 07:50 AM ET

#	Driver	Tier	Exp. Finish	Win %	Top 5 %	Top 10 %
1	Tyler Reddick Best in Field	Favorite	6.2	18.2%	58.6%	76.5%
2	Chase Elliott	Favorite	7.8	17.8%	58.4%	76.5%
3	Denny Hamlin	Favorite	8.2	16.3%	55.9%	74.6%
4	Chris Buescher	Favorite	9.2	15.4%	54.1%	72.9%
5	Ryan Blaney	Favorite	9.2	12.7%	49.0%	69.0%
6	Ryan Preece	Favorite	10.1	10.9%	46.4%	67.2%
7	Christopher Bell	Contender	10.7	9.6%	43.6%	65.3%
8	William Byron	Contender	10.7	8.4%	40.3%	62.2%
9	Brad Keselowski	Contender	11.2	7.6%	38.0%	60.3%
10	Chase Briscoe	Contender	11.9	6.4%	35.5%	58.5%
11	Kyle Larson	Contender	12.7	5.2%	32.4%	56.7%
12	Bubba Wallace	Contender	12.7	5.1%	30.9%	55.5%
13	Carson Hocevar	Contender	13.1	4.3%	28.1%	53.2%
14	Ross Chastain	Contender	13.3	3.8%	25.9%	50.5%
15	Alex Bowman	Mid-Pack	13.5	3.3%	24.0%	49.5%
16	Daniel Suarez	Mid-Pack	14.0	3.1%	21.8%	47.6%
17	Ty Gibbs	Mid-Pack	14.5	3.0%	20.3%	45.4%
18	Joey Logano	Mid-Pack	14.7	2.7%	18.8%	43.9%
19	Austin Cindric	Mid-Pack	15.4	2.2%	16.9%	41.0%
20	Erik Jones	Mid-Pack	16.7	1.7%	13.5%	36.0%
21	Casey Mears	Mid-Pack	16.9	1.4%	12.6%	34.6%
22	Michael McDowell	Mid-Pack	17.0	1.2%	11.6%	32.5%
23	Kyle Busch	Mid-Pack	17.0	1.1%	10.9%	31.6%
24	Austin Dillon	Mid-Pack	17.1	0.9%	10.3%	30.3%
25	Shane van Gisbergen	Mid-Pack	18.3	0.7%	8.5%	27.2%
26	A.J. Allmendinger	Mid-Pack	18.3	0.5%	7.5%	25.0%
27	John Hunter Nemechek	Dark Horse	19.1	0.5%	6.7%	22.9%
28	Zane Smith	Dark Horse	19.1	0.5%	6.5%	22.5%
29	Todd Gilliland	Dark Horse	19.1	0.4%	5.8%	21.1%
30	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Dark Horse	19.9	0.3%	4.6%	18.5%
31	Josh Berry	Dark Horse	22.9	0.2%	2.1%	10.8%
32	Cole Custer	Dark Horse	22.9	0.1%	1.9%	11.2%
33	Connor Zilisch	Dark Horse	22.9	0.1%	1.9%	10.3%
34	Noah Gragson	Dark Horse	21.4	0.1%	2.3%	12.7%
35	Riley Herbst	Dark Horse	21.4	0.1%	2.5%	13.9%
36	Ty Dillon	Dark Horse	23.4	0.1%	1.5%	8.7%
37	Katherine Legge	Dark Horse	27.2	0.0%	0.5%	3.9%
38	B.J. McLeod	Dark Horse	24.8	0.0%	0.9%	6.7%
39	Cody Ware	Dark Horse	56.1	0.0%	0.1%	1.3%

Win probabilities reflect full-field Monte Carlo simulations. A 10% pWin means roughly 1-in-10 chance of winning — higher than most bettors realize for a 36-car field where the average driver has ~2.8% odds. Top 5 and Top 10 percentages similarly reflect simulated outcomes, not historical averages. Learn how the model works.

Predictions powered by NR-Rating model (MAE: 8.5 positions)

Prediction Scorecard

Go Bowling at The Glen: Model picked Chase Elliott at P1 → Actual P24

(1/5 top-5 hits)

38% top-5 hit rate across 11 races

History at Iowa Speedway

Cup Series data from 1949-2026 (2 races)

Recent Results

Year	Race	Winner	Margin	Team	Manufacturer	Laps Led
2025	Iowa Corn 350	William Byron	—	Hendrick Motorsports		141
2024	Iowa Corn 350	Ryan Blaney	—	Team Penske		201

All Results at This Track

2025 Byron 2024 Blaney

Laps Led Leaders

Driver	Total Laps Led
Ryan Blaney	230
William Byron	141
Chase Briscoe	81
Kyle Larson	80
Brad Keselowski	73

Track Type Tendencies

short

Iowa Speedway is a short track where driver skill and aggression take center stage. Passing requires contact, tempers run hot, and strategy around restarts and pit timing can make or break a race.

Short tracks historically produce the most lead changes and the closest finishes.