O'Reilly Series Preview Saturday, August 8, 2026

NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series Race at Iowa

Iowa Speedway

Laps 250 Distance 219 mi Type short Coverage CW · 5:00 PM ET

0.875

asphalt

Surface

Race Date

Saturday, August 8, 2026

5:00 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 O'Reilly Series results at Iowa Speedway from 1982-2026.

DID YOU KNOW?

The wildest race at Iowa Speedway was the 2024 Iowa Corn 350 with a chaos score of 70.8.

See track history

LAST TIME HERE

Christopher Bell has led 774 laps at Iowa Speedway — more than anyone else.

Christopher Bell's stats

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 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series Race at Iowa on?

The NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series Race at Iowa airs on CW on Saturday, August 8, 2026 at 5:00 PM ET, broadcast from Iowa Speedway. All 2026 NASCAR Xfinity (O'Reilly Auto Parts) Series races air exclusively on The CW, which is free over-the-air with a digital antenna.

What time does the NASCAR Xfinity race start today?

The NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series Race at Iowa green flag is set for 5:00 PM ET on Saturday, August 8, 2026, airing on CW. 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

O'Reilly Series data from 1982-2026 (17 races)

Recent Results

Year	Race	Winner	Margin	Laps Led
2025	NASCAR Xfinity Series at Iowa	Sam Mayer	—	28
2024	NASCAR Xfinity Series at Iowa	Sam Mayer	—	47
2019	NASCAR XFINITY SERIES AT IOWA	Chase Briscoe	—	7
2019	NASCAR XFINITY SERIES AT IOWA	Christopher Bell	—	186
2018	NASCAR XFINITY SERIES AT IOWA	Christopher Bell	—	94

All Results at This Track

2025 Mayer 2024 Mayer 2019 Briscoe 2019 Bell 2018 Bell 2018 Allgaier 2017 Preece 2017 Byron 2016 Jones 2016 Jr. 2015 Blaney 2015 Buescher 2014 Keselowski 2014 Jr. 2013 Keselowski 2012 Sadler 2012 Jr.

Laps Led Leaders

Driver	Total Laps Led
Christopher Bell	668
Justin Allgaier	418
Austin Dillon	169
Cole Custer	169
Chandler Smith	131

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.