Iowa Speedway hosted the NASCAR Cup Series for the first time on Father’s Day. Heading into the Iowa Corn 350, there was worry about how well the racing would be Sunday night. Not only is Iowa Speedway a short track, NASCAR did a partial repave that looked unappealing. Then Friday’s practice saw tires go flat after 20 laps. Even if the ARCA Menards and Xfinity Series put on good shows, how would the Cup Series fare? Honestly, pretty well. Another repave found success as Iowa gave fans a solid weekend of racing action. With that solid action, what headlines can be drawn to overhype and spew out into the NASCAR universe? Here is Overreaction Monday for Iowa.
Kyle Larson Will Cost Himself the Championship
Clearly, Kyle Larson had the best car in the field. According to Cliff Daniels, Larson’s 5 car was ridiculously faster than the field. After pitting on Lap 83, Larson easily drove through the field form 32nd. From the restart on Lap 86 until Larson pitted again under green, he had made his way back into the Top-5. To cap off the comeback, Larson regained the lead to win Stage 2 after a questionable caution call from NASCAR.
Some differing strategies played out to mix up the Top-10 during the Stage 2 break. Some drivers stayed out while others took two tires. This dropped Larson to the back-half of the Top-10. On the restart, Larson looked to regain as many positions as possible. He pinched the middle to take Brad Keselowski and Daniel Suarez 3-wide. As the trio drove through the tri-oval, Suarez chased his car up the track, clipping Larson’s left rear and spinning him out. The wreck took Larson out of contention and effectively out of the race.
Now, few people should blame Kyle Larson for the incident. It is pretty clear that Suarez was the cause, as he ran into Larson. However, the better question for Larson is whether he should have put himself in that position to begin with. As mentioned already, Larson clearly had the best car on track. With relative ease, he navigated his way from the back to the front and won Stage 2. At the time of the incident, Larson was the second car with the 4-fresh tires on the leaderboard. If he remained patient, he would have likely been able to drive back to the lead. Plus, there were still 129 laps left.
Will Aggression be his Downfall?
Kyle Larson and his aggressive driving style has cost him numerous wins and great finishes in his career. A spotlight has truly been put on it since he joined Hendrick Motorsports. Back in the Chip Ganassi days, Larson’s style was a boost to a second tiered team. It felt necessary for Larson to drive that way to have a chance at contending. Now that Larson is driving a Top-5 car each week, his style can now be more scrutinized since it is not necessarily needed to be competitive.
Now, this is not to say that Larson needs to change how he drives. How he drives the 5 car is the same way he drives his sprint cars and how he drove his IndyCar. That does not mean that for every race he wins driving that way does not mean he is costing himself in other races. Prime example of it costing him was Homestead last year. While looking like the dominant car of the afternoon, Larson overdrove his entry into pit road. That caused him to run into the sand barrels, ending his day. At worst, Larson likely leaves Homestead with a Top-5. Instead, Larson’s aggressive style sees him enter too hot into pit road (in the middle of the race no less) and finish with a DNF.
In the grand scheme of things, Larson’s style did not jeopardize his championship hopes last year. However, it is something to monitor moving forward. Yes, Kyle Larson wins more races because of that style rather than not. Yet, some moderation could be helpful. While Daniel Suarez is completely at fault for the Iowa incident, Larson put himself in a vulnerable position when he did not need to do so.
Give Iowa Two Dates
2024 might be the year of the repave. Iowa Speedway’s partial repave turned out to be a great success, joining Sonoma and North Wilkesboro in repaves panning out well. Despite the fear heading into the weekend, the repave still allowed for multiple lanes of racing. In the Cup Series especially, it was not uncommon to see drivers battle it out 3-wide around the track. All three series were able to run multiple grooves for compelling racing. Perhaps the Xfinity Series had the most jarring difference between the two main lanes, as drivers in the outside lane benefitted more from the additional patches of repave in the turns. Still, it did not take away from the overall entertainment of the weekend.
After this weekend, what does NASCAR do with Iowa Speedway? The reason for the Frankenstein’s monster of a repave was due to timing issues and the cold weather. Certainly, Iowa will see the Cup Series return in 2025 after a successful weekend this year. With how well the racing was received, should they finish the repave or keep it as is? Post race, drivers liked the idea of finishing the repave. The thought is that it would allow for riding the wall to be an option in the turns. From this weekend, that was the main thing that was missing. There were multiple lanes, but it was still on the bottom half of the track in the turns.
Whether they finish the repave or not, Iowa Speedway put on the best short track race of the NextGen era without exploding tires. Knowing that Richmond is likely losing a date, a second Iowa race would not be a terrible idea. There is nothing to indicate either decision that NASCAR makes about the repave will change the racing too drastically. If this is the product Iowa can offer, why not host a race here twice?
A Glimpse of Future Cup Champions
The ARCA Menards Series is interesting to watch. Most weekends, the battle for the race win is usually down to a driver or two. The disparity between speeds is drastic. The 2-3 cars that have a chance at the win easily pull away from the remainder of the Top-10. If there are long green flag runs (outside of Daytona and Talladega), the back half of the Top-10 might be a lap down. Then the bottom of the leaderboard struggles to stay on the lead lap during the first 5 laps of a run. Currently, the points leader of the series (Andres Perez) only has 2 Top-5s and 8 laps led. The shine of the ARCA Series definitely has faded. However, sometimes there is still a spark.
Friday night’s race centered around the battle between Connor Zilisch and William Sawalich. Both teenagers were the clear favorites heading into the race, with Gio Ruggiero as a dark horse candidate. Ultimately, Zilisch was able to emerge victorious over Sawalich. The two led all of the 150 laps of the Atlas 150, with Zilisch besting Sawalich 102 to 48. At the end of the race, Sawalich tried using the bumper, door, and anything else he could throw at Zilisch to grab the win away from him. However, Zilisch managed to hang on despite the rough racing from Sawalich.
Both Zilisch and Sawalich have lofty expectations placed upon them for their NASCAR futures. Sawalich has cut his teeth on the short tracks in the east. Signed with Toyota, the path seems clear for Sawalich to eventually land with Joe Gibbs Racing. Meanwhile, Zilisch rose up through the road racing ranks. He is making his first oval starts this year, which has already seen 3 wins in the ARCA/ARCA East series. Zilisch is under a developmental deal with Trackhouse Racing.
Friday night could be a glimpse of what is to come from these two are future rivals. Clearly, the two do not mind throwing shots on the track when going for the win. While there is uncertainty to how each pans out, it would not be unfeasible to see Zilisch and Sawalich battle for Cup Series championships one day.
