Fuel-Saving Master Class Gives Byron An Iowa Victory

William Byron celebrates in victory lane at Iowa Speedway Sunday. (David Rosenblum/Nigel Kinrade Photography)

NEWTON, Iowa – William Byron made sure the third time was the charm this season when it came to saving fuel to the finish against the best in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Making a 145-lap economy run to close the Iowa Corn 350 powered by Ethanol, Byron maintained his composure late at Iowa Speedway and held off polesitter Chase Briscoe to notch his second victory of the season.

The 27-year-old from Charlotte, N.C., took the checkers in front of Briscoe by 1.192 seconds for his 15th career Cup Series triumph – putting two recent instances of heartbreak behind him in the process.

Byron ran out of fuel at Michigan Int’l Speedway in June after leading in the final laps, then fell short on gas again while running third during the late stages of the Brickyard 400 one week ago.

In the Hawkeye State, Byron put all the lessons he’d learned recently to work and not only earned a fuel-mileage victory at long last, but also snapped a winless drought dating back to the season-opening Daytona 500 in February.

“Man, how about that for some fuel mileage?” quipped Byron after climbing from his No. 24 Raptor Chevrolet. “We’ve had our fair share of things not go our way with fuel mileage, so I’m just super thankful for Rudy (Fugle, crew chief), all my guys, and all the engineers back at the shop. This whole race team, we’ve been through a lot this year. It’s been a lot of growing pains. It’s been tough on us. But it feels really good to get a win.

“Honestly, I felt like we had a good car, and just kind of raced it and tried to be there at the end. We were, and luckily the fuel was enough there at the end to make it all the way.”

A caution-free opening stage wasn’t a harbinger of things to come at the seven-eighths-mile Iowa oval, considering the final 180 laps featured 11 of the day’s 12 caution flags, but Byron’s pass of Briscoe on the initial start certainly was.

Byron not only led the first 67 laps in succession, he was out front for a race-high 141 circuits overall.

The two-time defending Daytona 500 winner took control back for good on a restart with 74 to go, when his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott struggled to get up to speed on the launch, allowing Byron to clear off turn two from the bottom.

He never trailed again, though he might have looked in his mirror a time or two while saving gas.

Between Byron’s two stints at the head of the field, chaos was the order of the afternoon, with numerous incidents in the final stage allowing some to capitalize on strategy and others to get burned by it.

The race winner pitted for the final time at lap 206, after Ty Dillon and Todd Gilliland tangled in turn two to bring out what was – at that moment – just the fourth caution of the race.

But a jerky rhythm from there saw seven more spins follow the final stage break at lap 210, primarily from cars getting loose on the bottom lane of the racetrack and washing up into others above them.

The extra cautions allowed Byron to stretch his fuel to the finish, even as those chasing him had more gas to burn and fresher tires underneath them down the stretch.

Briscoe pitted 18 laps later than Byron, but lost the handle on his Joe Gibbs Racing-prepared Toyota in traffic during the final 64-lap run to the finish and couldn’t get closer than a half-second behind.

“I just got there and kind of stalled out,” said Briscoe, who finished second for the third time in the last four Cup Series races. “I kind of experienced that when I led [in stage two]. I caught the back of the field, and it was the same thing; as soon as I got there, I just kind of died. But we had a good recovery.”

William Byron (24) leads Cody Ware and Brad Keselowski at Iowa Speedway. (Danny Hansen/Nigel Kinrade Photography)

The star of the day was arguably Brad Keselowski, who showcased the prowess of his Ford on long runs and made two big passes – one on Byron at lap 68 and one on defending Iowa winner Ryan Blaney at lap 188 – to sweep the first two stages.

Keselowski made his last stop for fuel on lap 231 and, for a while, appeared he might be in the cat bird’s seat after charging from 24th on the next restart all the way back into firm contention.

Unfortunately for the 2012 Cup Series champion, Byron got the cautions he needed to successfully get home without issue, and Keselowski’s run stalled out in third place when all was said and done.

“We had so many yellows in stage three that it got the 24 [Byron] and the 19 [Briscoe] to where they could make it on fuel after pitting way outside the window, and we just couldn’t get back by them,” he explained. “Got back by a lot of guys … but that was as far as I could get.”

Blaney was among the best in the field on fuel late – roaring from six seconds back to on Keselowski’s bumper at the finish – but settled for fourth ahead of a second RFK Racing driver in Ryan Preece.

Brickyard 400 winner Bubba Wallace, Alex Bowman, Carson Hocevar, Joey Logano, and Austin Dillon closed out the top 10.

Despite 12 cautions for 72 combined yellow-flag laps, all 37 starters were running at the finish.

Byron’s win allowed him to retake the regular-season point lead by 18 over Chase Elliott with three races until the start of the playoffs.

Cup Series teams head next to Watkins Glen (N.Y.) Int’l, where Chris Buescher bested road-racing ace Shane van Gisbergen on the final lap to win one year ago.

Broadcast coverage of the Go Bowling at the Glen is slated for Sunday, Aug. 10 at 2 p.m. ET, live on USA, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.