In the year of Toyota Racing dominance in the NASCAR Cup Series, Ty Gibbs, the driver of the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry XSE, is thriving. On Sunday, in the Iowa Corn 350 at Iowa Speedway, the driver nabbed his second win of the season and further cemented his status as a bona fide championship contender.
Race Results: Iowa Corn 350 at Iowa Speedway
Gibbs, who flashed speed early in the race, was sent to the back of the field due to a miscue on pit road. However, the driver would slice his way back through the field to become a solid top-five contender as the race was drawing to a close.
In the final Stage of the race, Gibbs would work himself inside of the top-three, and on the final pit stop of the race, his crew chief, Tyler Allen, made an opportunistic pit road call, which allowed the young racer to take control of the event.
Allen opted to bolt just two fresh Goodyear Racing Eagles on the No. 54 Toyota on the final pit stop of the race, which allowed him to eke out the lead off of pit road over Christopher Bell and Ryan Blaney, the top-two drivers heading into the final pit cycle.
Once Ross Chastain relinquished the lead of the race to make his final pit stop of the race with 20 laps to go, Gibbs assumed the lead.
Over the final 20 circuits around the 0.875-mile track in Newton, IA, Gibbs would have to stave off several challenges from Bell, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate.
“Yeah, I just had to keep my head down, gel up and stay with it,” Gibbs said about the late-race battle with Bell. “I appreciate my team, Tony Hirschman; all glory to Jesus Christ.”
But every time, Gibbs was able to do just enough to hang onto the top spot.
As Gibbs crossed the finish line to score the race win, Bell zoomed across the stripe 0.253 seconds later.
Following the win, which equaled the second of his NASCAR Cup Series career, Gibbs gave credit to his entire team, including his teammates, for his vast improvement this season.
“Just people that want to support each other. We made a big step from last year, obviously, and I really appreciate it. But I really appreciate all my teammates too,” Gibbs explained. “I wouldn’t be here without all my teammates as well, week in and week out, just helping keep developing the program. And obviously we’re all up front for a reason. I really appreciate Denny, Chase, and Christopher for all their help, obviously.”
With the win, Gibbs vaulted to the runner-up position in the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings. With three races remaining until the start of The Chase, Gibbs trails Denny Hamlin for the point lead by a margin of 103 points.
For Bell, this runner-up result was the seventh second-place finish of his 2026 campaign, a campaign where the driver is still seeking his first victory.
“This is what you call a bad second-place finish for sure,” Bell anguished. “I don’t know what else to say. Ty did a really good job. He did a great job managing the race. I could tell that he was slipping and sliding around. Similar to last week or two weeks ago with Corey Heim, he just didn’t make a mistake. So P2.”
Ryan Blaney, who won Stage 1 and led a race-high 129 laps, would salvage a third-place finish on the day, as he continues to build momentum heading into The Chase.
Josh Berry finally scored a positive result in what has been a frustrating last season with the Wood Brothers Racing team. Berry captured a fourth-place finish on Sunday at Iowa Speedway.
Hamlin, the series point leader, would nab a fifth-place finish, which was especially impressive considering he managed brake issues all weekend long, which hampered his ability to really push his No. 11 car on track.
The driver sounded absolutely fatigued on pit road after climbing from his car while conducting interviews about his race.
“Yeah, I’d retire at the end of the year if I had to do that every week, that’s for sure,” Hamlin explained. “Lesson learned from our part, that obviously we got in a box that we weren’t allowed to get out of and we just had to grind away the best we could. I’m really proud of the team for the effort they put in today.”
Chase Briscoe, Ross Chastain, AJ Allmendinger, William Byron, and Austin Dillon rounded out the top-10 finishers in the Iowa Corn 350.
While he was the first driver one lap down, Connor Zilisch had one of the better runs of his rookie season, as he nabbed Stage points in both Stages 1 and 2 and finished 11th.
Ryan Preece gained nine points on the Chase cutline with a gutty 20th-place run. Austin Cindric, the final driver inside the 16-driver Chase Grid, finished a disappointing 29th, which allowed Preece to cut his deficit to the cutline to 29 points.
Next up for the NASCAR Cup Series is the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway on Saturday, August 15. That race will be televised on USA Network with coverage set to kick off at 7:00 PM ET. The Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will provide the radio broadcast of the event.
