Ryan Blaney unlocks not one but three historic triumphs after sealing the Iowa race win

Ryan Blaney has clinched three historic feats after coming home with his maiden 2024 Cup Series victory at the Iowa Speedway. The Team Penske driver fended off a late race challenge from Hendrick Motorsports duo William Byron and Chase Elliott to emerge victorious on the 0.875-mile oval.

The Iowa Speedway has its history with NASCAR but not as a Cup Series venue. The short track has hosted Truck Series races from 2009 to 2019 and Xfinity Series battles from 2011 to 2019. After a four-year hiatus, Iowa marked its presence on the 2024 NASCAR calendar, welcoming the pinnacle series for the first time. Thus, Ryan Blaney is the only driver to have a Cup Series win from the track which will remain undisturbed until the next year.

Moving forward, a tough battle for the lead between the #12 Ford Mustang driver and Kyle Larson ensued. The 2023 defending champ swept the first stage but fell to a fourth-place finish during Stage 2 while the HMS driver reigned supreme.

However, a few laps later, Larson got sandwiched between Daniel Suarez and Brad Keselowski and spun out of contention. As a result, Blaney's challenger was down in the rear while the former led the field and etched his name as the Iowa Corn 350 race winner. Ryan Blaney led a career-high 201 laps, the highest-ever from the Team Penske driver's 323 starts in NASCAR.

Furthermore, with his Iowa victory, Blaney has become the first driver to dominate at the 0.875-mile oval across all three NASCAR series- the Truck Series in 2012, the Xfinity Series in 2015, and the recently wrapped 350-lap race.

"What a cool way to win"- Ryan Blaney after late-race gamble under caution paid off massively

Unlike the gas troubles that robbed Ryan Blaney from his maiden win during the final lap at the World Wide Technology Raceway, the field was open this time for the #12 Ford to park itself on the victory lane.

The Team Penske driver kept himself among the frontrunners. However, when Chris Buescher lost a tire on Lap 260, bringing out the final caution, Blaney's crew chief Jonathan Hassler capitalized on the yellow flag period and called for two instead of four tires. Meanwhile, William Byron donned the complete set of fresh compounds.

It saved a bunch of time and the #12 Ford exited as the leader on Lap 262 and never looked back. He led the remaining 88 laps and did the victory burnouts for the first time this season.

Blaney's victory margin over Byron was 0.716 seconds. Thus, had the Team Penske driver pitted for all four tires, the #24 Chevy would've grabbed the win, and the #12 Ford might not have even savored a podium finish.

Shortly after his maiden win, the 2023 Cup Series champion highlighted his run, saying.

"What a cool way to win here. This place means a lot to me and means a lot to my mom (Lisa, from Chariton, Iowa). We had a lot of people here tonight cheering us on, so they willed us to that one. Overall, I really appreciate the whole (No. 12 team)," via NASCAR on NBC on X (0.41).

"Our car was really fast all night and we got a little bit better through the night, and two tires was a good call there. I didn’t know how well I was going to hold on. I started to struggle a little bit at the end but had enough to hang on. I’m super proud of the effort," the race winner added.

Ryan Blaney has climbed five places in the Cup Series standings and is in seventh place with 501 points. The #12 Ford driver is short of 136 points over the new leader Chase Elliott.