GFT Facts & Stats Friday: NASCAR Cup Series Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol at Iowa Speedway
14 June 2024
By Bob Francis, Managing Editor
Go Full Throttle Racing News
NEWTON, IOWA — Located just outside Des Moines, sits the .875-mile short track known as Iowa Speedway. The track will play host to the NASCAR Cup Series for the first time in its existence with this weekend’s Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol on Sunday, June 16 at 7 p.m. ET on the USA Network, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
**Editor’s note: As the Cup Series has never run at Iowa Speedway, this week’s Facts and Stats Friday report will be very limited with no historical data or trends to report.
Iowa Speedway will become the 176th different track to host a NASCAR Cup Series points-paying race since the inception of the series in 1949.
Iowa Speedway was built between 2005–2006, by then owner Paul Schlaak of the U.S. Motorsports Entertainment Corporation. International Speedway Corporation purchased the property in 2013, and it is now owned by NASCAR.
NASCAR Cup Series Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol at Iowa Speedway
Sunday, June 16–7 p.m. ET
Track Length: .875 Mile Asphalt Oval
The Purse: $8,881,630
TV: USA, 6 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 306.25 miles (350 laps)
Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 70)
Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 210)
Final Stage (Ends on Lap 350)
Race to the Playoffs: Four of last season’s Playoff drivers are outside the points cutoff
Through the first 16 races of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season, nine different winners have secured their spot in the Playoffs by virtue of their victory. At the other end of postseason outlook, 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace holds the 16th and final transfer spot into the Playoffs by a slim eight-point lead over Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch as the series heads to Iowa Speedway for the Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol.
The nine drivers that have earned a spot in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs by virtue of wins this season are Denny Hamlin, William Byron, Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott, Tyler Reddick, Brad Keselowski, Daniel Suárez, and Austin Cindric. Seven spots are still up for grabs in the hunt for the championship.
The seven drivers currently occupying the remaining postseason spots on points are Martin Truex Jr. (+128 points ahead of the Playoff cutoff), Ty Gibbs (+86 points ahead of the cutoff), Ross Chastain (+73), Alex Bowman (+65), Ryan Blaney (+64), Chris Buescher (+32) and Bubba Wallace (+8).
Hamlin looking for third short-track win this season
Since 1997, the NASCAR Cup Series has run six races each season on tracks that measure less than a mile in length (two races at each short track) — Richmond (0.75-mile), Bristol (0.533-mile), and Martinsville Speedway (0.526-mile). The only season since 1997 to not have six total races on tracks less than a mile was the 2020 season. Due to Covid restrictions, the series only ran five races that season. Iowa Speedway, this weekend’s facility, measures 0.875 miles.
This year, Hamlin has won two races on short tracks and will be looking for his third this weekend.
Since 1997, the most wins by a driver on tracks measuring less than a mile in a single season is four by NASCAR Hall of Famer Jimmie Johnson in 2007.
Three other drivers have been able to win three races in a single season since 1997 — Denny Hamlin (2010), Kyle Busch (2009, 2018) and Martin Truex Jr. (2019).
GO FULL THROTTLE NASCAR CUP SERIES BOX SCORES
GO FULL THROTTLE NASCAR FANTASY LIVE BOX SCORES
The Go Full Throttle #AI Race Prediction model delivered 193 points with the Sonoma 350 results in NASCAR Fantasy Live — TMD NASCAR League play. GFT AI 1 improves to 679th place vs 4,626 players in the #TMDNASCAR league, still outside the Top 10 at 14.67% vs all players.
Initial GFT NASCAR Fantasy Live Picks for the Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol at Iowa Speedway
**NOTE** Be sure to follow us on X (aka Twitter) to see the updated GFT NASCAR Fantasy Live picks AFTER our AI models ingest the Practice and Qualifying data. For a Sunday race, this usually happens overnight Saturday and is published Sunday morning at least 2 hours before the green flag.
