William Byron was left standing tall in the Hawkeye State on Sunday after stretching his fuel for the final 144 laps to hold off Chase Briscoe, Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney. The win is Byron's second of the season, but his first since the season-opening Daytona 500. He crossed the line 1.192 seconds ahead of Briscoe on a day that featured 11 cautions in a 116-lap span during the middle of the race.
Behind those four drivers in the top 10 were Ryan Preece, Bubba Wallace, Alex Bowman, Carson Hocevar, Joey Logano and Austin Dillon. The race was not as smooth for Byron's Hendrick Motorsports teammates, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson, who got together multiple times on restarts and eventually finished 14th and 28th, respectively.
How did @KyleLarsonRacin save that?! https://t.co/ZDjQo5hTnu pic.twitter.com/JCn9YZwicR
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 3, 2025
NASCAR Cup Series regular season points and playoff picture after Iowa
Three races remain in the NASCAR Cup Series regular season. Those include 2.45-mile Watkins Glen (Aug. 10), 0.75-mile Richmond Raceway (Aug. 16) and 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway (Aug. 23).
Updated Cup Series standings after the Iowa Corn 350 at Iowa Speedway
Driver Standings | Points | Behind |
|---|---|---|
1. William Byron | 770 | 0 |
2. Chase Elliott | 752 | -18 |
3. Kyle Larson | 725 | -45 |
4. Denny Hamlin | 719 | -51 |
5. Christopher Bell | 684 | -86 |
6. Tyler Reddick | 673 | -97 |
7. Ryan Blaney | 665 | -105 |
8. Chase Briscoe | 640 | -130 |
9. Alex Bowman | 614 | -156 |
10. Bubba Wallace | 581 | -189 |
Byron regains the top spot from Elliott after his Iowa win. Although Larson and Denny Hamlin remain third and fourth in the standings, they both lose ground after subpar finishes outside the top 20. The only other change to the top 10 is Wallace, who overtakes Chris Buescher for the 10th spot.
Notable drivers outside the top 10 in the overall standings include Buescher (11th), Joey Logano (12th), Preece (13th), Ross Chastain (14th), Kyle Busch (15th), Ty Gibbs (16th), Keselowski (19th) and Daniel Suarez (31st). Austin Cindric (17th), Josh Berry (21st) and Shane van Gisbergen (25th) are in the bottom half of the overall standings, but are in the playoff field due to their wins earlier this season.
NASCAR Cup Series playoff picture after Iowa
Position/Driver | Playoff points | Wins/points above or below cutline |
|---|---|---|
1. Denny Hamlin | 24 | 4 wins |
2. Kyle Larson | 23 | 3 wins |
3. Christopher Bell | 17 | 3 wins |
4. Shane van Gisbergen | 17 | 3 wins |
5. William Byron | 17 | 2 wins |
6. Chase Elliott | 6 | 1 win |
7. Ryan Blaney | 10 | 1 win |
8. Chase Briscoe | 7 | 1 win |
9. Bubba Wallace | 7 | 1 win |
10. Joey Logano | 7 | 1 win |
11. Ross Chastain | 6 | 1 win |
12. Austin Cindric | 8 | 1 win |
13. Josh Berry | 6 | 1 win |
14. Tyler Reddick | 1 | +122 |
15. Alex Bowman | 0 | +63 |
16. Chris Buescher | -4 | +23 |
17. Ryan Preece | 2 | -23 |
18. Kyle Busch | 0 | -73 |
19. Ty Gibbs | 0 | -87 |
20. AJ Allmendinger | 0 | -118 |
Byron moves up to fifth in the playoff standings following his Iowa win, which gave him an additional five playoff points. Despite a frustrating day in 19th, Tyler Reddick is still 122 points to the good, while Bowman's 63-point advantage stays put. With his solid fifth-place finish and Buescher's lackluster performance in 22nd, Ryan Preece gains 19 points on the cutline and is now only 23 behind Buescher. Kyle Busch (-73), Ty Gibbs (-87) and AJ Allmendinger (-118) are the next three drivers below the cutline with three regular season races remaining.
One thing to keep in mind is the importance of both regular-season points standings and playoff standings. While drivers with wins vault to the top of the points standings and guarantee themselves a playoff spot, assuming there are no more than 16 winners, the overall points are equally important. With 13 race winners and only three races left after Iowa before the playoffs begin, there will be no more than 16 winners this season.
The regular-season champion by season's end will earn an additional 15 playoff points, second place will get 10 and drivers third-to-10th in points will receive points in descending order down to one point for 10th.