Iowa Speedway is set to start the NASCAR Cup Series' season-ending stretch of 14 races in 14 weekends with Sunday afternoon's Iowa Corn 350, following this past weekend's second and final off weekend of the year.
Sunday's 350-lap race around the four-turn, 0.894-mile (1.439-kilometer) Newton, Iowa oval is set to be the first oval race since the mid-March race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to feature zero non-chartered (open) cars. The only other race to exclusively feature the 36 chartered cars this year was the late June road course race at Sonoma Raceway.
Three open cars ran the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, including the one that won the race. But Corey Heim's No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota, Casey Mears' No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet, and Daniel Dye's No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet are not on this weekend's entry list.
The Sonoma race also ironically followed Heim's first victory of the season (and of his career) on Naval Base Coronado, so Sunday's Iowa race is set to mark the second time in 2026 that the previous race winner will not compete in the following race. That had happened just once across 2024 and 2025 combined.
All three cars are expected to return for multiple additional races later this season.
The qualifying order for the 36 chartered cars was determined by the usual two-variable metric, which has been in place since 2025.
The qualifying session is set to be a single-car session, with each driver eligible to run two laps since Iowa is considered a short track. However, because top speed, not average speed, is what counts, drivers have the option to only run a single lap. There is no second round shootout for pole like there is for superspeedway races.
Here's how the qualifying order looks for Saturday.
NASCAR Cup Series qualiyfing order at Iowa
Order | Driver |
|---|---|
1 | Connor Zilisch, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet |
2 | Cody Ware, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet |
3 | Riley Herbst, No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota |
4 | Austin Hill, No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet |
5 | Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet |
6 | John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota |
7 | Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
8 | Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet |
9 | Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
10 | Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford |
11 | Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota |
12 | A.J. Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet |
13 | Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota |
14 | Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford |
15 | Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet |
16 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet |
17 | Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
18 | Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford |
19 | Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet |
20 | Cole Custer, No. 41 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet |
21 | William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
22 | Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford |
23 | Shane van Gisbergen, No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet |
24 | Daniel Suarez, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet |
25 | Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford |
26 | Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford |
27 | Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford |
28 | Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford |
29 | Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford |
30 | Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
31 | Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet |
32 | Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota |
33 | Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford |
34 | Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
35 | Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
36 | Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
The Iowa Corn 350 is set to be shown live on USA Network beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, August 9 to kick off USA Sports' portion of this year's NASCAR Cup Series broadcast schedule. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and tune in to all of the action from Iowa Speedway!
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