The NASCAR Cup Series has raced only twice at Iowa Speedway: last year was its debut and then Sunday, when William Byron rallied to earn the win.
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But there’s one driver who wasn’t happy to finish second, coming in 1.192 seconds behind Byron. In fact, Chase Briscoe is calling for one key change at the 0.875-mile short oval.
“I feel like we kind of maximized the strategy that played out there,” Briscoe told Frontstretch.com after the race. “I got to William and once I got there, just kind of died. I didn’t really have anything else left. He was able to drive away there. So he did a really good job.”
Briscoe then slightly sighed and gave his critique of the track. But a point of reference here: Iowa Speedway repaved all four corners a month before last year’s inaugural Cup race there. That’s right, just the corners, not the front or back stretch.
“I wish they’d repave this place all the way to the wall, just so we could have more room to move around,” Briscoe said. “This is such a track position race, with the dirty air and stuff and you’re kind of limited with where you can run. So maybe we’ll come back next year and hopefully they’ll repave it all the way to the wall…
“It’s definitely really difficult to pass. You’re so limited. The racetrack’s only two or three lanes wide and you just take the guy’s air. If we had the old surface, it’d be unbelievable. As soon as we get on the old pavement, you just start spinning the tires.
“It would be awesome but obviously we don’t have that, but hopefully they can repave it to the wall just because then you can at least get out of the way, run some different places and I think it’d be back to the old Iowa real quickly.”
Hear @chasebriscoe and @RyanPreece_ discuss their top five runs today at Iowa Speedway.
Additionally, listen to Rudy Fugle talk about @WilliamByron‘s success at Iowa.
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— Frontstretch (@Frontstretch) August 4, 2025
Briscoe has a strong racing resume at Iowa. In addition to his runner-up showing in Sunday’s race (finished 28th in last year’s inaugural Cup race there), Briscoe also has three Xfinity Series starts there, including one win and three top-10 finishes. And in one race in a truck, he has a top-10 finish.
