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The NASCAR Cup Series is in Newton, Iowa this weekend for the Iowa Corn 350. This is the first time the Cup Series has ever raced at this track, which is a 7/8th-mile track that opened in 2006. The track first hosted NASCAR races in 2009, with the Xfinity Series and Truck Series racing here. The Cup Series never materialized and the other two series left the track after 2019, leaving the track's future in doubt. IndyCar and sponsor HyVee helped reinvigorate local interest in the track over the past few years though, and the Cup Series announced they'd be coming to Iowa for the first time this season.
Despite the lack of a Cup Series past here, 19 drivers in this field have won races at Iowa on some level, from Xfinity to Trucks to ARCA. Even Corey LaJoie has a win here, winning a 2012 K&N East/West combined race at the track. So while no one's raced here in a Cup car, most of this field has logged meaningful laps here in the past.
Below are my NASCAR DFS lineup picks for the Iowa Corn 350 on DraftKings and FanDuel this week. This slate locks on 6/16/2024 at 7:03 p.m. EDT. If you have any questions or want to talk about NASCAR, you can find me on Twitter at @juscarts.
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DFS Lineup Picks - DraftKings, FanDuel
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Christopher Bell
Starts 10th - DK: $10.8K, FD: $14.0K
Kyle Larson might be the favorite here thanks to him starting on the pole, but don't count Christopher Bell out as a contender for Sunday's race. He comes into the Iowa Corn 350 with three top 10s in a row, including a win in the rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600.
Bell has run really well in his career at Iowa Speedway. Across all the series he's raced here, Bell has eight top 10s in nine starts, with the lone non-top 10 coming in a 2017 Xfinity Series race where he led 152 of 250 laps before finishing 16th. He's led 90 or more laps five times here, including in his last three Xfinity starts at the track. He knows how to get to the front here.
Ryan Blaney
Starts Second - DK: $9.8K, FD: $12.5K
Ryan Blaney won the Cup Series championship last season, but he's yet to find his way to victory lane in 2024. Still, he's come close at times, posting four top-five finishes already. That puts him halfway to last year's total with 20 races left to go. His luck hasn't been great lately as he's finished outside the top 20 in three of the last four races.
"IT'S LARSON!"
Ryan Blaney reacts to Kyle Larson snagging the pole for Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway. pic.twitter.com/mAjQtWd5ip
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) June 15, 2024
Blaney has wins at Iowa in the Camping World Truck Series and the Xfinity Series, which includes a dominating performance in the August 2015 Xfinity race. Blaney led 252 of 260 laps in that one.
That was a while back though, so I don't want to get too hyped over an Xfinity Series win that happened during the Obama administration. Still, Blaney's second-place starting spot gives him a shot to get some clean air early and lead a number of laps if he can get past Kyle Larson at the start. Easier said than done of course, but I think there's a lot of value in Blaney as a pivot off Larson.
Ty Gibbs
Starts 27th - DK: $9.0K, FD: $10.5K
Ty Gibbs was second fastest in practice before having a tire issue. That speed evaporated in the qualifying session on Saturday, with Gibbs winding up 27th on the grid.
Last week was a weird one for Gibbs. He was involved in the big crash at Sonoma in the Xfinity Series and in what seemed like a fit of frustration, spun his car back around too fast and ended up crashing out. Then on Sunday in the Cup Series race, Gibbs ended up crashing out again.
Did Ty Gibbs just rage out and wreck his teammate in the process? 😂😂 #nascar #gibbs pic.twitter.com/cYJgJAyWAw
— Tyler Graaf (@SpiddySpiddy) June 9, 2024
He'll look to bounce back at Iowa Speedway on Sunday. While he hasn't raced here in Xfinity or Trucks, Gibbs has run here in ARCA and K&N three times. He has a pair of dominant wins and a runner-up finish. When he was last here for the ARCA race in 2021, Gibbs led 149 of the 150 laps.
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Alex Bowman
Starts 33rd - DK: $8.0K, FD: $7.2K
Alex Bowman is another driver whose practice speed and qualifying speed weren't meshing. In practice, Bowman was third fastest, but he'll start Sunday's race buried in the field in 33rd place.
Bowman hasn't won yet this season, but his nine top 10s put him just one behind his 2023 total, and he sits a respectable 11th in points right now. While he finished outside the top 10 in each of the last two races, he had a streak of five consecutive top 10s.
Like so much of this field, Bowman has a lower series victory at Iowa, winning the 2012 ARCA race over a field that also featured Grant Enfinger, Erik Jones, and Chris Buescher.
Erik Jones
Starts 32nd - DK: $6.4K, FD: $5.2K
Erik Jones has found some okay speed lately for Legacy Motor Club, finishing 19th in three of the last four races while starting 30th or worse in each of them. On Sunday, he starts worse than 30th again. Will it be another 19th for Jones? If so, that's a really good day as far as place differential goes.
@Erik_Jones on the repave at Iowa:
“I think it’s really silly to only repave 30% of the track. We’re the top stock car series, so racing on a half repave track doesn’t make much sense to me.” #NASCAR #Iowa #IowaCorn350
— Kaleb Vestal (@kalebvestal1) June 15, 2024
Has Jones won here in a lower series like seemingly everyone else in this field has? Yeah, but unlike most of them, he's done it three times—twice in the Truck Series and once in the Xfinity Series, leading over 100 laps each time.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Starts 35th - DK: $6.0K, FD: $4.0K
We wrap things up with another former Iowa winner. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has victories here three times, sweeping the 2011 races here in the Xfinity Series and also winning in 2012. Of course, those were a long time ago, so long ago that the series was known as the NASCAR Nationwide Series,
I'm not just playing him for the track history. Stenhouse is struggling overall this season with his 23.4 average finish being his lowest since 2015, but he's had some decent runs lately, with top 20s at Kansas and Gateway. His 35th-place starting spot offers a really good amount of place differential upside.
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