By Roy J. Akers — www.skyviewsports.net
There are four races to go in the Race to the Chase Playoffs. Four spots are set which leaves 12 spots left and 18 drivers trying to race their win. Austin Cindric holds the final Race to the Chase spot and five drivers are within 100 points of him and another half dozen 50 points beyond that. Some drivers will fall off being ‘too little, too late’, The manufacturers give us their weekly news to guide us for the final month of races.
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 BACK-TO-BACK IOWA TOP 10’S As mentioned above, three Ford Racing drivers have posted Top 10 finishes in each of the first two NASCAR Cup Series races at Iowa Speedway. In addition to Ryan Blaney (first and fourth), Joey Logano (sixth and ninth) and Brad Keselowski (10th and third) have achieved that feat. Besides their Cup success, Blaney and Keselowski have also been to Victory Lane at Iowa in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series with Keselowski winning three times (2009, 2013, 2014) and Blaney once (2015).  MUSTANG CONTINUES WINNING TRADITION The victory by Blaney at Iowa Speedway in 2024 marked the 19th different track in which Mustang has won a NASCAR Cup Series race since hitting the circuit in 2019. There are currently only three tracks on this year’s schedule where Mustang hasn’t gone to Victory Lane, not including Naval Base Coronado. Those three are Circuit of The Americas, Homestead-Miami Speedway and Sonoma Raceway. Overall, Mustang has 75 Cup points wins and three championships with Joey Logano (2022 and 2024) and Ryan Blaney (2023).  FOUR TO GO August represents the final month of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series regular season as only four races remain before the field of 16 drivers is locked in for the final 10-race Chase. Ryan Blaney has already clinched a postseason berth and is currently third in the point standings. Chris Buescher (ninth), Joey Logano (13th) and Austin Cindric (16th) are also holding spots with Ryan Preece (17th) and Brad Keselowski (19th) still within striking distance. |
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| BYRON’S HAWKEYE STATE HISTORY Recharged from the off weekend, combined with a visit to one of his statistically strongest tracks, look for William Byron and the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team to be a threat come Sunday’s 350-lap race. While the sport’s history at Iowa Speedway is short, Byron’s resume is unmatched – highlighted by a feat that sees him as one of just two drivers in history that has a win in all three NASCAR national touring series at the track. In the Cup Series, the North Carolina native hasn’t finished outside the top-two, including his win in last season’s event, to earn a series-best average finish of 1.5. In its companion series, it took just one start for Byron to break into victory lane – earning his one O’Reilly Series win with JR Motorsports in 2017 and one Craftsman Truck Series win with Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2016. |
 HOCEVAR’S CAREER SEASON CONTINUESCarson Hocevar’s third full-time NASCAR Cup Series campaign has been nothing short of impressive, and he only built upon that in the “Racing Capital of the World”. For the fourth time this season, the Michigan native was the Bowtie brigade’s top finisher when he led the manufacturer with a top-10 result in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The finish, along with a bank of the second-highest points of the day, propelled Hocevar up two positions to make his first appearance in the top-five of the standings. Hocevar has been a steady fixture above the Chase cutline throughout the season, a large part due to consistency that has seen the young Team Chevy driver earn a season average finish of 14.01 – a feat nearly nine positions improved compared to the record book he had at this point of the season in 2025. |
| THE SITE OF STENHOUSE’S FIRST Iowa Speedway is the site that made Ricky Stenhouse Jr. a first-time winner in the NASCAR national ranks. Rewinding to 2011 and his sophomore season in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, Stenhouse Jr. made his first trip to victory lane at Iowa, going on to reel off three-straight at the track (2011 sweep; May 2012) – a record streak in the division that still stands today. Returning to the track 12 years later for the Cup Series’ inaugural event, the Mississippi native quickly found his footing around the 7/8-mile oval to earn a top-five finish. |
 MAYER ON THE BRINK OF A RECORD STREAK Entering the penultimate race of the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series regular season with a 29-point advantage over the cutline, there’s no better track than Iowa Speedway for Sam Mayer and the No. 41 Haas Factory Team to further build onto that cushion. Since the series return to the track in 2024, Mayer has earned back-to-back trips to victory lane. A win in Saturday’s race would tie the series’ record streak at the track, which is currently held by fellow Team Chevy driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Mayer’s two career Iowa starts nearly mirror each other, with the pair of wins accompanied by fifth-place qualifying efforts and top-four finishes in each stage. |
 KVAPIL ROCKETS UP THE RANKSCarson Kvapil conquered the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval to earn his first career win in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Part Series. With a 69-point day, the best of the race by 20 points over veteran driver Justin Allgaier, Kvapil made the biggest move up the standings to a career-best rank of second heading into the Iowa race weekend. With a campaign that has seen the driver compete with three different team and crew chief pairings, his early berth into the Chase is even more impressive. |
