The Cup Series teams will stay in the Heartland this week to compete at Iowa Speedway. This is race No. 23 on the Cup Series schedule. That means there are only four races left in the Fantasy Live regular season. These final four races are the most important races for me since I started this website in 2017. My Fantasy Live picks have outscored 99% of the entries in every season since 2013 (when I wrote for Fox Sports). The picks are outscoring 98.1% of the entries right now. I do not want the streak to end and I want to help you win your leagues. I will do my best to keep the picks moving to the top of your league standings this week. The Iowa Corn 350 can be seen Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA.
PRACTICE SPEEDS FOR IOWA
NASCAR broke the teams into two groups based on the metrics from the race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last week. Each group was given 25-minutes to shake down their car for the Iowa Corn 350. Iowa Speedway is a .875-mile track, so most of the teams were able to make a long run in practice.
I would not get too carried away with the practice speeds this week. Ryan Blaney was 22nd fastest, with the 25-fastest 10-lap average speed in practice at Iowa last year. He then went out and dominated the race. Kyle Larson was 13th-fastest in practice and he won the pole, led 80 laps, finished 2nd in Stage 1 and won Stage 2. Track position is everything at Iowa Speedway. Eight of the drivers who started in the top-11, finished in the top-10 last year. I plan to focus more on starting position then practice speed at Iowa Speedway.
Here are the speeds from Saturday’s practice at Iowa Speedway…
STRATEGY FOR IOWA
There are only four races left in the regular season in the Fantasy Live game. One of the races is on the road course at Watkins Glen and another is on the Superspeedway track in Daytona. The race this week in Iowa and the race in two weeks at Richmond are the tracks were you want to use your top drivers. We can get through the race next week at Watkins Glen by using our road courses aces (Shane van Gisbergen, AJ Allmendinger, Michael McDowell and Chris Buescher). The race at Daytona is a complete wild card, so we do not have to worry about saving our top drivers for that race. We need to use our best drivers for the race in Iowa.
Here are the picks for the Iowa Corn 350…
CHASE BRISCOE (5): Briscoe is clearly on a heater right now. He finished 2nd at Sonoma, 2nd at Dover and he would have finished in the top-five last week in Indianapolis if he had a few more gallons of fuel in the car. Briscoe is no stranger to winning on the flat tracks in the Gen-7 car. He won the race at Phoenix in 2022. The No. 19 car starts on the pole Sunday. He proved in the last three races that Briscoe can hold his position and finish in the top-five.
WILLIAM BYRON (1): I have one allocation left with Byron. The stats say that the best track left on the schedule for Byron is Daytona since he won the last two Daytona 500’s. I can get through the race at Daytona without Byron, so I will use the No. 24 car in my lineup this week. Byron finished 2nd at Iowa last year. He has the speed to finish in the top-five again Sunday.
KYLE LARSON (2): Larson finished 34th at Iowa Speedway last year. That doesn’t mean he was a bad pick. Larson won the pole, led 80 laps, finished 2nd in Stage 1, won Stage 2 and got wrecked while trying to pass Daniel Suarez. I am not going to finish the season with allocations in my pocket with the No. 5 team. I plan to use Larson this week and again at Richmond later in August.
RYAN BLANEY (7): I never expected to have seven allocations left with Blaney with only four races left in the regular season. Every time I use Blaney, he ends up in the Garage. The No. 12 team has had terrible luck this year, but a trip to Corn Country could jumpstart this team. Blaney led 201 of the 350 laps at Iowa last year. He also scored 16 Stage Points and won the race. Blaney has been good on the short, flat tracks, so I expect the No. 12 car to finish up front Sunday.
CHASE ELLIOTT (3): I have three allocations left with Elliott and the plan is to use them in the next three races. Elliott was pretty good at Iowa Speedway last year. He started 9th, scored Stage Points in both Stages and finished 3rd in the race. Elliott has an average finishing position of 8th on the tracks similar to Iowa, dating back to the start of the 2024 season. The No. 9 car should finish in the top-10 again Sunday.
(GARAGE PICK) CHRISTOPHER BELL (2): Bell won three of the first four races this season and he has been sleep walking his way towards the playoffs. This could be the week when the No 20 team wakes up. Bell won the race earlier this year at Phoenix (another track like Iowa Speedway). He also finished 4th in the inaugural race at Iowa Speedway last year. Bell has an average finishing position of 3.8 on the short, flat track since the beginning of the 2024 season. I am not worried about his starting position Sunday.
* DENNY HAMLIN (1): Hamlin looks fast this weekend, but I only have one allocation left with the No. 11 car. I need to save Hamlin for him home track in Richmond. I would use Hamlin over CHRISTOPHER BELL if you have two or more allocations left with the No. 11 team.
Good luck and be sure to follow me on X (Twitter) @MrFantasyNASCAR. I will send out a Tweet during the race to let you know if I plan to swap out one of my drivers for my Garage pick.