BLANEY CAPS DOMINANT IOWA RUN WITH A THIRD-PLACE FINISH

Ryan Blaney and the No. 12 Menards/Pennington Ford Mustang Dark Horse team led a race-high 129 laps and captured the Stage 1 victory en route to a third-place finish Sunday afternoon at Iowa Speedway. The result marked Blaney's third top-five finish in three NASCAR Cup Series starts at Iowa, where he won the inaugural Cup Series event in 2024. After starting from the pole, Blaney maintained control through an early caution and built a commanding lead throughout the opening stage, navigating heavy lapped traffic to score his fifth stage win of the season, tying him for the series lead. Following a four-tire stop during the stage break, the No. 12 team took advantage of their first pit stall to maintain the lead off pit road and remain out front to begin Stage 2. A series of cautions and varying pit strategies throughout the second stage shuffled the running order as Blaney battled an inconsistent handling condition. After taking four tires and fuel under caution midway through the stage, Blaney restarted outside the top 10 but rallied back to finish eighth in the segment. Looking for track position to start the final stage, crew chief Jonathan Hassler called for two tires and fuel, allowing Blaney to restart second before quickly reclaiming the lead. Blaney paced the field until just under 100 laps remained, then later, made one of the first green-flag pit stops among the leaders on lap 285. Following the cycle of green-flag stops, Blaney settled into third and maintained his position to the checkered flag for another strong finish and valuable points day at the Midwest short track.