At Iowa Speedway in Newton, Ryan Blaney won the Iowa Corn 350, the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series.
NEWTON: While Ryan Blaney was the closest thing to an Iowan competing in Sunday’s debut NASCAR Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway, there were none.
The reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion, Blaney, was reared in North Carolina after being born in Ohio. However, Chariton, which is an hour southeast of Des Moines, is where his mother Lisa is from. Dave, his father, was the 1997 Knoxville Nationals winner. Eighty of his friends and relatives attended the race on Sunday. He made a joke on Saturday, saying that if he won, it would be difficult to lead them all down victory lane.
Blaney made history on Sunday by becoming the first driver in the NASCAR Truck, Xfinity, and Cup Series to triumph at Iowa Speedway.
When he won an Xfinity Series race in 2015 and his first NASCAR Truck race in 2012, his fans were in Newton.
“It was really cool to have them all out to support me,” remarked Blaney. “I’m glad we were able to get them all into victory lane and across the racecourse. I had no idea how we were going to accomplish that. The track officials accepted all of their claims once they manufactured shirts.”
