NASCAR DFS Playbook & Top Picks: Iowa Corn 350

It’s not often that we get to talk about a new NASCAR track on the Cup Series schedule. We get that this weekend with Iowa Speedway hosting their first-ever Cup race with the Iowa Corn 350. There are some tracks that compare to Iowa but don’t match exactly. When we have a new track, how do we build NASCAR DFS lineups for that? What does the forecast for Newton, Iowa mean for this weekend? What drivers can we build around if they haven’t raced here before? All of that plus the top driver plays and practice and qualifying results for the Iowa Corn 350!

Weather Forecast For Newton, Iowa

We’ve seen a little bit of everything so far this weekend. It was hot on Friday which led to tire issues in practice. Saturday it was rainy for qualifying and cooler which changed the track and the grip of the cars. For Sunday it’s supposed to be hot again, even warmer than Friday. The track will dry out but the hot temps will make the track slicker. Even with it being an evening race, it will still be slick at the start.

Iowa Speedway Race Trends

There aren’t really any trends per say for Iowa since this is the first time racing here. However, we can look at similar tracks for what to expect at Iowa. The tracks that comparable favorably to Iowa that the Cup series runs currently are Richmond, New Hampshire, and Phoenix, while Nashville can be tossed in there too. Iowa is a 7/8-mile lap that is relatively flat and has mainly two grooves for racing. The same can be said for most of those comparable tracks too. The racing is general similar at those tracks as we expect from Iowa. Without the tire concerns, the track can be tough to pass on just like the short track package has shown in the Next Gen era. When we add in the tire wear though, we are likely to see more cautions than normal and more chances to pass and use pit strategy than expected too. Moving up through the field should be possible in bunch until getting to the top-10 under green where the clean air will make it tougher to pass.

Iowa Corn 350 Practice and Qualifying Results

The following shows where the drivers qualified and their respective practice ranks across multiple lap runs. Keep in mind that the practice times and qualifying runs were done under different conditions between Friday and Saturday.

NASCAR DFS Strategy For Iowa Corn 350

So how are we building lineups for the first Cup race at Iowa? There are 350 laps in this race which is enough to warrant targeting laps led for dominator points but it’s likely that there will be a couple of different drivers to lead chunks of laps. We can focus on position differential here, unlike most short tracks as it’s wider and faster which makes passing possible. All that being said though, we’re also looking building for some chaos. While the Xfinity cars do drive differently than the Cup cars, the tires are similar and several blew on Saturday. We also saw tires barely lasting 20 laps on Friday. If we see tires blowing on Sunday, chaos will reign not only with cars hitting the walls but also plenty of cautions.

Playing a tad lighter than normal is advised as there are plenty of unknowns heading into Sunday.

Top Driver Plays for NASCAR DFS

Top Salary Tier Drivers

Kyle Larson

Larson didn’t have a dominating practice session but he was fast enough to land on pole on Saturday. That being said, he was still unsure of his car after qualifying and was unsure of the tires following the Goodyear tire test. Starting on the pole should give him the leg up in leading laps early but with questions about tires resuming through practice, be wary of him holding off competitors through multiple restarts. He’s also been up and down in this package over the last couple of seasons which gives us pause at this price too.

Christopher Bell

Bell has been the betting favorite basically all week and has been a favorite talking point in general coming into the race. That’s based on his run at Gateway before his engine blew and wins at New Hampshire. He’ll start P10 and ran a tad faster than that at practice. Toyotas have been incredibly strong on the shorter, flatter tracks for the last year and change and Bell’s dirt track background should help when tire wear kicks in as well. Expect the top-five upside we’ve seen from him but perhaps not a ton of laps led.

Joey Logano

It’s a new track and so Logano is in play given the narrative he’s been building for two years now. It’s not just the new thing narrative though as Logano has also been impressive at the shorter, flatter tracks in the Next Gen era with one of the best average finishes and among the leaders in top-fives and top-10s. He’ll start just outside the top-10 but has the car and ability to finish top-five and challenge for the win while leading some laps.

Mid-tier Salary Drivers

Tyler Reddick

It’s been three top-10s for Reddick at the similar tracks to Iowa this year. Then add in he’s starting well and ran some of the best practice laps on Friday and we have a great combo. The price is too low for his successes at Gateway and Richmond and Phoenix which is likely to make him a popular play. With the lack of a true chalk play though, it’s not the worst thing to invest in a popular play with the skill and equipment of Reddic in a Toyota that’s been great at short tracks.

Chris Buescher

This one is form over speed this weekend. Buescher has been consistently good at these types of tracks for RFK in the Next Gen era and it’s not always pretty. This weekend is setting up that way too. The practice speeds weren’t great, to say the least, but the qualifying effort was pretty good. If Buescher can hold the track position and build off that and improve the car throughout the race, we could be looking at another solid top-10 run from Buescher.

Alex Bowman

What happened in qualifying? Quite simply it was a bad corner when he got loose and that ended his effort. The speed in the 48-car was legit in practice being top-five across multiple metrics. If Bowman can harness that speed and race strategy, it’s looking like a huge day potentially for Bowman. While he’s been up and down in this style of track, he does have six top-20s in the last 10 similar races and easily has the speed to get another one if not better Sunday.

Austin Cindric

To be fair he is more on the radar here given the showing at Gateway and the general speed that Team Penske had there. He didn’t exactly show up quick on Friday but the longer he ran, the faster Cindric got. He’ll start P21 but should be able to move up like we’ve seen him do before in tough passing conditions.

Chase Briscoe

Briscoe appears to be taking the mantle from Aric Almirola at SHR on the shorter, flatter tracks. He’s been consistently finishing well and running fast at them for the last couple of years. The P6 starting spot is a tad higher than I was hoping to see but considering Briscoe posted top-8 practice speeds, we’re pretty confident he can hold the spot and be a dark horse for laps led.

Daniel Suarez

Suarez has been a bit of a sleeper in this package this year. He posted two solid finishes at Phoenix and Richmond and then moved up 8 spots at Gateway. Suarez has now backed that up with a strong practice run on Friday and good qualifying time on Saturday. The P13 starting spot might scare some people off of Suarez but the indications have been that he can hold that spot if not nab a top-10 finish if things keep going his way.

Value Tier Salary Drivers

Noah Gragson

Gragson lit up the practice charts for the shorter runs on Friday with the best overall lap and the best 5-lap average. He then dropped considerably on the longer runs. Gragson moved up five spots at both Richmond and Gateway from his starting spots and at Iowa, in the lower series, he didn’t finish worse than P6. I don’t foresee a top-10 finish here for Gragson but there is top-15 potential which is more than enough PD upside.

Carson Hocevar

The young Cup driver has been solid in this package this year. That includes good runs at Gateway, Phoenix, and a third top-20 finish last year. In fact, at Gateway he started P20, like he is Sunday, and finished P8. Hocevar tends to race clean and manage the tires well and that’s what will be required Sunday evening to bring home another solid finish.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

We’re getting weird here. Iowa seems like a good place to get weird. Stenhouse has run well her previously in the lower divisions, granted more than a decade ago now, but he also ran well here in practice. Friday was toasty and then qualifying didn’t go well but Sunday will be toasty again. Could play to his advantage. If he can manage the tires well, like dirt guys can, and bide his time in moving up, we could be looking at a nice PD upside play for GPPs.

Justin Haley

Haley ran P9 at Gateway two races ago after starting deeper in the field. He’s also posted a solid 22.7 average finish in his Next Gen races at similar tracks. While that average finish is behind where he’s starting at P19, it gives an idea that he can hold his spot while the practice speed suggests a top-15 is in the making here.

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