Winners, losers from NASCAR weekend at Iowa Speedway

NEWTON, Iowa — A look at the winners and losers from this weekend’s racing at Iowa Speedway.

WINNERS

Ryan Blaney — Two weeks after seeing a victory go away when he ran out of fuel just before the white flag, Blaney comes back to score his first win of the season. Making it even more special was that he had 85 friends and family in attendance at Iowa Speedway and many joined him in Victory Lane after the race.

Special celebration: Iowa’s Victory Lane hosts Blaney family reunion after Ryan’s win

Eighty-five friends and family came to Iowa Speedway to watch Ryan Blaney and many joined him in Victory Lane.

Team Penske — Team Penske has won three of the last five races and each of its drivers have a victory in that span. Joey Logano won the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro. Austin Cindric won at World Wide Technology Raceway. Ryan Blaney won at Iowa Speedway.

Ryan Blaney triumphs in inaugural NASCAR Cup race at Iowa Speedway: Race results

Ryan Blaney led a career-high 201 of the 350 laps.

Chase Elliott — His third-place finish gave him the points lead and also was his seventh top-five result of the season.

Christopher Bell — Finished fourth in a backup car after wrecking his primary car in practice Friday after a right front tire blew. Bell has four consecutive top-10 finishes, including a win, and five top 10s in the last six races.

Josh Berry — Led 32 laps, which nearly doubled his season total, scored a season-high 15 stage points and finished seventh for this third top 10 in the last five points races.

NASCAR — Made the right call to run a Cup race at Iowa Speedway. Seems likely that the series will be back next year.

LOSERS

AJ Allmendinger — Finished 37th in the Xfinity race after a right front tire blew and he crashed. Finished 36th in the Cup race after a right front tire blew and he crashed.

Kyle Busch — Mechanical issue sidelined him, leaving him with a 35th-place finish. He entered the weekend eight points from the playoff cutline. He lost 23 points at Iowa and is 31 points from the playoff cutline with nine races left in the regular season.

What drivers said after inaugural NASCAR Cup race at Iowa Speedway

Here’s what drivers had to say about their race Sunday night.