In the early going at the Iowa Corn 350 there was a clear top two in the pecking order, as Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney battled each other for the lead back and forth during Stage 1.
Blaney ultimately took the stage win, but the race remained very close even with Larson dropping back to check on what he thought was a flat tire.
Larson was making his way back toward Blaney and the front of the pack when his day was ended by a wreck instigated by Daniel Suarez. Larson’s back left bumper took a hit and he spun out in front of Denny Hamlin into the wall, taking a considerable deal of damage. Enough to end his day.
“Once the 5 car was out I felt like it was Blaney’s race to lose at that particular point, and they had a great weekend all around and were able to finally put themselves in victory lane,” Kevin Harvick said on the Kevin Harvick Happy Hour.
Ryan Blaney took full advantage of Larson’s absence, with one of the fastest cars remaining in the field at that point. He drove it well, constantly working little things to his advantage and executing a strategy that was perfectly on point.
Harvick said the difference-maker, though, was Larson exiting the race.
“I think really when the 5 car fell out, that was pretty much going to be the closest competition that he had, in my opinion,” Harvick said. “The situation with the 5 and the 99, that was kind of a weird deal. And you could definitely see the 99 come up the race track and kind of get into the left rear quarter panel of the 5 and wrecked him. But the 5 definitely shot in a hole that was pretty tight.”
Larson, of course, has been as good as anybody in the Cup Series this season. He has three wins and stands in second in the points standings, trailing the lead by just eight points even after a DNF at Iowa.
Blaney, on the other hand, hadn’t been assured of making the playoffs until the win on Sunday, even though he was well within the overall points cutoff. Still, the win will afford some extra security down the stretch.
And it should help reinforce that what Ryan Blaney is doing is working just fine.
“I think going back to Blaney, though, I think those guys have been on the cusp. You look at St. Louis and some of the races that they’ve been a part of, it’s definitely been good performance for the 12 car lately from a speed standpoint, and they just hadn’t capitalized on any of the days that they’ve been in position to win those races,” Harvick said. “End of the race, I mean he just dominated the end of that race.
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