NASCAR starting lineup for Iowa Speedway

Kyle Larson tied a new personal record for most poles in a season with four on Saturday at Iowa Speedway and this is only the halfway point of the campaign.

Larson, ironically, was rooting for a mid-afternoon thunderstorm to persist, because NASCAR rules would have placed him on the pole that way. Instead, the rain lifted, and he did it the old-fashioned way with a 23.084 second lap around the 0.875-mile oval.

It was just barely enough to edge ahead of the 23.084 second lap laid down by Ryan Blaney — a difference of 0.025 of a second.

“It was challenging, but it wasn’t as challenging as I thought it would be,” said Larson, who had the benefit of watching 35 other drivers make attempts ahead of him. “It helps going out last. It helps being able to watch everybody.

“But I was hoping for rain.”

Larson was the last driver to complete his lap and Blaney was just hoping he could survive one more attempt.

“I wish I could have picked up on the second lap a little more,” said the defending Cup Series champion, who said it was Turns 3 and 4 that cost him the most.

The first ever NASCAR Cup Series practice session at Iowa was eventful

As a result of the rain, which delayed the session by 45 minutes, there was only one round or qualifying with the top five drivers from Group A and the top five from Group B comprising the top-10 starting positions.

Due to rubber being reapplied onto the racing surface, those who were in Group B had a speed advantage with each of the top-five starting positions going to drivers from that group. Josh Berry will start third, followed by William Byron and Brad Keselowski/

Chase Briscoe paced Group A and will start sixth, followed by Kyle Busch, Tyler Reddick and Chase Elliott was the 10th fastest qualifier but will have to start at the back due to a crash in practice sending him to a backup car for the weekend.

The rest of the field was ordered by group in alternating numbers. Joey Logano, sixth in Group B, starts 11th beside Denny Hamlin, sixth fastest in Group A.

The race airs on Sunday at 7 p.m. on USA Network.

Martin Truex Jr will retire from full-time NASCAR as a respected, coveted teammate

STARTING LINEUP

Kyle Larson

Ryan Blaney

Josh Berry

William Byron

Brad Keselowski

Chase Briscoe

Kyle Busch

Tyler Reddick

Chase Elliott

Joey Logano

Denny Hamlin

Daniel Suarez

Todd Gilliland

Chris Buescher

Bubba Wallace

Ross Chastain

AJ Allmendinger

Justin Haley

Carson Hocevar

Michael McDowell

Noah Gragson

Corey LaJoie

Harrison Burton

Zane Smith

Ty Gibbs

Kaz Grala

Ryan Preece

Martin Truex, Jr.

Daniel Hemric

Erik Jones

Alex Bowman

John Hunter Nemechek

Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.

Austin Dillon

Christopher Bell

Austin Cindric

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