2026 NASCAR Cup Iowa starting lineup: Ryan Blaney beats Kyle Larson to pole

Ryan Blaney secured pole position for the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Iowa Corn 350 after producing a decisive final lap at Iowa Speedway on Saturday, August 8.

The Team Penske driver turned a lap of 23.474 seconds at 134.191 mph around the 0.875-mile Iowa oval, edging Kyle Larson by 0.018 seconds and earning the top spot for Sunday’s race.

“A really cool day,” Blaney said. “I appreciate the really fast car; the 12 Ford Mustang was fast in practice, was able to lay down a good lap, and honestly, my first lap wasn’t what I wanted.

“Fortunately, we had enough grip, the car came in, changed my line a little bit on the second one to run a little bit faster, and hung on for the pole.”

Larson will start second, while Blaney’s Team Penske teammate Joey Logano will roll off third after recording the same 23.492-second time as Larson but losing the tiebreaker.

Brad Keselowski appeared to be on course for one of the strongest qualifying performances of the day after posting a blistering opening lap but his session ended in the Turn 1 wall before he could complete the second lap.

Despite the incident, Keselowski’s first completed lap was fast enough to place him fourth on the starting grid ahead of 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick. Ty Gibbs was sixth, Austin Dillon seventh, Connor Zilisch eighth, Ross Chastain ninth and Erik Jones tenth.

Full 2026 NASCAR Cup Iowa starting lineup