Ty Gibbs holds on to win NASCAR Cup
Series race at Iowa Speedway
[August 10, 2026]
By JOHN BOHNENKAMP
NEWTON, Iowa (AP) — Ty Gibbs didn’t question his crew chief’s final
pit call.
“I can’t do anything about it, so you just run with it,” Gibbs said.
Gibbs used late pit strategy and held off Joe Gibbs Racing teammate
Christopher Bell over the final 20 laps to win the NASCAR Cup Series
race Sunday at Iowa Speedway.
Gibbs — the 23-year-old grandson of former NFL coaching great and
NASCAR team owner Joe Gibbs — won by 0.253 seconds over Bell for his
second victory of the season and his career.
Gibbs and Bell each pitted with 60 laps remaining in the 350-lap
race, but while Bell took four tires, Gibbs just went with two
right-side tires, and came out ahead. And when leader Ross Chastain
pitted on Lap 330, Gibbs took over the top spot and fought off a
late charge by Bell.
Tyler Allen, Gibbs’ crew chief, thought taking two tires was the
only chance to get ahead of Bell in that final pit cycle.
“We knew after practice the left sides weren’t wearing much and they
tended to refire OK,” Allen said. “So in terms of coming into the
race, it was definitely a viable option.”
Gibbs liked the aggressive call.
“I think in the position with our points situation, for sure,” he
said.
Gibbs, who picked up his first career win April 12 at Bristol, came
into the race ranked fourth in the season standings, and moved into
second — 103 points behind JGR teammate Denny Hamlin.
Gibbs, who had an issue in the pits on his first stop of the day
when his jack fell too early during the tire change, fell back to
28th before charging back.
“You’re kind of hosed after that deal,” Gibbs said. “So you’ve got
to stay locked in and keep working.”
It was the seventh second-place finish of the season for Bell, who
led 108 laps.
“Ty did a really good job,” Bell said. “He did a great job of
managing the race.”
Pole-sitter Ryan Blaney, who won the inaugural 2024 Cup Series race
at the 0.875-mile oval, was third after leading a race-high 129
laps.
Josh Berry finished fourth. It was Berry’s best finish of the
season, and only his third top-10 finish. Hamlin finished fifth.
Chase Briscoe was sixth. Chastain recovered to finish seventh. AJ
Allmendinger was eighth, followed by defending race winner William
Byron. Austin Dillon was 10th.
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Ty Gibbs, top, celebrates with crew members after winning a NASCAR
Cup Series auto race, Sunday, Aug. 9, 2026, at Iowa Speedway in
Newton, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Reddick’s struggles
Tyler Reddick’s summer struggles continued when he crashed into Erik
Jones four laps into the race.
The rear end of Reddick’s car slid entering Turn 1, and Reddick ran
into Jones before hitting the wall. Reddick finished last in the
36-car field.
“A 100% that was on me,” Reddick said. “It’s something I don’t
normally do, make those kinds of mistakes. Just gut-wrenching on a
lot of levels. I thought we kind of figured out what we needed to do
for the race today, and made a killer mistake earlier.”
Reddick won the first three races of the season, and four of the
first six, and has five wins overall. But he has had four finishes
of 30th place or worse in the last six races.
No brakes, all gas for Hamlin
Hamlin had brake issues during practice Saturday, which led to the
team changing brake rotors and a cooling unit. Hamlin had to go to
the rear of the field, but surged back to finish fifth despite
having more brake issues during the race.
“I just had white knuckles every lap, not knowing where my car was
going to land when I got in the corner,” Hamlin said. “That was a
crazy race to have to do it the whole time without (brakes), but
you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do, and the team did an amazing
job. I would take that day a hundred out of a hundred times.”
“I’ve never seen Denny that exhausted,” Joe Gibbs said. “I think he
drove his heart out.”
Up next
The Cup Series moves to Richmond Raceway on Saturday night.
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