The Cup Series starting lineup is set at Iowa Speedway. Ryan Blaney, a former winner at the short track, has put himself at the front of the pack while a former teammate and fellow champion crashed.
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Blaney, the 2023 Cup Series champion, qualified first with a lap of 23.474 seconds. This marks his 15th career pole win and his third of the season.
MORE: Iowa Cup Series Starting Lineup
Kyle Larson qualified second with a lap of 23.492 seconds. He barely missed out on scoring Hendrick Motorsports' first pole win of the season. He will line up next to Joey Logano, who qualified third with a time of 23.492 seconds.
Brad Keselowski had qualified fourth overall at the short track. However, he spun and crashed on his second of two laps. His No. 6 Ford Mustang sustained heavy damage, which means he will have to drop to the rear of the field as the team either makes repairs or pulls out the backup car.
Trouble for @keselowski in #BuschLightPole qualifying!
He spins in Turn 1 and backs the No. 6 Ford into the wall. pic.twitter.com/GXZx9Dq3qX
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 8, 2026
The rest of the top 10 included Tyler Reddick (23.523), Ty Gibbs (23.545), Austin Dillon (23.545), Connor Zilisch (23.550), Ross Chastain (23.566), and Erik Jones (23.595).
This race at Iowa Speedway marks the first time in Zilisch's Cup Series career that he will start inside the top 10 on an oval track. He achieved this despite being the first car out on the track during Saturday's qualifying session.
Keselowski will not be the only driver dropping to the rear of the field for the race at Iowa Speedway. Chase Elliott also had to head to the garage for repairs after sustaining some damage in practice. He qualified 32nd, but he will lose his starting position.
Denny Hamlin, who qualified 29th with a lap of 23.762 seconds, had persistent brake issues throughout Saturday's on-track sessions. The No. 11 team will have to make some changes to the car overnight to address the issue. This will fall into the unapproved category.
Hamlin's teammate, Chase Briscoe, also had brake issues. The team changed rotors during practice, but the issues continued. He eventually qualified 20th with a lap of 23.663 seconds.
The Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway will take place on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET. USA Network will broadcast the race for the first time this season with Leigh Diffey, Jeff Burton, and Steve Letarte in the booth.
