William Byron took the checkered flag at the Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol at the Iowa Speedway in Newton on Sunday.

A large spat of cautions in Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350 allowed Byron to save a significant amount of fuel, and that proved the difference in Byron’s second victory of the season and first since the DAYTONA 500. Squeezing 144 laps out of his fuel cell at a sold-out Iowa Speedway track where the fuel window is roughly 100 laps, Byron crossed the finish line ahead of a trio of pursuers—pole winner Chase Briscoe, first and second stage winner Brad Keselowski and defending race winner Ryan Blaney—all on different strategies.

 Byron’s margin of victory over second-place Briscoe was 1.192 seconds, with Keselowski in third and Blaney in fourth both within a car-length of the runner-up at the finish line. After running in the top five for most of last Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Byron ran out of fuel in overtime while running third. With Fugle coaxing him repeatedly to save fuel at Iowa, Byron conserved just enough.

 With his first victory at the 0.875-mile short track and the 15th of his career, Byron regained the series lead by 18 points over teammate Chase Elliott, who finished 14th after pitting for fuel on Lap 283 of 350. What enabled Byron to stretch his fuel to 144 laps was a series of seven quick cautions within 65 laps of the start of the final stage. All told, 12 cautions slowed the race for 72 laps. Briscoe got close to Byron during the final 64-lap green-flag run but couldn’t challenge for the lead. Needing a victory to qualify for the Cup Series Playoffs, Keselowski won the first two stages, but his fuel advantage on the final run was negated by the abundant cautions. Byron led 141 laps to 81 for Briscoe and 68 for Keselowski.

After the race Byron said that Iowa Speedway is becoming one of his favorite places to race.

“I’m not sure where it goes from here, but we’re going to just keep coming here. It was awesome today. The fans, the facility is so clean and nice and I love this area so it’s quickly becoming one of my favorite cup destinations. It was already that in Xfinity and Trucks but it’s quickly becoming that in cup as well.” 

 The quest for the final Playoff spots continues in next Sunday’s Go Bowling at the Glen on the road course at Watkins Glen International.