Ty Gibbs wins Iowa Cup race on two-tire pit call
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- Ty Gibbs won Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway, beating teammate Christopher Bell by 0.253 seconds for his second victory of the season and career.
- Crew chief Tyler Allen called for only two right-side tires on Gibbs's final stop with 60 laps remaining while Bell took four — a call Allen said was the "only chance" to beat Bell out of the pits.
- Gibbs recovered from a first-stop pit mishap (jack fell early, dropping him to 28th) and climbed from fourth to second in the season standings, now 103 points behind teammate Denny Hamlin.
- Christopher Bell finished second for the seventh time this season after leading 108 laps, while pole-sitter Ryan Blaney was third after pacing a race-high 129 laps.
- Tyler Reddick crashed into Erik Jones on Lap 4 and finished last in the 36-car field, extending a summer slump with four finishes of 30th or worse in his past six races.
- Denny Hamlin finished fifth despite ongoing brake issues throughout the race, after his team swapped brake rotors and a cooling unit following Saturday practice problems.
- The Cup Series heads to Richmond Raceway next Saturday night.
Why it matters: Gibbs's two-tire gamble vaulted him from fourth to second in the standings, tightening the JGR title fight to 103 points behind Hamlin. It also showed how strategic pit calls — not raw pace — decided a race where Bell led 108 laps but still came up empty.
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