TC Daily Pit Stop: Byron Stretches the Fuel to Score Second Win of 2025 Season; Hocevar Confronted by Zane Smith's Crew Chief Post-Race
TC Daily Pit Stop: Monday, August 4th, 2025
William Byron Regains Point Lead With Fume-Fueled Iowa Win
William Byron was able to finally put an end to a miserable cold streak that he had found himself in, and in the process, he scored his first win since the season-opening Daytona 500 as he stretched his fuel load 35 laps past the expected fuel window on the final run of Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350 at Iowa Speedway.
It wasn’t the strategy of Byron and his crew chief, Rudy Fugle, to play the fuel-saving strategy, but when a rash of cautions flew in the final Stage of the race, it allowed Byron to use much less fuel than expected, which gave them a fighting chance to pull it off.
“Man, how about that for some fuel mileage,” Byron quipped in his USA Network victory interview. “We’ve had our fair share of things not go our way with fuel mileage, and just super thankful for Rudy, all these guys, all the engineers, all the engineers back at the shop. Just this whole race team, we’ve been through a lot this year. It’s been a lot of growing pains. It’s been tough on us. But it feels really good today to get a win.”
Turned out, the unplanned strategy was the winning one as Byron held off Chase Briscoe and the hard-charging Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney for the race win, and he had just enough fuel to perform a burnout.
With his 15th career win, Byron also regained the NASCAR Cup Series regular-season point lead.
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OFFICIAL RACE RESULTS
UPDATED POINTS: DRIVER | OWNER | ROOKIE | MANUFACTURER
Bergenty to Hocevar: ‘When Are You Going to Learn How to F—ing Drive?’
Carson Hocevar secured a solid eighth-place run in Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350 at Iowa Speedway, which was a great result, but it came at the cost of angering yet another competitor.
On Lap 230, Hocevar got loose in Turn 2, and collided with Zane Smith, which sent Smith backing hard into the outside wall. Smith, who attempted to retaliate on Hocevar on track, would putt-putt to a 36th-place finish.
After the race, Smith’s crew chief, Ryan Bergenty, sought out Hocevar on pit road, and gave him a piece of his mind.
“Hey, when are you going to learn how to f—ing drive, dude?” Bergenty is heard asking Hocevar in a video shared to X by Stephen Stumpf of Frontstretch.com. “I mean, you wiped us the f— out.”
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Other NASCAR Headlines:
NASCAR Power Rankings: Where All 36 Cup Drivers Stand After Iowa
Wallace Makes Up Two Laps, Gains 26 Spots in Final Run to Finish 6th
Sam Mayer Returns to Iowa Victory Lane for Second Straight Year
Brent Crews Motorsports Fielding No. 70 Truck at Watkins Glen
LEGACY MOTOR CLUB Granted 10-Day TRO to Prevent Closing of Rick Ware Racing Sale
Spire Motorsports Lands Two-Race Partnership with Fly Alliance
Despite Rumors, Chris Rice Says Kaulig Xfinity Program ‘Not Shutting Down’
Southern Tier Security Joins Josh Bilicki, Garage 66 for Watkins Glen
Iowa Weekend Resources:
Cup Results: Practice | Qualifying | Race
Xfinity Results: Practice | Qualifying | Race
Entry Lists: Cup | Xfinity
2025 NASCAR Season Resources:
Schedules: NASCAR Cup | NASCAR Xfinity | NASCAR Trucks
Driver Points: NASCAR Cup | NASCAR Xfinity | NASCAR Trucks
Owner Points: NASCAR Cup | NASCAR Xfinity | NASCAR Trucks
Rookie Standings: NASCAR Cup | NASCAR Xfinity | NASCAR Trucks
Manufacturer Standings: NASCAR Cup | NASCAR Xfinity | NASCAR Trucks
2025 Driver/Team Charts: NASCAR Cup | NASCAR Xfinity | NASCAR Trucks