“F— every single motherf—– god—it!” Kyle Larson was clearly not in a fuzzy mood during the Iowa Corn 350 race, as his radio chatter showed. It wasn’t just a bad day behind the wheel; it was a race that tested patience across the board. From messy cautions to aggressive driving, the event quickly turned sour for Larson and many others. By the time the checkered flag waved, the Iowa race had earned a spot in the bad books of not just Larson, but a good chunk of the NASCAR community.

John Deere planted a seven-acre corn drawing spelling out “I-O-W-A C-O-R-N” in the hills behind the backstretch at Iowa Speedway. But the race was ‘cornier’ than everyone expected. Despite William Byron working hard on his much-awaited second win of 2025, fans did not like the race.

The strange events of Iowa

The beginning of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season didn’t win many fans over. Controversial coverage from FOX Sports and persistent flaws in the Next-Gen car left viewers frustrated, as top drivers lost golden chances to win. A brief spark of excitement arrived with Amazon Prime’s debut, which impressed fans with its innovative broadcast features. Even last week’s Brickyard 400, aired by TNT Sports, delivered thrills as Bubba Wallace masterfully held off Kyle Larson in double overtime. But that momentum screeched to a halt in Iowa. The first stage of the race was clean, but Stage 2 saw 11 cautions that wildly shuffled strategies. Still, the most mind-boggling moment came from William Byron’s improbable path to victory.

The Hendrick Motorsports driver had several worthy rivals in his path. Chase Briscoe, the polesitter, was a constant threat. Brad Keselowski won the first two stages with a solid aim to get into the playoffs. Ryan Blaney, the defending race winner, also hotly pursued the race lead. However, all of them fell to William Byron’s unbeatable fuel mileage strategy. Jeff Gluck posted on X about his victory run at the 0.875-mile oval, where the pit window is estimated at about 115 to 120 green-flag laps. Gluck wrote, “William Byron last pitted on Lap 206. He then went 144 laps on fuel — 18 laps less fuel than Briscoe had. The closest driver in the field to him was Bowman, who still had eight more laps of fuel than Byron.”

Hence, Lady Luck was on William Byron‘s side somehow. Byron’s margin of victory over second-place Briscoe was 1.192 seconds. Keselowski was in third and Blaney was in fourth, both within a car length of the runner-up at the finish line. Byron also confessed to his surprise post-race, admitting how he expected his car to run out of fuel. He said, “Honestly, felt like we had a good car and just kind of raced it and just tried to be there at the end, and we were. Luckily, the fuel was enough at the end. I think I ran out right there, that’s why I stopped.”

Well, William Byron is now strongly in the championship conversation, toppling his teammate for the first place in points again. However, fans were hardly happy about the event, which lent him this glory.

NASCAR fans berate the defects

Jeff Gluck posts his ‘Good Race Poll’ every weekend. However, fans broached the topic even before his post for Iowa Speedway, commenting on Gluck’s post about Byron’s dominance. After all, the lack of speed on his competitors’ cars baffled fans, and they traced it to NASCAR’s Next-Gen car. The low horsepower of 670 HP and difficulty of passing ultimately allowed Byron to win easily, as one fan implied. They questioned, “Will NASCAR ever make changes to this car, or are they going to let the sport die on this bad aero/low HP hill?” Another fan gave a sarcastic description of the Next-Gen car, pointing out all the features that make it boring. They wrote, “300 hp engines 50 inch wide tires 40 gallon tanks snooze fest.”

Even beyond Byron’s run, fans were disappointed. Brad Keselowski finished third, but the stage winner could have done more, as a fan said: “Absolutely freaking ridiculous. Half throttle around the whole track and Briscoe couldn’t catch him and Brad couldn’t get Briscoe. Time to throw away the next gen car and start over.” This lack of maneuverability on the Iowa track convinced fans about what kind of race it was. One fan tilted Jeff Gluck’s Good Race Poll on one side: “NO. I’m sending my response early.”

Others lamented about the focus of the racing storyline. Bubba Wallace ran from 33rd to a 6th-place finish. But instead of dissecting some really good runs like that, NASCAR’s limelight is on which driver had more fuel. So one fan bashed the sport in favor of lower rung series: “I really love when all we talk about during a race is whether or not someone has fuel. The cup series is a joke. All the lower series produce much better racing than this gimmick series called the Cup Series.”

Clearly, the Iowa race fell short of the expectations of many fans. With William Byron’s fuel mileage victory story already losing traction, let us see what the future races hold.