William Byron predominantly thrived on fuel. For the past two months, there has been more talk about fuel mileage than Sunoco would prefer. Fuel mileage was the deciding factor in four of the last five traditional oval races — Michigan, Pocono, Indianapolis, and now Iowa. Byron extended his fuel by way longer than expected at the 0.875-mile oval. But this jaw-dropping phenomenon was only made possible by one thing.

Cautions are the name of the game at superspeedways like Daytona or downforce tracks like Indianapolis. However, they are rare in Iowa, short track. Its race displays a narrow groove and not enough tire wear, given a recent repave. Despite this, Lady Luck beckoned in William Byron’s favor.

William Byron marvels at his own fortune

For 18 of 23 races this Cup Series season, William Byron was the points leader. However, the impact of a gap of more than two months devoid of a top-five finish finally showed itself. Chase Elliott toppled Byron’s monster hold in Indy, where the latter ran out of fuel. Almost on cue, Byron worked towards grabbing the top spot back again. Things would not have worked out under normal circumstances, as Brad Keselowski and Chase Briscoe had faster cars at the Iowa Corn 350. However, Lady Luck intervened. Between laps 171 and 282, 11 yellow flags were waved.

According to William Byron, that situation pushed him to succeed at Iowa. He made his final pit stop on lap 206 of Iowa and extended the pit window beyond the estimated 115-120 green flag laps. However, he ended up leading for the last 141 laps en route to his victory. In a recent Dale Jr. Download episode, the Hendrick Motorsports driver reflected on the jittery situation he faced: “We were like right on that edge…So we had pitted more recently than a lot of guys. We had fresh tires, so we were passing people, you know, getting back up through those guys.”

Then, the cautions came. One by one, they restored faith in William Byron about winning at Iowa. He continued, “There were one or two cautions that kind of made our day like…just get a long run where tires start to wear and guys start to have issues. And that’s gonna put us in a position where now everyone has to pit later on. Well, that was kind of our goal. We just needed one long run. When the long run wasn’t happening, it was like, okay, now we’re making our bet more towards…just stretching this. I think before the last two cautions, we felt pretty confident that if we just got one or two more cautions, there was a potential we could just make it to the end.”

The unending caution flags ended up axing his rivals’ pace, who could not keep up with William Byron in the final laps. Despite the showstopper performance of Byron in Iowa, the track’s future hangs in the balance.

Looking at a bleak prospect

Iowa Speedway opened back in 2006 and has been under NASCAR’s wing since 2013. This season, the NTT IndyCar Series had depressing attendance ratings for the oval. Despite that ominous sign, the 24,000 grandstand seats for the Iowa NASCAR Cup Series race were sold out a month earlier. What is more, the Iowa Corn 350 race was the most-watched sport on USA Network over the past weekend. Many Cup Series veterans, such as Denny Hamlin and Keselowski, have rooted for Iowa’s continued existence on the schedule. However, the signs do not look so good for Iowa. NASCAR Xfinity Series veteran Kenny Wallace recently shed light on the news he heard.

As it turns out, even NASCAR’s executive leadership is not too sure about Iowa. Mike Forde, NASCAR’s managing director of racing communications, recently divulged his concerns on ‘Hauler Talk’. When asked about the future of Iowa Speedway, he said, “TBD. As far as what we’re looking at for next year’s schedule, I think we’re probably three weeks away from when that schedule would drop. Haven’t heard anything one way or the other on Iowa except all positives. I don’t have any inside information. If I did, I wouldn’t be able to talk about it anyway.” Forde also talked about the fans who attended the race. “They come out, and they show their love for Iowa, and they’re voting with their wallet on whether it should be on the schedule. I imagine the powers that be will take that into account.”

Clearly, William Byron’s venue of redemption faces an uncertain fate. Meanwhile, Byron will bank on his Iowa success to plunge into the 2025 playoffs.