Tire Troubles Plague NASCAR Chevy Teams At Iowa 2024: Video

After winning the pole position, it looked like Kyle Larson’s No. 5 NASCAR Chevy Camaro ZL1 seemed to be the race car to beat at Iowa Speedway in the inaugural Cup Series race on June 16^th, 2024. Late in the race, though, Larson’s ride to victory was cut short when he suffered a flat tire. He wasn’t the only Bow Tie racer to struggle with tire wear during the race, and it seemed to be a theme on the patched surface of the 7/8-mile short track.

Larson had to pit from the lead on Lap 80 to address an apparent tire issue, restarting deep in the field when the race went green. While he eventually muscled his way back to the front, he was later involved in a second incident after contact with the No. 99 Camaro of Daniel Suárez sent him into the No. 11 Toyota TRD Camry of Denny Hamlin. While his race car was repaired, he finished 34^th, over 30 laps down.

Ross Chastain’s No. 1 NASCAR Chevy also suffered a blown tire, as did the No. 7 Camaro of Corey Lajoie. With 81 laps left, Kyle Busch’s No. 8 Camaro suffered a mechanical issue, sending him to the garage and relegating him to a 35^th-place result.

Ryan Blaney’s No. 12 Ford Mustang Dark Horse crossed the line first, followed by William Byron’s No. 24 Camaro, Chase Elliott’s No. 9 Camaro, Christopher Bell’s No. 20 Camry, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s No. 47 Camaro rounding out the top five.

“No, [Blaney] had a really good car, so he was up front and contending a lot, and him and the 5 [Larson] were really good,” Byron said. “So, we were just a step off of that, you know? I feel like I just needed to turn the center just a hair better and still kind of maintain the long run. Proud of the effort. It was a really good night, and I feel like we can learn from this and build from it to be a little bit better.”

# – Rookie
i – Points ineligible
* – Part-time driver

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