NEWTON, Iowa — It was a repeat win at the Iowa Speedway, as Sam Mayer clinched the HyVee Perks 250 for the second year in a row.  

“To get two wins here, especially back-to-back when the cup series comes and Xfinity returns, call us the king of the hill,” said Mayer.

Jesse Love had the fastest car during Xfinity qualifying. The race started with an early caution in lap two, after Ryan Seig made contact with Austin Dillon. As drivers continue to battle grip changes throughout the track.  

“The racetrack itself is totally different, even just looking at it right now, it’s crazy how different it raced,” said Mayer.

Connor Zillich and Ross Chastain led for the majority of the race, but Mayer was able to make the last laps count.  

“It was a rollercoaster of a day, to say the least. We were up to third for a while, fell really far back, and then messed up on pit road. It was a very dynamic race for us. To have the best part of our race be at the end and to get the checkered flag is something special,” said Mayer.  

After leading the Xfinity race at Indy, Mayer was overtaken in the closing laps, making Mayer’s first win of the season at Iowa all the sweeter. 

This weekend of racing all leads up to Sunday’s Cup race.  

Chase Briscoe won the pole in qualifying, saying he was surprised by how different the track was from the tire test back in June, from a partial repave last season.  

“It’s kind of surprising how much faster the top lane is this time around. Last year, it was just really really slick, where this time it’s just been fast from the get-go,” said Briscoe

While Briscoe found success, other drivers like Kyle Busch struggled during practice, losing control out of turn one, hitting the wall, and switching to a backup car.  

Depending on who you ask, opinions on the track vary.  

“It’s hard, I nearly busted it there in one lap, obviously some others did so, it’s hard,’ said Denny Hamlin, NASCAR Cup Series Driver

“It is significantly more drivable but still has good pace, good grip, so that’s exciting to me,” said Brad Keselowski, NASCAR Cup Series Driver.

It’ll be a race fans won’t want to miss, at the fastest short track on the planet, the green flag drops on the Iowa Corn 350 Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Central Time.