Ty Gibbs celebrated his victory at Iowa Speedway in a unique way. 

He helped start the digging up of the track’s surface as it prepares to undergo a repave.

Gibbs and some others might wish they wouldn’t repave the track. And that’s because Gibbs showed that, if a driver could get a handle on the seventh-eighth-mile oval, it’s possible to pass. 

For Gibbs, a bad pit stop sent him to near the rear of the field early in the race. But he was still able to work his way to the front and hold off Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell.

Here are my takeaways after Gibbs earned his second career victory:

1. Two Times The Charm

Ty Gibbs raced into Victory Lane at Iowa for his second win of the season.

The first career victory for Gibbs at Bristol earlier this year will be hard to top.

But the second victory is important and Gibbs finally backed up that win from early in the year with the Iowa triumph. It took Gibbs 131 races to earn his first Cup victory. 

This one came just 15 races later.

“It just took us a little bit to figure out what I needed and what I needed in the team, and now we got it,” Gibbs said in his post-race news conference.

2. The Bell Tolls Second

Christopher Bell’s second-place streak continues.

Christopher Bell finished second. Tell me where you’ve heard that before.

Bell now has seven second-place finishes this year, including four of the last five races. And all that without a win. And this one was frustrating, even though he moved from 10th to sixth in the standings.

“This is what you call a bad second-place finish for sure,” Bell said in his USA Sports interview after the race. “I don’t know what else to say.

“Ty did a really good job. He did a great job managing the race. I could tell that he was slipping and sliding around. … He just didn’t make a mistake.”

3. Reddick, Hendrick Woes Continue

When will Reddick right the ship?

Tyler Reddick crashed on the fourth lap of the race and suffered his fourth finish of 30th or worse in the last six races. He took out Erik Jones, who is on the bubble to make The Chase, along the way.

“For us to take ourselves out is one thing, but to take out a fellow Toyota teammate when they are racing for The Chase pretty much ended their day as well. It is the type of stuff you don’t do to yourself, and you don’t do to a teammate,” Reddick said outside the medical center.

Reddick isn’t the only driver with recent woes. 

Chase Elliott wrecked in practice and had to overcome a bad pit stop to finish 15th for his ninth consecutive finish outside the top 10. His teammate Kyle Larson was 33rd after a wreck that also damaged Alex Bowman (34th).

Larson has finished 30th or worse in four of the last five races.

4. Josh Berry Surging 

Josh Berry is finally finding his footing.

Josh Berry, who already knows he is out of a ride at Wood Brothers Racing after this year (Jesse Love will replace him), finished fourth at Iowa. That was following his seventh-place finish at Indianapolis.

Those were the type of finishes Berry — who is 30th in the standings — had been hoping for all along. 

“We’ve just got to keep pushing,” Berry said in his USA Sports interview after the race. “I think we’ve got a lot of good tracks coming up.”

4 ½. What’s Next: Richmond

The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Richmond, a relatively flat 0.75-mile oval, for a Saturday night race. It is the only visit to Richmond for the series this year.

Austin Dillon has won the previous two races at Richmond. He captured the victory in 2024 but with controversy after having contact with Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin in the final turns. 

He won in 2025 with no drama.