Despite starting P12 and running in the top-10 early at Iowa Speedway, Denny Hamlin and his No. 11 Toyota fell like a rock. The first five laps went well, but it has been downhill for the NASCAR driver since then.

Kyle Larson shot out from the field like a cannonball. He is by far the most dominant driver early on in this Iowa Speedway race. Denny Hamlin on the other hand went DOWN a lap after just 34 laps on the track.

Tires are the big story but it appears that Hamlin is having more than just tire troubles. Will the 11 team get things figured out?

Between last week’s race at Sonoma and the start of this one, things have been falling off for Denny Hamlin and his team. Short tracks are usually a strength for Hamlin and his crew. But Iowa Speedway is a new track for him.

While other, younger drivers have raced at Iowa in the past, Hamlin has not. He was already a full-time Cup Series driver by the time Iowa Speedway was built. So no Xfinity, Truck, or ARCA starts for Hamlin at the facility.

Could it be that his unfamiliarity with the track is to blame? I’m not so sure. Hamlin is a veteran and as I mentioned, short tracks are his thing. Unless the 11 crew can make adjustments, the day might be over before it starts for the second straight week.

Denny Hamlin needs to get it figured out

Up until the last two weeks, Denny Hamlin has looked like a true championship contender. As he continues to age, his opportunities are going to continue to vanish. Hamlin has three wins on the year, four if you include the Busch Light Clash. But he can’t afford these moments.

In a tightly contested fight for the regular season championship, and the 15 bonus playoff points that come with it, Hamlin is battling Larson. Every stage and every position matters when it comes to this race for the regular season title.

Then again, Larson is starting to look like he did in 2021. Remember his three straight wins during that summer? Well, it happened right around this time. With the pole award locked up and a strong first stage, Larson has back-to-back wins in mind right now.

Denny Hamlin has to get it figured out sooner rather than later. If the tires are such a big deal in this race, he might have a chance. Catch a few breaks, get into a groove, and try to pass.

Marco Battaglia announced on June 16 that he will run for Congress in Iowa’s third district as a Libertarian. His platform includes “promoting agricultural and medical freedom,” combating inflation with “sound money and sound economic reasoning,” and being “a voice for peace and prosperity.”

A longtime resident of Des Moines, Battaglia was the Libertarian nominee for Iowa attorney general in 2018 and for lieutenant governor in 2022, on a ticket with Rick Stewart. Libertarians regained major-party status in Iowa following that election, because Stewart received more than 2 percent of the vote for governor.

A Libertarian convention on June 8 nominated Battaglia, along with two other U.S. House candidates: Lone Tree city council member Nicholas Gluba in the first district, and Charles Aldrich in the fourth district. Aldrich was the Libertarian nominee for Iowa’s U.S. Senate seat in 2016; he later was the party’s 2018 candidate in IA-04 and ran for an Iowa House seat in 2022.

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NEWTON, Iowa — Tonight’s inaugural Cup race at Iowa Speedway comes with a variety of questions for drivers and teams.

A sold-out crowd will be on hand to witness the event, which will air on USA Network (pre-race coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. ET)

Here is a look at three things to watch in tonight’s race:

How will the tires perform?

Five Cup teams had tire issues in Friday’s 50-minute practice. All had issues around 20 laps on a set of tires. Christopher Bell, Austin Cindric, Tyler Reddick and Ty Gibbs each had a right front tire go down in practice. Ross Chastain had a left rear go down in practice.

“What is even more concerning and makes it way more confusing is the fact that we had three cars out here at a tire test that did 50-lap runs and none of us blew a tire,” Bell said after Friday’s practice. “So, I don’t know. But yes, It is very, very alarming and there are red flags all over the place that we had so many tire issues today.”

Bell did the tire confirmation test May 28 with Kyle Larson and Brad Keselowski.

There was a feeling by some in the garage that some of the tire issues Friday could have been related to lower air pressures.

A key will be how teams react and how the track changes as the race progresses into the night and cooler temperatures.

Who will be the inaugural winner?

Kyle Larson will start on the pole, but he says he thinks many drivers enter this race believing they can win.

“I think there’s still so much unknown, so I think that’s exciting for race fans and all that … even drivers,” Larson said. “There’s probably more drivers in the field that feel like they have an opportunity to have a good run because if this (track surface) was old, worn out, bumpy – your Hendrick Motorsports teams, your Joe Gibbs Racing teams, they’re going to be the ones dominating.

“Where now, I feel like – especially with qualifying shaking-up the order and all that, I think the starting lineup is a little bit odd. So yeah, I think more teams probably feel like they have an opportunity.

Joey Logano enters this weekend at Iowa outside the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs with 10 races left in the regular season.

One driver to watch could be Joey Logano, who starts 11th and has won three of the last eight races at newer events for the series.

Logano won the 2021 Bristol Dirt race, the 2022 Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and the inaugural Cup race at World Wide Technology Raceway in 2022.

Logano’s most recent win came in last month’s All-Star Race on a repaved North Wilkesboro Speedway.

Playoff bubble

Bubba Wallace enters the race holding the final playoff spot.

Two former champions are close behind. Kyle Busch is eight points behind Wallace. Logano is 16 points behind Wallace. Chase Briscoe is 27 points behind Wallace.

Wallace starts 16th. Busch starts seventh. Logano starts 11th. Briscoe starts sixth.

Nine races will remain in the regular season after Sunday night’s race.