Every NASCAR driver has a key race, one that changes the course of their career. For Brad Keselowski, his race at Iowa in the summer of 2009 was such. During that time, Keselowski wasn’t a household name like he now is. In fact, he had just 9 Cup Series starts and one win at Talladega Superspeedway under his belt, which most thought to be a fluke. But he was quick to change people’s minds at the Iowa Speedway race. 

On the inaugural day of the Iowa Speedway, Keselowski out-dueled Kyle Busch, who was one of the biggest stars of NASCAR back then. The 56,000 fans attending saw the making of a new NASCAR star. Since then, he has almost been the track’s unofficial spokesperson. And now given that NASCAR is racing at the track again after 2019, Keselowski is extremely excited, and in his excitement, shared a controversial take on the race.

Brad Keselowski excited for the racing at the Iowa Speedway

The practice on Friday had both the Cup and Xfinity cars act erratic on the freshly repaved track. But according to Brad Keselowski, the people are in for a treat! After practice on Friday and qualifying on Saturday, Brad Keselowski tweeted something controversial. In his tweet, he said, “ Controversial take: I think the track will be really good for passing tomorrow.” 

And Brad Keselowski’s opinion is not one to be taken lightly. He comes from a car-building family background and has the experience needed to make claims. So whether it’s setups or tire wear, he can be trusted. 

If Brad Keselowski’s claims and predictions come true, it would be a huge win for NASCAR. They have been on the constant hunt to find a good enough short track for the next-gen cars–and this could just be it! Plenty of passing and edge-of-seat moments for fans, who doesn’t want that? However, there is a huge ‘but’ ahead of the race. This is because even during the practice, a glaring issue with the tires came affront and on Saturday, the Xfinity race hinted towards a similar problem. 

Tire troubles overshadow Sam Mayer’s victory at Iowa’s Xfinity

Sam Mayer scored his second victory on the track for JR Motorsports. And it was literally out of breath battling it out with SHR’s Riley Herbst. But while he deserved all the limelight, he didn’t get much of it, and instead, the yellow flags did!

70% of the yellow flags were caused by Goodyear tires. Furthermore, the majority of such issues happened on the repaved sections of turns 2 and 4. The first to run into problems was A. J. Allmendinger. Just 35 laps into the event, the right front tire let go of his Chevrolet and sent him into the outside wall. But this was only the start of a long saga of tire failures at Iowa.

Jeb Burton was the next to fall victim to tire issues at the end of stage 1. However, it was a quick save for him because unlike others he still managed to finish 24th! However, Jesse Love was not as fortunate and ended up plastered on the outside wall at the end of stage 2. He was having a good day, just hovering outside the top 10 but slowly his car faded out battling issues.

Next was Justin Allgaier, who was excited about the race as his family and friends were watching him. But alas, on lap 203, his race was over. It was a right-front failure that put an end to his stint in the race. And lastly, Austin Hill! He grappled with tire issues the entire time, but his team did try to save the day by putting in a set of scuffed tires for the final charge to finish. But that didn’t work either. Just 33 laps were left when his left rear gave up and into the wall, he went! 

With rampant tire issues, cup drivers might have to recoup and strategize what their plans are for their upcoming race. Brad Keselowski has already made claims that it is indeed going to be a race with many passes, indicating how exciting it would be.

But how can there be awesome passing, if tire issues have the most rush for the grass? Maybe they can take a page out of Sam Mayer’s ‘Ace at Iowa’ book! What did you think of the Xfinity race? Let us know in the comments.