The NASCAR Cup and Truck series return to Iowa from Aug. 7-9 for their yearly event at Iowa Speedway.
Just east of Des Moines, Iowa Speedway sits quietly as the premier racing facility in the state of Iowa. Opening in 2006, the track has hosted some of the highest levels of oval racing in the United States with IndyCar and NASCAR.
The 0.875-mile course is self-labeled as the fastest short oval track in the world, making it a fan favorite for racing.
The NASCAR Cup Series first raced at Iowa Speedway in 2024 under the Iowa Corn 350, a name that will still be run in 2026. Ryan Blaney won the first race at the track for Team Penske in 2024, and William Byron won in 2025 for Hendrick Motorsports.
The Cup Series race will be at 2:30 p.m. Central Time on Aug. 9, with the 350 laps taking an average of just over three hours of racing.
The Cup Series isn’t the only series taking the track on the weekend of the ninth, though, with the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series (NOAPS) on Saturday the eighth and the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) on Friday the seventh.
NOAPS was previously referred to as the Xfinity Series and has raced at Iowa Speedway since 2011 under the title of the Hy-Vee PERKS 250.
After a hiatus from 2020 to 2023, NOAPS has been a consistent series at Iowa Speedway, with Sam Mayer winning for JR Motorsports in 2024 before winning again in 2025 with Haas.
The 250 laps will begin on Aug. 8 at 4 p.m. Central Time, with the race taking an average of just over two hours.
ARCA, a series technically not a NASCAR series but still very similar, will be racing on the night of Aug. 7 under the lights starting at 6 p.m. Central Time.
ARCA was one of the first series to race at Iowa Speedway, with its first official race coming in Steve Wallace’s 2006 victory for Rusty Wallace Inc.
Since then, ARCA raced under the Shore Lunch 150 name from 2006 to 2020 before changing to the JR&CO 150 from 2021 to the present day.
In 2024, Connor Zilisch won at Iowa; he went on to win the NOAPS’ 2025 regular season championship, and he will be returning to Iowa in 2026 in the 88 car for the Cup Series.
In 2025, Brenden Queen won at Iowa; he went on to win the ARCA championship for 2025 before bowing out of the series at the top.
Iowa Speedway also used to host IndyCar around mid-August as well, typically running two races, one on Saturday night and the other on Sunday evening.
Due to poor attendance in 2025, the series decided to step away from the Speedway, instead opting to race at Phoenix early on in the year.