Spire Motorsports enters Sunday afternoon's Iowa Corn 350 with plenty of work ahead after a difficult showing in practice and qualifying at Iowa Speedway. It certainly was no encore from the Brickyard for Spire.
The organization struggled to find consistent speed around Iowa's 7/8-mile layout on Saturday, with none of its three cars qualifying inside the top 10.
Michael McDowell led the way for Spire, qualifying 11th in the No. 71 Chevrolet. While McDowell narrowly missed the top 10, his starting position gives him the best opportunity of the three Spire drivers to move toward the front early.
Carson Hocevar will have more ground to make up after qualifying 18th in the No. 77 Chevrolet. Hocevar has shown plenty of speed throughout the 2026 season, but Iowa has not produced the same results so far. Starting in the middle of the field puts an added emphasis on gaining track position early without getting caught up in trouble.
The toughest challenge belongs to Daniel Suárez.
#qualifying
The organization struggled to find consistent speed around Iowa's 7/8-mile layout on Saturday, with none of its three cars qualifying inside the top 10.
Michael McDowell led the way for Spire, qualifying 11th in the No. 71 Chevrolet. While McDowell narrowly missed the top 10, his starting position gives him the best opportunity of the three Spire drivers to move toward the front early.
Carson Hocevar will have more ground to make up after qualifying 18th in the No. 77 Chevrolet. Hocevar has shown plenty of speed throughout the 2026 season, but Iowa has not produced the same results so far. Starting in the middle of the field puts an added emphasis on gaining track position early without getting caught up in trouble.
The toughest challenge belongs to Daniel Suárez.
#qualifying
2 months ago
