Road America's Cadillac comeback, Car Blanche's rain gamble and Iowa's Cup return: Week 32
Road America's six-hour IMSA race reshaped four class title fights, Car Blanche's rain-soaked Pilot Challenge win added a new team to the winners' list, and Iowa now anchors the NASCAR Cup, O'Reilly and regional schedule.
Road America rearranged several IMSA title fights: Wayne Taylor Racing's No. 10 Cadillac won the six-hour WeatherTech race, Car Blanche won the Michelin Pilot Challenge GS class in changing conditions, and David Gravel and Buddy Kofoid split the Williams Grove World of Outlaws weekend. NASCAR had no Cup race in the July 27-August 2 window; the next live Cup weekend is Iowa, with ARCA and O'Reilly races on the same bill.
The week in results
| Series / event | Finishing order | Race note and championship effect |
|---|---|---|
| IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix at Road America | Overall / GTP: 1 No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing, Filipe Albuquerque / Ricky Taylor; 2 No. 5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Porsche, Laurin Heinrich / Tijmen van der Helm / Kaylen Frederick; 3 No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing, Jordan Taylor / Louis Deletraz. LMP2: 1 No. 43 Inter Europol, Jeremy Clarke / Bijoy Garg / Tom Dillmann; 2 No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR; 3 No. 11 TDS Racing. 1 | WTR's first GTP win since Detroit in 2024 came after the ninth and final full-course caution. Jack Aitken's GTP lead over Heinrich fell to an unofficial 108 points with two races left. Inter Europol won LMP2 for the second straight race; George Kurtz and Alex Quinn still lead Clarke and Dillmann by 36 points with two races remaining. IMSA said the results were unofficial pending review of the late No. 6 Porsche / No. 31 Cadillac collision. 1 |
| IMSA WeatherTech GT classes, Road America | GTD PRO: 1 No. 9 Pfaff Lamborghini, Andrea Caldarelli / Sandy Mitchell; 2 No. 77 AO Racing Porsche, Nick Tandy / Harry King; 3 No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller, Tommy Milner / Nicky Catsburg. GTD: 1 No. 57 Winward Mercedes-AMG, Russell Ward / Philip Ellis / Indy Dontje; 2 No. 023 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari; 3 No. 068 Car Blanche Aston Martin, provisional after post-race review. 2 | Pfaff gave the new-for-2026 Lamborghini Temerario GT3 its first IMSA and North American race win, ending Pfaff's 36-race winless streak. Winward's second straight win left Ward and Ellis 24 points behind GTD leader Eduardo Barrichello. In GTD PRO, Neil Verhagen and Connor De Phillippi held the lead, but their 11th-place finish cut the margin to 15 points over Milner and Catsburg. 2 |
| IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, Road America 120 | GS: 1 No. 66 Car Blanche Aston Martin, Allen Patten / Trenton Estep; 2 No. 46 Team TGM Ford, Matt Plumb / Paul Holton; 3 No. 54 PanAm Motorsport Toyota, Caio Chaves / Guilherme Salas. TCR: 1 No. 76 Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai, Denis Dupont / Preston Brown; 2 No. 55 Gou Racing Audi, Celso Neto / Eddie Gou; 3 No. 33 Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai, Mason Filippi / Bryson Morris. 3 | Car Blanche won overall and in GS in only its third IMSA start, after a wet-to-drying race and a late pass with 18 minutes left. Noaker and Cicero finished 11th but extended their GS points lead to 100. Brown and Dupont gained 50 points on their TCR-leading teammates Filippi and Morris, who still lead the No. 76 by 150 with three races left. The No. 44 Ibiza Farm McLaren also received a post-race time penalty for incident responsibility. 3 |
| World of Outlaws Sprint Cars, Williams Grove Summer Nationals opener, Aug. 1 | 1 Michael "Buddy" Kofoid, 2 Daryn Pittman, 3 David Gravel, 4 Logan Schuchart, 5 Brent Marks. 4 | Kofoid's flag-to-flag win was his 10th World of Outlaws victory of 2026 and moved him back to second in points. The Outlaws took a 3-2 lead over the Pennsylvania Posse for the season rivalry. 4 |
| World of Outlaws Sprint Cars, Williams Grove Summer Nationals finale, Aug. 2 | 1 David Gravel, 2 Logan Schuchart, 3 Logan Rumsey, 4 Dylan Norris, 5 Sheldon Haudenschild. 5 | Gravel held off Schuchart on the final lap for his 10th win of 2026 and a $20,000 payday. The Outlaws swept the weekend and now lead the PA Posse 4-2; Rumsey's third place was his first World of Outlaws podium. 5 |
| NASCAR Cup Series | No race in the July 27-August 2 window. The current NASCAR guide lists the next live Cup event as the Iowa Corn 350 on Sunday, Aug. 9. 6 | The off-week leaves Iowa as the next Cup points checkpoint, with the race shown at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network. 6 |
The points and competition desk
Road America was more than a long Sunday. Aitken's GTP advantage is still large, but Heinrich's second place and the late retirement of the No. 31 Cadillac turned a comfortable-looking championship into a live two-race fight. LMP2 is closer: Kurtz and Quinn have only 36 points over Inter Europol's Clarke and Dillmann, who just won their second race in a row. 1
The GT classes shifted in opposite directions. Winward's GTD win put Ward and Ellis within 24 points of Barrichello, while Pfaff's new Lamborghini win exposed the GTD PRO standings: Verhagen and De Phillippi still lead, but only by 15 over Milner and Catsburg. The GTD PRO result remains provisional because Car Blanche's third-place GTD classification changed after review of the final caution. 2
Team, driver and rules desk
Carson Brown, 18, will make his NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series debut Saturday at Iowa in the No. 32 Chevrolet for Jordan Anderson Racing Bommarito Autosport. He will also run Friday's ARCA race at Iowa, and NASCAR's announcement notes that Brown already has four ARCA poles, eight top-three finishes in 11 starts, and an RCR driver-development contract. 7
The most consequential Cup rules note remains dated July 15 rather than this past week, but it affects the regular-season finale. NASCAR's Daytona package uses a four-inch spoiler instead of seven inches, wide splitter stuffers, a 27/32-inch tapered spacer that should put the cars near 465 horsepower, and redesigned spoiler hardware. The package is scheduled for the Aug. 29 Daytona race and is not guaranteed beyond that event. 8
This week's watch list, in UTC
The NASCAR listings below convert the guide's Eastern Time to UTC. Re-airs are omitted. The Iowa weekend page provides the more precise 2:05 p.m. and 3:10 p.m. ET Cup session times; where a series has no exact time in the official listing, the entry says so.
| UTC date and time | Event and venue | Broadcast / stream |
|---|---|---|
| Fri, Aug. 7, 23:00 | ARCA Menards Series JR&CO 150, Iowa Speedway | FS1, FOX One, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. 69 |
| Sat, Aug. 8, 15:30 | O'Reilly Auto Parts Series practice, Iowa Speedway | ESPN Unlimited. 6 |
| Sat, Aug. 8, 16:30 | O'Reilly Auto Parts Series qualifying, Iowa Speedway | The CW and ESPN Unlimited. 6 |
| Sat, Aug. 8, 18:05 | NASCAR Cup practice, Iowa Speedway | truTV; MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. 9 |
| Sat, Aug. 8, 19:10 | NASCAR Cup qualifying, Iowa Speedway | truTV; MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. 9 |
| Sat, Aug. 8, 21:00 | O'Reilly Auto Parts Series HyVee Perks 250, Iowa Speedway | The CW, ESPN Unlimited, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. 6 |
| Sat, Aug. 8, 21:15 | NASCAR Weekly Racing, Riverhead Raceway | FloRacing. 6 |
| Sat, Aug. 8, 22:00 | NASCAR Weekly Racing, Berlin Raceway | FloRacing. 6 |
| Sat, Aug. 8, 23:00 | NASCAR Weekly Racing, Langley Speedway | FloRacing. 6 |
| Sat, Aug. 8, 23:45 | NASCAR Mods Twin 50s, Bowman Gray Stadium | FloRacing. 6 |
| Fri-Sat, Aug. 7-8, time not published | World of Outlaws Sprint Cars Ironman 55, I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park, Pevely, Missouri | DIRTVision. The official preview gives the dates and venue but no start time. 5 |
| Sun, Aug. 9, 19:00 | NASCAR Cup pre-race, Iowa Speedway | USA Network. 6 |
| Sun, Aug. 9, 19:30 | NASCAR Cup Series Iowa Corn 350, Iowa Speedway | USA Network; HBO Max in-car cameras; MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. 69 |
Road America left IMSA with four active championship stories. Iowa now gives NASCAR three races, a new O'Reilly prospect, and a full Saturday night of regional racing to sort through.
References
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- 9Full schedule for 2026 Iowa Speedway
nascar.com
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