On a night for underdogs, William Byron reigns at Iowa Speedway
NEWTON, Ia. — The American Ethanol E15 250 eventually became a game of survival of the fittest race car Saturday night at Iowa Speedway.
As favorite after favorite continued to peel off, William Byron capitalized on good timing and zoomed his No. 9 Chevrolet to his first career win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
And although the 40-car field began without a regular Cup Series driver, there certainly was star influence behind the winner — Byron drives for team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr., and it was Earnhardt’s own pit crew that helped keep the 19-year-old driver near the front most of the night.
Now Byron joins a long line of Xfinity Series winners here who made early-career marks in Newton — Brad Keselowski, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Blaney and Erik Jones, among others.
While this was Byron's first Xfinity win in 14 starts in his rookie campaign, it was his third win in three years at Iowa. He won in the K&N Pro Series East here in 2015, then in the Camping World Truck Series in 2016.
“It feels awesome right now," Byron said, "all of it.”
A caution with 31 laps to go took out leader and pole-sitter Christopher Bell, who led 152 of the race's 250 laps. The timing of the yellow flag helped Byron trap several other contenders, including fast teammates Justin Allgaier and Elliott Sadler, a lap down because they already had pitted for four fresh tires.
“Everybody’s playing the tire game, trying to save there towards the end," Byron's crew chief, David Elenz, said. "Fortunately, I stayed out a lap longer, and we trapped the field a lap down."
Bell perhaps experienced a little racing karma as it looked like he would be the young driver to capture his first Xfinity win. The trucks regular and substitute driver of the No. 20, which won last week at Michigan International Speedway with Denny Hamlin, was clipped on lap 219 by Brennan Poole's No. 48 Chevrolet and suffered extensive damage after he plowed into Ryan Reed's No. 16 Ford.
It was Bell, the Stage 1 winner, who earlier took out one of the race favorites. He made contact with Sam Hornish Jr., a two-time winner here who was running third. That sent Hornish's No. 22 Team Penske Ford into the Turn 2 wall on lap 79, and an early exit.
“This is one of my favorite places to come to,” said Hornish, who finished 37th. “I run real good here. To get taken out that early. I’m frustrated.”
Another favorite was dispatched in Stage 2 as rookie Kyle Benjamin — who started second and whose No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was fast in practice — spun on lap 113 and took out Xfinity newcomer Ty Majeski with him. Benjamin finished 31st.
Brendan Gaughan, one of five Richard Childress Racing drivers in the field, wound up with the unlikely Stage 2 win after staying out during the Benjamin-caused caution while the leaders came to pit road to change tires.
The final 130-lap stage, though, was Byron's.
After Bell, who settled for 16th, was out of the picture, all that was left for Byron to do was win a front-row drag race against Dylan Lupton, who was on older tires.
“We just played it perfect," said Byron, who led on five different occasions for a total of 78 laps. "... We had a really good car, and we were able to show that once we got new tires.”
A week ago, Byron suffered a crushing loss by inches (.012 seconds) to Hamlin at Michigan.
On Saturday night, he was celebrating.
“I feel like it all kind of comes around in racing," Byron said. "Last week, we were so close."
It was a night for the underdogs. Everyone in the top five either tied or set a career-best finish: Ryan Sieg (second), Tyler Reddick (third), Ross Chastain (fourth) and Dakoda Armstrong (fifth).
"I couldn't believe I was running for second on that last restart," Sieg said.
Reddick conceded: "One of the best cars won tonight."
Des Moines native Michael Annett piloted his No. 5 Chevrolet to sixth, his best finish of the season.