Young Byron motivated by May’s runner-up finish

Back on May 16, 17-year-old William Byron did everything but win the K&N Pro Series East-West combination race at Iowa Speedway.

Byron was the fastest qualifier, and he led 128 of the 150 laps.

But the youngest got passed by Brandon McReynolds on restart with eight laps to go and settled for second.

Friday, Byron looks for redemption, and another chance, when the K&N Pro Series drivers return to Iowa Speedway for the #ThanksKenny 150.

“It definitely felt bittersweet,” Byron said. “We led a lot of laps, but it motivates us to be even better this weekend. And we hope to keep the momentum we have right now.”

Byron’s momentum has come after winning two of the last three East races. He is the current K&N Pro Series East points leader with 331, 29 clear of Austin Hill. Byron has four wins this season and has been in the top five in five of the eight races and in the top 10 for 6-of-8.

Byron had the best car back in May during the Casey’s General Stores 150. But when his team checked out his No. 9 Liberty University Chevrolet, they discovered Byron was 10 pounds of air down in his tires.

“We won’t make excuses because we could have made a few more adjustments during the break, but if we were firing on all cylinders and had better tire pressure, it would have been tough to catch us.

“It was our first time at (Iowa Speedway), so we didn’t exactly know what adjustments to make, but it was good to get the East win and second overall.”

Iowa is the only track on the series’ schedule that features drivers from both the East and the West.

It gives the drivers a chance to test their abilities against an even bigger field, and it presents itself more like a Sprint Cup race, according to Byron.

Drivers from the West Series have only won twice in 12 combination races, but the second victory was from McReynolds back in May.

West points leader Chris Eggleston hopes it’s a trend that can continue this weekend.

“There’s a lot of talk out there about how the East drivers are further along than the West guys,” said Eggleston, who is McReynolds’ teammate. “It was nice to see Brandon win the race back in May, and it’s exciting to go up against those guys twice a year. Hopefully we can prove we have some talent, too.”

Eggleston was running well in the first race at Iowa Speedway, but two flat tires forced him into a 15th-place finish. He started 11th, which he hopes to improve this time around.

“We had a better race car than we showed during the first race,” said Eggleston, who holds a one-point lead on Noah Gragson. “We’re excited to run our new set up and see how things go. Hopefully we can qualify better and get into the mix earlier.”

Eggleston took over the West points lead after claiming his second triumph of the year. The lead grew to as large as 19 points, but two subpar efforts in the last two weekends have allowed other drivers to close the gap.

The top five guys in the standings are only separated by 13 points. Eggleston has 274 points, Gragson 273 and Gracin Raz is third with 271. Ryan Partridge (267) and David Mayhew (261) are fourth and fifth, respectively.

“This is a huge weekend for our No. 99 Napa Auto Parts Toyota Camry team,” Eggleston said.

Byron is a favorite for the K&N Sunoco Rookie of the Year award. He also plans to drive full-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series next year. But he would like to claim a point title and win at Iowa Speedway before that happens.

Hill trails Byron by 29 points and is four points better than Scott Heckert (298) in the East standings. Kyle Benjamin (288) is fourth and Dalton Sargeant (285) is fifth. Hill, Heckert and Benjamin each have one win this year.

“We have never been to any of these tracks before, but we just know what to look for,” Byron said. “We have good communication from the whole race team and we have a lot of confidence right now.”

The #ThanksKenny 150 goes green at 8 p.m. Friday. The title is a tribute to Kenny Wallace, who will make his 547th and final NASCAR Xfinity Series start on Saturday at Iowa Speedway.

Chevrolet has won seven of the 12 combination races at Iowa Speedway, while Toyota has four wins and Ford has won just once.