March 29, 2024

Jones wins Xfinity Series U.S. Cellular 250

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Going into the final weekend of racing at Iowa Speedway for 2016, there were plenty of story lines to follow for the NASCAR Xfinity Series U.S. Cellular 250.

Could part-time driver Sam Hornish Jr. pull off a sweep of Xfinity Series races at Iowa in 2016 for two different teams? Would Ty Dillon break a Xfinity Series winning drought dating back to July 24, 2014? What about the run for the Chase?

Points leader Daniel Suarez, Elliott Sadler and Erik Jones all had wins this season to lock down spots in the Xfinity Series Chase. Jones had two wins going into Saturday’s U.S. Cellular 250 but had not won since losing his father to cancer in June.

Jones’ story won out. The Xfinity Series rookie had to do some hard charging late in the race to dash Dillon’s bid to break through to Victory Lane. Jones, who has two NASCAR Camping World Truck Series wins at Iowa Speedway, celebrated his third series win of the season.

“A great night for us. It’s really cool to get back to Victory Lane and to do it at Iowa, which is one of my absolute favorite places to come during the year,” Jones said after driving the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 DeWalt Toyota to victory.

Jones said this win was for his late father, Dave Jones.

“It’s special for me to get back into Victory Lane without him. I know he was riding along with us, and it’s hard not to think that this one was for him,” Jones said. “I know he’s definitely smiling down on us.”

Jones had three other Xfinity starts at Iowa. He drove in both races in 2015 as he competed in limited schedule. In his first full season in the series, he won the pole spot at Iowa Speedway in June, but had to start the race from the rear because of unapproved body modifications. Jones finished 27th in June after he went to the garage for a fuel cell repair.

On this July night, he bolted to the lead off the green flag and led the first 42 laps. Jones would lead 154 laps of the 250-lap race. Dillon, who finished second in the Richard Childress Racing No. 3 Chevrolet, led 83 laps.

“We had a great car — one that definitely deserved to win the race,” Jones said. “The fastest car I feel like won tonight, which is always a good feeling. It was an awesome day for us.

“I feel like we deserved to win when we came here earlier this year; we had a really fast car. It was nice to get some redemption for that one.”

Jones went to the lead on the first lap, driving away from Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Suarez, who had won the pole position for Saturday’s race. Jones was dominating on the Newton track then four of the six cautions in the race happened in a span of 41 laps in the middle of the race.

Jones was able to regain the lead on the first three of that series of restarts. On Lap 150, Brandon McReynolds’ No. 24 hit the outside wall on Turn 1 bringing out what would be final caution of the race. All the cars headed to pit road.

It was Dillon coming out of the pit stop in the lead with Sadler in second, Jones in third and Hornish in fourth. Dillon roared to the front of the field on the restart and stayed there until Jones finally tracked him down with 15 laps to go in the 250-lap race.

“I’m proud of my guys. My pit crew was awesome,” Dillon said. “They gave me the opportunity to have the shot at the win. I want to win. It’s going to happen if we keep running like this.”

Dillon said he was driving so hard to keep Jones behind him. He said when the leaders encountered lap traffic he thought he had the advantage on Jones.

“I knew I was going to have to work him over in traffic some how. He (Dillon) got caught up with a lap car. I got a good run off Turn 4 and got inside of him,” Jones said of his battle with Dillon. “Once I got by him it was clear sailing.”

Suarez sustained damage to his No. 18 ARRIS Toyota on the final restart when he got into the back of Josh Berry’s No. 88. Suarez stayed out for a few laps then went to pit road and his night was done. He finished 30th, 76 laps down, which cost him his Xfinity Series lead.

Sadler, Brennan Poole and Dakoda Armstrong finished third, fourth and fifth. Sadler led nine laps in the race. With his third-place finish, Sadler went to the top of the driver points list, 14 points ahead of Suarez, and Dillon is third in points and Jones is fourth.

Iowa native Joey Gase, who is from Cedar Rapids, finished 24th. Hornish finished sixth and Brad Keselowski, the only Sprint Cup regular to make the trip from Pocono Raceway, was eighth.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series returns to action Saturday at Watkins Glen International for the running of the Zippo 200 at The Glen.

In 2017, Xfinity Series drivers will be back twice to Iowa Speedway — June 24 for a night race and July 29 for an afternoon start.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535
or jsheets@newtondailynews.com