Byron breaks through, wins first Xfinity race

Iowa Speedway has been good to William Byron over the past three seasons. Byron always seems to run well at Newton’s7/8 mile track.

For the third time in his career, Byron drove into the Casey’s General Stores Victory Lane at Iowa Speedway, this time winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series American Ethanol E15 250 Presented by Enogen.

Byron won a NASCAR K&N Series race at Iowa in 2015 and was the winner of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event in 2016.

It was Bryon’s first win of the season. The rest of the top five included Ryan Sieg, Tyler Reddick, Ross Chastain and Dakoda Armstrong.

Byron missed out on his first win by mere inches at Michigan last weekend, finishing second to Denny Hamlin by .012 of a second. Saturday, he put it all together and finished it off with no Monster Energy Cup Series drivers in the field.

“It was exciting to be that close to a win last weekend,” Byron said. “That gave us a lot of momentum this week. Our short-track program has been really good. We executed it well tonight.”

Des Moines native Michael Annett was sixth and Cedar Rapids native Joey Gase finished 18th.

The Xfinity Series points title contenders ran up front all night, but it was the underdogs who grabbed top-five finishes after Byron.

Byron made up 15 points in the team standings and now sits 57 points back in third. But Sieg is now 13th, Reddick sits in 20th, Chastain is 18th and Armstrong moved into 11th.

For one night, the underdogs shined.

“Looking at the rundown there, there’s a lot of guys who do a lot with a little at the top,” Reddick said. “The car was fast. We got close on the last restart. We were one adjustment away from being where we wanted to be.”

Byron is the second driver in the Xfinity Series to win his first career race at Iowa Speedway. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was the first back in 2011.

The 19-year-old Byron led 78 laps, taking the lead for good with 20 laps remaining in the 250-lap race.

Byron was able to take the lead for the remainder of the race thanks to a caution on Lap 218 that took out then-leader and polesitter Christopher Bell, as he made contact with No. 48 Brennan Poole.

Byron said after the race that his crew told him he was good on fuel the rest of the way after his final pit stop, but the difference was only a few laps.

“We played it perfect,” Byron said. “We had a really good car. We made some adjustments and got some new tires and that’s when we were able to show how good the car was.”

Bell sustained enough damage to his No. 20 Toyota to knock him back to 14th by the time the green flag fell again, and he never recovered. He finished 16th, despite leading a race-high 152 laps.

Another caution late in the race allowed the underdogs to make their way to the front.

“The caution helped us out,” Sieg said. “I couldn’t believe I was running second. It was crazy. It was fun racing with (Reddick) at the end. We had a pretty good battle there.

“I did all I could do to win. It was still crazy to come in second.”

Reddick admitted that him and his team got help from the late caution. Sometimes luck is on your side.

“We really got blessed getting the caution when we did. We got lucky. We restarted great on the top all night long,” Reddick said.

“It was a lot of fun racing with (Sieg). I tried to get second there at the end. I tried to race him clean and did my best to make sure we finished second and third.”

Byron also had some good fortune after having some bad luck last week.

“I feel like it comes around in racing,” Byron said. “Last week we were so close. I have had some back luck, but I have had some good luck, too. I think we got one back tonight.

“To get second last week hurt, but it gave us some momentum. I hit my stride last year when summer hit. This year, we have a second and now a first so hopefully we can build on that. This win sets us up well for the rest of the year.”

Bell, in his second Xfinity Series start of his career, also led all 60 opening laps to win Stage 1.

Brendan Gaughan and his No. 62 Chevrolet was one of nine cars that did not pit after a caution came on Lap 112, and he held on for a two-lap shootout after the green fell on Lap 118 to snag the Stage 2 victory.

Defending race champion Sam Hornish Jr.’s day ended on Lap 78 when Bell made contact and turned Hornish’s No. 22, spinning it into the outside wall. It was 37-year-old Hornish’s first race since September 2016.

“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.”

The 250-lap race featured nine cautions and six different leaders.