Sam Hornish Jr. turned in a dominant racing performance leading 183 of the 250 laps turned and took the checkered flag in the 6th Annual American Ethanol 250 at Iowa Speedway. After over 200 days without competing in an event behind the wheel, Sam Hornish Jr. filled in for injured Joe Gibbs Racing driver, Matt Tifft. The experienced veteran drove the #18 Toyota sponsored Toyota Tundra to the front at the start of the race and finished there in the end.
The last time Sam Hornish Jr. competed in a race was at Homestead-Miami in the Sprint Cup Series finale last November. Joe Gibbs Racing asked Sam Hornish Jr. on Monday if he would drive for rookie Matt Tifft. The opportunistic competitor jumped at the chance and won his fourth career Xfinity Series contest and his second at Iowa Speedway. Joe Gibbs Racing has now one nine of the 14 Xfinity Series races in 2016. Emotions took over for Sam Hornish Jr. in his post race interview.
“I don’t know, it doesn’t get much better than that,” said an emotional Sam Hornish Jr. in Victory Lane. “Just gotta thank Toyota, everyone from Joe Gibbs Racing for getting me out here and giving me this opportunity. Got my wife and kids here, it’s the first time the kids got to be here for one of dad’s wins. I can’t tell you what this means to me. I worked so hard to try to get a win when I had my kids here. Gotta thank God. He makes things happen. I was so nervous on Friday getting into the car thinking I’m going to make a mistake, and man, to go out there and win the way that we did. Just can’t say anything more about it.”
Ty Dillon came up 1.443 seconds short of nabbing a much wanted Father’s Day gift for his dad. It’s a family affair at Richard Childress Racing. Dillon’s father is vice president of operations and his grandpa Richard is the owner of Richard Childress Racing. His brother, Austin Dillon, drives for the team full-time in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The Xfinity Series stand-out sits alone in third place in the point standings. Dillon was happy with his teams performance at Iowa Speedway on Sunday.
“I don’t know, I guess we just needed to be a little bit better,” Dillon said. “The No. 18 of Sam Hornish Jr. was so dominant on the bottom groove. I thought, obviously, we were the best car on the top groove. Just needed a little bit more speed. I’m proud of my guys. We were kind of a mid-pack car and did what we needed to do to put ourselves in position — something we talked about all week — and we did a great job.”
Last week’s winner Daniel Suarez finished right behind Sprint Cup Series mainstay Brad Keselowski in fourth. Suarez drove his #19 Arris Toyota to the front for 63 circuits in the American Ethanol 250. He was going for back-to-back wins after earning his first victory of his career at Michigan last week. The Xfinity Series points leader exchanged the lead with eventual race winner Sam Hornish Jr. several times in the pit sequences throughout the race. After the re-start on lap 126, Hornish started sixth and drove away from Suarez for good.
The two time 2016 Xfinity Series Dash 4 Cash winner Erik Jones was optimistic about his chances in the American ethanol 250 at Iowa Speedway after qualifying in the first position. After securing his fifth Coors Light Pole Position Award, Jones and his team were sited with a body modification penalty and sent to the back of the field. The uphill battle was too much for the Joe Gibbs Racing speedster who also struggled with a fuel systems breakdown and finished in 27th. Jones dropped out of the top five point standings to seventh but will be in the mix come Chase time because of his two previous victories.
The American Ethanol 250 at Iowa Speedway on Sunday took two hours and seven minutes to complete. The average speed of the field was 102.659 mile per hour and the margin of victory was 1.443 seconds. There were six cautions for 36 laps around the .875 mile oval. Joe Gibbs Racing took home the MAHLE Clevite Engine Builder of the Race Award and Sam Hornish Jr. received the Mobil 1 Driver of the Race honors.
Final running Order for the American Ethanol 250 at Iowa Speedway:
1 3 18 Sam Hornish Jr. Toyota Toyota 250 45 5 149.7 Running 4 183
2 8 3 Ty Dillon American Ethanol/Kum & Go Chevrolet 250 39 114.1 Running
3 7 22 Brad Keselowski(i) Discount Tire Ford 250 0 109.0 Running
4 2 19 Daniel Suarez ARRIS Toyota 250 38 1 124.6 Running 4 62
5 9 88 Alex Bowman Hy-Vee Chevrolet 250 36 115.0 Running
6 5 1 Elliott Sadler OneMain Chevrolet 250 35 101.1 Running
7 4 7 Justin Allgaier BRANDT Chevrolet 250 34 108.0 Running
8 20 48 Brennan Poole # DC Solar Chevrolet 250 34 1 89.0 Running 1 1
9 12 6 Darrell Wallace Jr Ford EcoBoost Ford 250 33 1 99.8 Running 1 4
10 6 2 Ben Kennedy(i) Ruud Chevrolet 250 0 95.3 Running
11 11 16 Ryan Reed Lilly Diabetes/American Diabetes Association Ford 250 30 90.9 Running
12 10 33 Brandon Jones # Jeld-Wen/Menards Chevrolet 250 29 89.7 Running
13 19 11 Blake Koch LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet 250 28 78.8 Running
14 15 4 Ross Chastain Flex Seal Chevrolet 250 27 70.5 Running
15 23 62 Brendan Gaughan South Point Chevrolet 250 26 83.2 Running
16 16 51 Jeremy Clements RepairableVehicles.com Chevrolet 250 25 73.2 Running
17 21 28 Dakoda Armstrong WinField Toyota 249 24 65.0 Running
18 22 42 Justin Marks Katerra Chevrolet 249 23 67.5 Running
19 29 78 BJ McLeod # Ford 249 22 61.0 Running
20 17 44 JJ Yeley Zachry Toyota 249 21 71.8 Running
21 14 39 Ryan Sieg Smartcell/WJ Plemons Investments Chevrolet 247 20 74.3 Running
22 24 0 Garrett Smithley # CorvetteParts.net/Flex Seal Chevrolet 245 19 55.7 Running
23 31 25 Travis Kvapil(i) KeenParts.com/CorvetteParts.net Ford 245 0 55.1 Running
24 33 90 Mario Gosselin Victoriaville RV Center/BuckedUp Apparel Chevrolet 245 17 49.0 Running
25 26 52 Joey Gase Iowa Donor Network Chevrolet 244 16 52.2 Running
26 39 13 Harrison Rhodes Chevrolet 244 15 44.8 Running
27 1 20 Erik Jones # Freightliner Toyota 243 14 69.5 Running
28 37 74 Mike Harmon TruckersFinalMile.org Dodge 239 13 37.3 Running
29 13 24 Drew Herring JGL Young Guns Toyota 221 12 69.5 Accident
30 30 07 Ray Black Jr # Scuba Life Chevrolet 215 11 41.3 Running
31 40 97 Paige Decker VroomBrands Chevrolet 194 10 37.5 Running
32 18 01 Ryan Preece # Flex Shot Chevrolet 169 9 55.6 Accident
33 32 14 Jeff Green Toyota 138 8 45.7 Transmission
34 38 70 Derrike Cope E-hydrate/Spectator’s Sports Bar & Grill Chevrolet 120 7 36.5 Accident
35 27 15 Timmy Hill(i) Lilly Trucking/Carport Empire Ford 91 0 38.7 Engine
36 25 92 Dexter Bean BuckedUp Apparel Chevrolet 68 5 28.8 Vibration
37 35 89 Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet 53 4 34.5 Brakes
38 34 40 Carl Long OCR Gaz Bar Toyota 43 3 28.3 Brakes
39 28 10 Tyler Young(i) Toyota 6 0 27.5 Brakes
40 36 93 Josh Reaume RSS Racing Chevrolet 4 1 26.3 Electrical
