Youthful Exuberance: William Byron Wins at Iowa Speedway Again

Rookie William Byron grabbed the lead with just over 20 laps remaining to win the American Ethanol E15 250 presented by Enogen at Iowa Speedway on Saturday night.
©2017, Jennifer Coleman
Jennifer Coleman Photography

Byron victorious in the NASCAR XFINITY Series American Ethanol E15 250 presented by Enogen

NEWTON, Iowa (June 24, 2017) – Rookie William Byron grabbed the lead with just over 20 laps remaining to win the American Ethanol E15 250 presented by Enogen at Iowa Speedway on Saturday night for his first career NASCAR XFINITY Series victory.

Byron joins a long line of NASCAR XFINITY Series winners – further proof that Stars Are Made Here – who collected early-career victories at Iowa Speedway including Brad Keselowski, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Blaney and Erik Jones, among others.

“It’s so cool to run full-time in this series,” Byron said. “Everything’s come full-circle for me.”

While this was Byron’s first NASCAR XFINITY Series win in 14 starts in his rookie campaign, it was his third win in three years at Iowa Speedway. He won in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series here in 2015, then in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2016.

A caution with 31 laps to go took out leader and pole-sitter Christopher Bell, and helped Byron trap several other contenders, including his JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier, a lap down.

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 Iowa Speedway winner who was running third, and sent Hornish’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford into the Turn 2 wall on Lap 79. The incident ended the veteran stock car and open-wheel racer’s first night back with Team Penske.

“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.”

Finding his way to Casey’s General Store’s Victory Lane at Iowa Speedway is nothing new for Byron. The 19-year old from North Carolina, who honed his driving skills through online simulations, experienced a dream finish last year, winning the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Speediatrics 200 in a dramatic three-lap sprint to the finish.

“It’s awesome just to kind of come this far,” said Byron, who received a congratulatory call from NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Rick Hendrick after the win.

Next up for Iowa Speedway is the ARCA Racing Series Iowa 150 and the Verizon IndyCar Series Iowa Corn 300 on July 9-10. Iowa Corn will celebrate its 11th year of partnership with The Fastest Short Track on the Planet and remains as the second longest running entitlement sponsor in INDYCAR competition.

Posted by on Jun 25 2017. Filed under Local News, Professional Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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