The next restart came with 51 to go, and saw Hornish clear Dillon with a shove from Keselowski, who was close behind as he battled for the runner-up spot. Dillon worked back clear of Keselowski and went to work the next time by on Hornish, but five laps into the run, Hornish was gone by nearly a second as Dillon fought to maintain second from Keselowski. Just as the leaders again settled into a run, though, contact between teammates — the JGL Racing duo of Dakoda Armstrong and Drew Herring — sent Herring around and drew the final caution of the day with 32 laps to go.
Five laps later, the green flag returned for good and Hornish took off, using traffic to his advantage and benefiting from Keselowski’s late challenge of Dillon with 10 to go to drive away uncontested to the emotional win.
Dillon’s second-place effort tied his best finish of the season (Richmond), and maintained his third-place standing in the XFINITY points race.
“We just needed to be a little bit better. That 18 (Hornish) was so dominant on the bottom,” Dillon said. “I felt like we were obviously the best car up top, just needed a little bit more speed. We kinda struggled all week here; we were a mid-pack car and executed what we needed to do to put ourselves into position. Tried to get a good run for American Ethanol in their hometown race, and hopefully we can keep this momentum going for the races to come.”
Keselowski, the only full-time Sprint Cup interloper in the field, finished third for Team Penske. Suarez was fourth after leading 62 laps early and Alex Bowman completed the top five for JR Motorsports.
Brennan Poole (one) and Darrell Wallace Jr. (four), the only drivers other than Hornish and Suarez to lead all afternoon, finished eighth and ninth.
Championship contender Erik Jones had worked his way from the back of the field to eighth in just 25 laps, but lost fuel pressure just before a scheduled competition caution at lap 40 and pitted for service and eventual repairs to the fuel cell. Jones finished seven laps down in 27th after scoring his ninth career pole in qualifying on Saturday.
The NASCAR XFINITY Series returns to action on July 2 with the Subway Firecracker 250 from Daytona Int’l Speedway. The race will mark the first television coverage of the year for NBC Sports Network.
RESULTS: NASCAR XFINITY Series; American Ethanol E15 250; Iowa Speedway; June 19, 2016
- Sam Hornish Jr.
- Ty Dillon
- Brad Keselowski
- Daniel Suarez
- Alex Bowman
- Elliott Sadler
- Justin Allgaier
- Brennan Poole
- Darrell Wallace Jr.
- Ben Kennedy
- Ryan Reed
- Brandon Jones
- Blake Koch
- Ross Chastain
- Brendan Gaughan
- Jeremy Clements
- Dakoda Armstrong
- Justin Marks
- BJ McLeod
- J.J. Yeley
- Ryan Sieg
- Garrett Smithley
- Travis Kvapil
- Mario Gosselin
- Joey Gase
- Harrison Rhodes
- Erik Jones
- Mike Harmon
- Drew Herring
- Ray Black Jr.
- Paige Decker
- Ryan Preece
- Jeff Green
- Derrike Cope
- Timmy Hill
- Dexter Bean
- Morgan Shepherd
- Carl Long
- Tyler Young
- Josh Reaume
About the Writer
Jacob Seelman is the Managing Editor of Race Chaser Online and creator of the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network.
Seelman grew up in the sport, watching his grandparents co-own the RaDiUs Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team in the 1990s.
The 22-year-old is currently studying Broadcast Journalism at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and is also serving as the full-time tour announcer for the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.
Email Jacob at: speed77radio@gmail.com
Follow on Twitter: @Speed77Radio or @JacobSeelman77
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