Ryan Preece Takes Iowa Xfiinity Race

Daniel Shirey - Getty Images

NEWTON, IA – RIS – In a NASCAR Xfinity Series race that had not one Monster Energy Cup driver, it figured that one of the stars of the series with come through with a victory.  Only Indy 500 champion Sam Hornish, Jr., a former MENC driver was in the field, so it was left up to the regulars to put on a show.  In the end Ryan Preece won the US Cellular 250.  The 26-year old driver had long dreamed to get into good equipment to show what he could do, and won the race.

Preece survived a green-white-checkered finish to win the NASCAR Xfinity race Saturday at Iowa Speedway for his first career victory.

For Preece, running the second of a two-race deal with the powerhouse JGR team, saw him start from the pole and hold off Kyle Benjamin on three restarts in the final 17 laps.

Preece, who is a regular in the lower-division NASCAR Whelen Modified series, crossed the start-finish line less than a car-length ahead of Benjamin.

“To be honest with you, I believed in myself enough to do it,” Preece said of using his Xfinity budget for just two races. “It is very risky. I had multiple people in the business tell me that it was a little (riskier) than they would do.”

The 19-year-old Benjamin was a career-best second, followed by Brian Scott, Brennan Poole and rookie Cole Custer.

William Byron, who began a streak of three wins in five races at Iowa last month, finished ninth and Justin Allgaier was 20th after leading 106 laps.

 The winner finished 17th in the series a year ago, with only one top-10 in 33 starts.

For this season, he went back to the Modified series — where he won a title four years ago — while striking a deal with JGR to run twice in one of the best cars in the series.

He was second to Cup star Kyle Busch in New Hampshire in his first shot with the No. 20 car. On Saturday, he held off Benjamin to make his season-long gamble pay off.

“I knew what I felt like I had to do to get attention, to make noise, and I felt like these two races were my shot,” Preece said.

It was an encouraging finish for Benjamin, who started on the front row for the fourth time in as many races but finished above 16th for the first time.

“I'm really happy to finish second — I really needed that,” Benjamin said. “But to be as close as we were to winning, it kind of hurts. It makes you think about what you could have done better.

It was another gamble, by Allgaier earlier in the race, which helped put Preece and Benjamin in position for their thrilling finish. Allgaier won the second stage and was leading when he decided to stay out on a caution about 75 laps from the finish.

Everyone else went in for fresh tires and Allgaier's No. 7 car, on old tires, quickly fell back while Preece grabbed the lead. The hope for Allgaier was that a caution would allow him to put on a new set of tires, and thus have the advantage for the finish.

The yellow flag came too late though, as Allgaier was forced to pit for fuel just a few laps before Hornish Jr. drew a caution.

Preece, who spent much of the race battling Allgaier for first, led 141 laps.

Unofficial Race Results for the 9Th Annual U.S. Cellular 250 Presented
By American Ethanol - Saturday, July 29, 2017
Iowa Speedway - Newton, IA - .875 Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 254 Laps - 222.25 Miles
Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Stage 1 Pos Stage 2 Pos Pts Status Tms Laps Playoff Pts
1 1 20 Ryan Preece MoHawk Northeast Inc. Toyota 254 1 2 59 Running 2 141 6
2 2 18 Kyle Benjamin Reser's Toyota 254 3 5 49 Running 1 5
3 11 3 Brian Scott Daniel Defense Chevrolet 254 34 Running
4 8 48 Brennan Poole DC Solar Chevrolet 254 4 6 45 Running
5 5 00 Cole Custer # Haas Automation Ford 254 7 8 39 Running
6 28 14 JJ Yeley TriStar Motorsports Toyota 254 31 Running
7 3 21 Daniel Hemric # Smokey Mountain Herbal Snuff Chevrolet 254 30 Running
8 7 11 Blake Koch LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet 254 10 30 Running
9 17 9 William Byron # Liberty University Chevrolet 254 28 Running
10 19 33 Brandon Jones Jeld Wen/Menards Chevrolet 254 27 Running
11 21 96 Brett Moffitt(i) Northland Foundations, Inc. Chevrolet 254 0 Running
12 6 1 Elliott Sadler OneMain Financial Chevrolet 254 2 3 42 Running 1 2
13 16 62 Brendan Gaughan U.S. Cellular Chevrolet 254 24 Running
14 25 39 Ryan Sieg Ritchie Chevrolet 254 23 Running
15 26 01 Harrison Rhodes Flex Tape Chevrolet 254 22 Running
16 9 60 Ty Majeski Bit-O-Honey Ford 254 9 23 Running
17 20 28 Dakoda Armstrong WinField United Toyota 254 20 Running
18 22 4 Ross Chastain Flex Seal Chevrolet 254 19 Running
19 10 19 Matt Tifft # Surface/Fanatics Toyota 253 8 10 22 Running
20 14 7 Justin Allgaier BRANDT Chevrolet 252 6 1 32 Running 1 106 1
21 18 16 Ryan Reed Lilly Diabetes Ford 252 16 Running
22 31 8 BJ McLeod Chevrolet 252 15 Running
23 13 2 Ben Kennedy # RTP/Rheem Chevrolet 251 9 4 23 Running
24 30 52 Joey Gase Jerry K Ask Investments/Iowa Donor Network Chevrolet 249 13 Running
25 32 24 Dylan Lupton Nut Up Toyota 249 12 Running
26 36 99 David Starr Honest Wrenches Automotive Repair Chevrolet 249 11 Running
27 35 78 Tommy Joe Martins Circle Track Warehouse Chevrolet 249 10 Running
28 27 51 Jeremy Clements RepairableVehicles.com Chevrolet 249 9 Running
29 38 90 Brandon Brown Coastal Carolina University Chevrolet 248 8 Running
30 37 07 Ray Black II www.cda.edu Chevrolet 247 7 Running
31 40 74 Mike Harmon Forj'd Leather Dodge 243 6 Running
32 39 40 Stan Mullis Casablanca Express Chevrolet 241 5 Running
33 23 5 Michael Annett TMC Chevrolet 233 4 Running
34 4 22 Sam Hornish Jr. Discount Tire Ford 229 5 7 13 Accident
35 34 0 Garrett Smithley Flex Shot Chevrolet 218 2 Accident
36 15 42 Tyler Reddick BBR/Jason Aldean Chevrolet 218 1 Running
37 12 23 Spencer Gallagher # Allegiant Airlines Chevrolet 170 1 Accident
38 33 89 Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet 46 1 Handling
39 29 15 Reed Sorenson(i) Flex Liquid Chevrolet 9 0 Transmission
40 24 93 Jeff Green RSS Racing Chevrolet 3 1 Vibration
Time of Race: 02 Hrs, 17 Mins, 37 Secs. Average Speed: 96.900 MPH Margin of Victory: 0.054 Seconds
20,1,18,48,22,7,00,19,2,11
7,20,1,2,18,48,22,00,60,19
Race Comments: Ryan Preece won the U.S. Cellular 250 at Iowa Speedway, his first victory in the NASCAR XFINITY Series. Prior to the start of the race, the following car dropped to the rear of the field for the reason indicated: No. 33 (unapproved tire change).
Failed to Qualify: (1) 13 Bobby Earnhardt.
Caution Flags: 7 for 40 laps: Laps: 62-68 (Stage 1 Conclusion [4]); 75-78 (#4 Spin in Turn 4 [01]); 122-128 (Stage 2 Conclusion [4]); 171-177 (#23 Incident in Turn 4 [8]); 232-237 (#22 Incident in Turn 4 [96]); 240-243 (#0 Incident in Turn 2 [01]); 248-252 (#19, 24 and 60 Incident in Turn 1 [4]).
Lead Changes: 4 among 4 drivers: R. Preece 1-63; K. Benjamin 64-68; E. Sadler 69-70; J. Allgaier 71-176; R. Preece 177-254.
Coors Light Pole Award : Ryan Preece, #20 130.857 mph Duralast Brakes "Brake in the Race" : Ryan Preece, #20
Mahle Clevite Engine Builder of the Race : Joe Gibbs Racing Engines - Mark Cronquist, #20 Mobil 1 Driver of the Race : Ryan Preece, #20
Sunoco Rookie of the Race : Cole Custer, #00
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Next Race: Aug. 5, 2017 - Watkins Glen International