Sam Hornish wins E15 250 at Iowa

By Jason D Searcy

Sam Hornish didn't even have his name above the door of his race car at Iowa Speedway.  He was a late replacement driver for the #18 Joe Gibbs Xfinity series car filling in for the injured Matt Tifft.

Hornish had the best car all day, he lead 183 laps.  He became emotional during the post race talking about  how important it was for him to have his entire family (his 3 kids and his wife) enjoy the victory lane celebration with him.

Here is an exclusive post race interview with Jason and Sam Hornish https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/sam-horns-iowa-speedway-winner

Ty Dillon driving for RCR finished second place.  Dean Reller had an interview with him.  https://soundcloud.com/dean-reller/ty-dillon-2nd-at-iowa

Brad Keselowski (above) was a contender all day long working his way through the field after starting at the back of the field, he finished 3rd.

Daniel Suarez (above) driving the #19 car for Joe Gibbs lead 62 laps and battled with Hornish for much of the race for the top spot.  He eventually finished in fourth.  Here is the interview Dean had with Suarez.  https://soundcloud.com/dean-reller/daniel-suarez-finishes-4th-at

Alex Bowman driving the JR Motorsports #88 finished 5th.

Ben Kennedy had his first career Xfinity start.  He drove the #2 for RCR and finished 10th.  Here is the interview Jason did with Ben.  https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/ben-kennedy-at-iowa-speedway

Local Iowa driver #52 Joey Gase (above) won a Late Model race on Friday night at Hawkeye Downs, he finished 25th on Sunday at Iowa Speedway.  Here is the interview with Jason and Joey.  https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/joey-gase-at-iowa

The other Joe Gibbs car #20 Erik Jones was fast but had nothing but mechanical problems.  He finished 27th.  His pit crew actually switched over and pitted the (winning) #18 car after Jones went multiple laps down.

Mike Harmon drives the #74 car and he had a local MN company as a sponsor.  Here is an interview with Mike and Jason  https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/mike-harmon-at-iowa-speedway

Finally #97 Paige Decker (above) from Wisconsin had her first career Xfinity series start.  She finished 31st after having spent some time in the garage.  Here is the post race interview with Paige and Jason https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/paige-decker-at-iowa-speedway

HERE IS a full recap of the action from the 6th annual American Ethanol E 15 250 Xfinity Series race from Iowa Speedway on Speed Talk on 1360 Radio https://soundcloud.com/dean-reller/xfinty-sereis-iowa-speedway-report-with-interviews

Speed Talk on 1360 is every Saturday 10-11am on KRWC 1360 am or KRWC1360.com or on the free Tunein app, search KRWC.

Sam Hornish Jr wins Nationwide race at Iowa Speedway

#54 Sam Hornish Jr and Ryan Blaney battled for the top spot all day long during the Get to Know Newton 250 Nationwide series race at Iowa Speedway.  Hornish lead a total of four times for 167 laps and Blaney held the top spot five times for a total of 80 laps.

Hornish driving in a part time role for Joe Gibbs Racing took the lead for the final time after a restart with 20 laps to go, Blaney was the leader and chose the bottom side but Hornish had the faster short run car and won by .796 seconds.

Regan Smith was aggressive after the final restart and moved up to third with Chase Elliott and Elliott Sadler round out the top 5 with Brian Scott finishing 6th. 

#20 Michael McDowell driving the Glenwood MN Pizza Ranch sponsored car was a top 10 car throughout but took a chance with only two new tires on a restart with 38 laps remaining in the race.  He exited the pits with the lead but faded back to finish in the 7th position.

Ty Dillon and Trevor Bayne finished 8th and 9th, they ran nose to tail the entire day.  "We had no short run speed," said Bayne "the race didn't play out the way we needed it to, we needed some 75 lap runs to make some ground up, but everything was short run."

Hometown hero Landon Cassill pleased the crowd with a Top 10 finish, "It was a solid race for us, just track position was really important, it was really hard to pass."

The 250 lap race saw only 5 caution flags and the only wreck was for Mike Bliss on lap 222.  18 cars finished on the lead lap and the race took 2 hours and 4 minutes to complete.

#9 Chase Elliott leaves Iowa with the Nationwide Series point lead by just 2 points over both Elliott Sadler and Regan Smith.

The patching of the track surface to repair some harsh winter damage was apparently a success, drivers noted they did not have a problem with any of the patches and it was hardly noticeable compared to last year.

For an additional photo gallery from Iowa Speedway, join our Facebook fan page https://www.facebook.com/groups/101840716792/



*Jason D Searcy Photos