Preece’s Dream Comes True With Iowa Victory
NEWTON, Iowa – Ryan Preece made the most of an opportunity with Joe Gibbs Racing, holding off 19-year-old teammate Kyle Benjamin to score his first NASCAR XFINITY Series victory Saturday at Iowa Speedway.
Preece started from the pole, the first of his career, and had the dominant car during most of Saturday’s race. He led every lap of the opening stage, but lost the lead during pit stops between stage one and two.
He spent most of the second stage trying to get back to the front, chasing JR Motorsports driver Justin Allgaier. Preece was only able to get to second at the end of the second stage as Allgaier picked up a playoff point.
Allgaier retained the lead off pit road between stages two and three, with Elliott Sadler, Ben Kennedy, Preece and Benjamin following him off pit road.
Racing resumed on lap 129 and Preece quickly moved from fourth to second as he chased Allgaier. For the next 40 laps Preece hounded Allgaier, looking for any possible way around Allgaier. Every time Preece challenged, Allgaier had an answer and he maintained the lead until the caution flag waved on lap 170 when Spencer Gallagher crashed his Chevrolet in turn four.
Allgaier chose not to pit under caution, but Preece led all the other lead lap cars down pit road for fresh tires and fuel. Preece got off pit road first, followed by Sadler, Cole Custer and Benjamin.
When the race resumed on lap 178 Preece rocketed out into the lead as Allgaier, on much older tires, fell through the field. Preece built up a comfortable lead over the next several laps and looked well on his way to victory before the caution flag waved with 20 laps left when Sam Hornish Jr. crashed his Team Penske Ford out of turn four.
That set up a restart with 13 laps left with Preece leading Benjamin, Sadler, Custer and Brennan Poole. During the restart Preece powered into the lead as Benjamin gave chase from second. Racing was stopped again with 11 laps left when Garrett Smithley crashed, forcing officials to call for the caution flag again.
Ryan Preece scored his first NASCAR XFINITY Series victory on Saturday at Iowa Speedway. (NASCAR Photo)
Preece once again led the field back to the green flag with seven laps left, with Benjamin lined up in second followed by Custer, the returning Brian Scott and Sadler. Preece shot out into the lead, but Benjamin held strong on the bottom as he tried to challenge Preece for the lead.
After a few laps of side-by-side racing Preece cleared Benjamin again, but behind them Matt Tifft spun after contact with Poole and collected Ty Majeski and Dylan Lupton, leading to another caution flag with four laps left to setup an overtime restart.
When the race resumed Preece and Benjamin went right back at it, with Preece on the top and Benjamin on the bottom. They stayed side-by-side coming around to take the white flag, with Preece using the high side to clear Benjamin down the backstretch.
Coming into turn three and four Benjamin got a run on Preece and looked low coming out of turn four, but he could only get to Preece’s left-rear fender as the 26-year-old from Connecticut held on to score his first NASCAR XFINITY Series victory.
The victory for Preece, the 2013 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion, came in his 38th career series start and the second race of a two-race deal with Joe Gibbs Racing. He finished second earlier this month at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in his first race with Joe Gibbs Racing.
“I don’t even know what to say,” said Preece, who previously said he had pooled his resources to get the two-race deal with JGR instead of a full-time opportunity in a lower quality XFINITY Series car. “I’m so lost for words right now. I don’t even know what to say. This is what emotion is, I can tell you that. I just thought this race would never end. Nothing is going to beat today.”
Scott, in his first XFINITY Series race since retiring at the end of the 2016 season, finished third. Poole finished fourth, with Custer completing the top-five.
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Source :speedsport.com
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