| Date: June 24, 2017
Event: American Ethanol E15 250 presented by Enogen (Round 14 of 33) Series: NASCAR XFINITY Series Location: Iowa Speedway in Newton (.875-mile oval) Format: 250 laps, broken into three stages (60 laps/60 laps/130 laps) Start/Finish: 38th/24th (Running, completed 249 of 250 laps) Point Standing: 7th (322 points, 180 out of first)
Race Winner: William Byron of JR Motorsports (Chevrolet) Stage 1 Winner: Christopher Bell of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota) Stage 2 Winner: Brendan Gaughan of Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-60): ● Started 38th, finished 19th. ● Qualified 24th, but had to start at the rear of the field after sustaining a flat right-rear tire in qualifying. ● Battled a tight-handling racecar at the beginning of the stage, particularly in the middle of the corners. ● Pitted for four tires and fuel with chassis adjustments at the end of the stage.(Right-rear tire was losing air pressure prior to stop.)
Stage 2 Recap (Laps 61-120): ● Started 15th, finished 13th. ● Despite changes, No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang remained tight in the middle of the corners. ● Caution on lap 114 allowed Custer to pit for four tires, fuel and tire pressure adjustments. ● Stayed out at the end of the stage.
Final Stage Recap (Laps 121-250): ● Started 13th, finished 24th. ● Cracked the top-10 with 96 laps to go. ● Ran as high as sixth by lap 155. ● Running seventh when caution came out on lap 163. Stayed out to maintain track position. ● Made scheduled, four-tire pit stop under green-flag conditions on lap 219. But caution came out during pit stop, trapping Custer on pit road and putting him a lap down. Restarted in 24th position on lap 230. ● Tight-handling condition persisted through the end of the race.
Notes: ● This was Cole Custer’s first NASCAR XFINITY Series start at Iowa Speedway and his 19th career XFINITY Series start. ● There were nine caution periods for a total of 65 laps. ● Nineteen of the 40 drivers in the American Ethanol E15 250 finished on the lead lap. ● William Byron won the American Ethanol E15 250 to score his first career XFINITY Series win. His margin of victory over second-place Ryan Sieg was 1.140 seconds. Byron led five times for 78 laps, including the final 21. ● Elliott Sadler leads the championship standings with 502 points and has a 25-point margin over his nearest pursuer, Justin Allgaier.
Cole Custer, driver of the No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing: “The car didn’t start our great, but we worked hard to make our Haas Automation Ford Mustang better throughout the race. We had a top-10 car, just had back luck on pit strategy. Nothing we could do about it.” TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK! |
