He notches his first career victory after green-white-checkered finish.
NEWTON, Iowa (AP) — Ryan Preece survived a green-white-checkered finish to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series race Saturday at Iowa Speedway for his first career victory.
The 26-year-old Preece, running the second of a two-race deal in the No. 20 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, held off Kyle Benjamin on three restarts in the final 17 laps. Preece started from the pole.
Benjamin was 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.
Justin Allgaier was 20th after leading 106 laps.
SATURDAY’S RESULTS
Lap length: 0.875 miles
(Start position in parentheses)
1. (1) Ryan Preece, Toyota, 254 laps, 0 rating, 59 points.
2. (2) Kyle Benjamin, Toyota, 254,0,49.
3. (11) Brian Scott, Chevrolet, 254,0,34.
4. (8) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 254,0,45.
5. (5) Cole Custer, Ford, 254,0,39.
6. (28) JJ Yeley, Toyota, 254,0,31.
7. (3) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 254,0,30.
8. (7) Blake Koch, Chevrolet, 254,0,30.
9. (17) William Byron, Chevrolet, 254,0,28.
10. (19) Brandon Jones, Chevrolet, 254,0,27.
11. (21) Brett Moffitt, Chevrolet, 254,0,0.
12. (6) Elliott Sadler, Chevrolet, 254,0,42.
13. (16) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 254,0,24.
14. (25) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 254,0,23.
15. (26) Harrison Rhodes, Chevrolet, 254,0,22.
16. (9) Ty Majeski, Ford, 254,0,23.
17. (20) Dakoda Armstrong, Toyota, 254,0,20.
18. (22) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 254,0,19.
19. (10) Matt Tifft, Toyota, 253,0,22.
20. (14) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 252,0,32.
21. (18) Ryan Reed, Ford, 252,0,16.
22. (31) BJ McLeod, Chevrolet, 252,0,15.
23. (13) Ben Kennedy, Chevrolet, 251,0,23.
24. (30) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 249,0,13.
25. (32) Dylan Lupton, Toyota, 249,0,12.
26. (36) David Starr, Chevrolet, 249,0,11.
27. (35) Tommy Joe Martins, Chevrolet, 249,0,10.
28. (27) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 249,0,9.
29. (38) Brandon Brown, Chevrolet, 248,0,8.
30. (37) Ray Black Jr, Chevrolet, 247,0,7.
31. (40) Mike Harmon, Dodge, 243,0,6.
32. (39) Stan Mullis, Chevrolet, 241,0,5.
33. (23) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 233,0,4.
34. (4) Sam Hornish Jr, Ford, accident, 229,0,13.
35. (34) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, accident, 218,0,2.
36. (15) Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, 218,0,1.
37. (12) Spencer Gallagher, Chevrolet, accident, 170,0,1.
38. (33) Morgan Shepherd, Chevrolet, handling, 46,0,1.
39. (29) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, transmission, 9,0,0.
40. (24) Jeff Green, Chevrolet, vibration, 3,0,1.
———
Race Statistics
Average Speed of Race Winner: 96.899 mph.
Time of Race: 2 hours, 17 minutes, 37 seconds.
Margin of Victory: 0.054 seconds.
Caution Flags: 7 for 40 laps.
Lead Changes: 4 among 4 drivers.
Lap Leaders: R. Preece 1-63; K. Benjamin 64-68; E. Sadler 69-70; J. Allgaier 71-176; R. Preece 177-254
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led) : R. Preece, 2 times for 139 laps; J. Allgaier, 1 time for 105 laps; K. Benjamin, 1 time for 4 laps; E. Sadler, 1 time for 1 lap.
Wins: W. Byron, 3; J. Allgaier, 1; R. Preece, 1; R. Reed, 1.
Top 10 in Points: 1. E. Sadler, 707; 2. W. Byron, 653; 3. J. Allgaier, 564; 4. B. Poole, 518; 5. D. Hemric, 488; 6. C. Custer, 474; 7. M. Tifft, 436; 8. R. Reed, 424; 9. D. Armstrong, 388; 10. B. Koch, 374.
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