Track Specs: .875-mile oval / 250 laps
Weather: Clear; 70 degrees
Race Winner: Erik Jones
Sadler’s Finish: 3rd
Allgaier’s finish: 7th
Berry’s finish: 9th
Elliott Sadler
The Emporia, Va. native started the evening from the fourth position at Iowa and battled hard in the top-five all race long. By lap 2, Sadler had already advanced the OneMain Camaro one position to third and was scored fourth when the competition caution was displayed at lap 42. Over the next 58 laps, Sadler moved from the fifth position to third and was adjusting well to his car on the long green-flag run.
By lap 100, Sadler was running comfortably in the third position and remained there until the caution flew at lap 116. Kevin Meendering (crew chief) made the call to have Sadler come down pit road for four fresh tires and fuel. The OneMain Camaro came in third and left pit road first. The No. 1 team did a tremendous job on pit road and allowed Sadler to gain positions on pit road with the help of precision stops. The short-run handling of the OneMain car was not where the No. 1 team wanted it to be, but the car continued to improve the more laps that were laid down. With outstanding long runs, the OneMain team only made minor tire-pressure adjustments throughout the race keeping Sadler consistently in the top five.
The final caution flag of the day came at lap 150 and the No. 1 team elected to take four tires and fuel only. This strategy resulted in Sadler starting from the second position with less than 100 laps to go. For the first 30 laps of this run, the report over the radio was that the car was loose. Sadler moved back a couple of positions to the fourth spot but the car started to come back to Sadler as he ran down Sam Hornish Jr. with 15 laps remaining. The OneMain Camaro crossed the finish line third Saturday night at Iowa Speedway and Sadler regained his lead in the NXS points.
Erik Jones took home the checkered flag at Iowa. He was followed by Ty Dillon, Sadler, Brennan Poole, and Dakoda Armstrong rounding out the top-five.
Elliott Sadler, driver No. 1 OneMain Chevrolet
“We had a great run tonight. We ran in the top 10 all night but just got a little too loose there at the end. Very proud of my guys, they did an awesome job tonight.”
Justin Allgaier
Justin Allgaier and the BRANDT Professional Agriculture team earned their 15th top-10 finish of the season on Saturday at Iowa Speedway, placing seventh in the U.S. Cellular 250. After the solid effort, Allgaier sits fifth in the NASCAR Xfinity Series point standings, 57 points behind the leader.
Allgaier started 11th in the 250-lap event, but didn’t stay there long, moving into ninth on lap 2. Running in the same position when the first caution came out on lap 28, the 30-year-old relayed to the team that he was free off the wall, tight center and snappy on exit. The team opted to stay out and wait for the scheduled competition caution on lap 40 to pit. Once that yellow waved, Allgaier brought the BRANDT Chevy down for four tires, fuel and a wedge adjustment.
Restarting in ninth on lap 47, Allgaier advanced to seventh by lap 52. Shortly after, he radioed to the crew that he was lacking grip, but managed to hold on to seventh until the caution flag waved on lap 116. During the pit stop, the team changed four Goodyear tires, made a track bar adjustment and packed the No. 7 Chevy with fuel. On the lap-121 restart, Allgaier slid from seventh back to eighth before another caution came out on lap 123. Under the yellow, Allgaier relayed that the BRANDT Chevy had more grip during that short run. The Illinois native stayed out through both that caution and another one that would come out shortly after. Once the field was back to green on lap 133, Allgaier lost a position to fall to ninth, but was able to get back to eighth on lap 137. When the final caution flag of the evening waved on lap 150, Allgaier radioed that his Chevy had lost grip during the run and came to pit road for four tires and enough fuel to make it to the end of the race.
Running in eighth on the restart on lap 158, Allgaier advanced to sixth before the first green-flag lap was completed. He set his sights on fifth-place Brad Keselowski and was able to pass the No. 22 on lap 177. With 50 laps to go, Allgaier was still running in fifth. Shortly after, he came over the radio to say the Chevy was getting tight in the center of the turns. As the laps wound down, Allgaier fell back two spots to ultimately finish seventh.
Erik Jones won the race and was followed by Ty Dillon, Elliott Sadler, Brennan Poole and fifth-place Dakoda Armstrong.
Justin Allgaier, driver No. 7 BRANDT Professional Agriculture team
“Overall, I’m really proud of our BRANDT Professional Agriculture team. We finished seventh, which wasn’t as good as we wanted, but we were able to race up in the top five with an ill-handling car. I thought we were going to end up fifth there at the end, but ultimately our Chevy started getting away from us during that long green-flag run. We’ll go back to the shop and get ready to go road-course racing at Watkins Glen next week.”
Josh Berry
In his fourth career NASCAR XFINITY Series start and first since September of last year, Josh Berry picked up where he left off with a top-10 effort at Iowa Speedway Saturday night.
Behind the wheel of the No. 88 Sun Energy 1 Chevrolet, Berry finished ninth in the U.S. Cellular 250. It was his second consecutive top-10 after a seventh-place finish at Richmond International Raceway last year. On this night, Berry never fell out of the top 10 despite frenzied racing in the 250-lap event. He started sixth – one off his career-best – and climbed as high as fifth with a quick pit stop with just under 100 laps to go.
On the ensuring restart Berry received hard contact from Daniel Suarez, who inadvertently drove into the back of Berry’s car when it didn’t get up to speed. The contact damaged the radiator on Suarez’s car and bent the rear spoiler on Berry’s, hence altering the handle of the No. 88. Until that point Berry’s crew had methodically chipped away at a pesky tight condition that had hampered the Hendersonville, Tennessee native through the first half of the race, and the Sun Energy 1 car was handling its best prior to that setback.
The incident knocked the No. 88 back to seventh but not out of contention. In fact, Berry maintained seventh for the next 30 laps. Fuel conservation forced him to relinquished spots to Dakoda Armstrong and Brad Keselowski in the final circuits, but nonetheless, his return to the site of his Xfinity Series debut in 2014 saw him leave three spots better with a ninth-place effort.
Berry has now finished 12th or better in three of his four career Xfinity Series races.
Erik Jones dominated the race, leading 153 of 250 laps en route to his third win of the year. He lost his lead on the final round of pit stops but passed Ty Dillon with 20 laps to go for the victory. Dillon held on to second, with JR Motorsports’ Elliott Sadler finishing third. Brennan Poole, Armstrong, Sam Hornish and Justin Allgaier rounded out the top seven finishers.
Berry will return to the seat of the No. 88 on Sept. 24 at Kentucky Speedway. Next week Kenny Habul will drive the No. 88 Sun Energy 1 Chevrolet at Watkins Glen International for JR Motorsports, becoming the seventh driver to get behind the wheel of the No. 88 this season (Chase Elliott 5, Alex Bowman 5, Kevin Harvick 4, Cole Custer 2, Dale Earnhardt Jr. 2, Josh Berry 1).
Josh Berry, driver No. 88 Sun Energy 1 Chevrolet
“First and foremost I’m so grateful for the opportunity to drive this car. I know I can compete at this level, and Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. continues to believe in me. I have to thank him and Kelley (Earnhardt Miller) for the opportunity. I’m disappointed that we weren’t able to get a better finish. We had a really good car, and I just missed a shift on that restart. I know we were better than ninth place, but between that and having to save fuel, it’s where we ended up. Dave Elenz did a fantastic job calling the race. He was able to coach me on hitting my box on pit road, which was probably my biggest hurdle last year at Richmond. Those went way more smoothly tonight, and the crew was able to gain spots on pit road almost every stop. I really appreciate this team for all the hard work they put into this weekend.
JRM Press Release.
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