Jones Finally Gets First Victory
11th Different K&N Pro Winner at Iowa
NEWTON, Iowa — Brandon Jones kept the trend of new winners at Iowa Speedway going.
The 17-year-old driver from Atlanta, George, picked up his first NASCAR K&N Pro Series win Friday night in the Autolite Iridium XP 150. He is the 11th different winner in 11 meetings at Iowa between the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and West.
Jones joins a list which includes Joey Logano, Chase Elliott and Corey LaJoie of drivers who won at Iowa during their rise up the NASCAR ranks.
It was Jones’ 20th career K&N Pro start. His 2014 already included a third-place run in the K&N Pro East opener at New Smyrna (Florida) Speedway and a runner-up at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida. He was also in contention for the win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway when his last-lap attempt to pass for the lead also collected Nick Drake and opened the door for Jesse Little to grab the victory.
This time, Jones was the leader in the closing laps and his No. 33 Wolfpack Energy Services Chevrolet was able to hold off a late charge from Kenzie Ruston.
Ruston eclipsed her own mark of third-place — which she did twice, most recently at Virginia’s Langley Speedway earlier this year — as the highest finishing female in series history.
Defending race winner Cole Custer finished third, followed by Rev Racing and NASCAR Drive for Diversity’s Sergio Pena, and Jones’ Turner Scott Motorsports teammate Scott Heckert.
Eddie McDonald, Ben Rhodes, Kaz Grala, Greg Pursley and David Mayhew rounded out the top 10.
Rhodes, the K&N Pro Series East championship points leader, was among four cars leading the field who came down pit road one lap early at the mid-race break and had to restart the race at the tail of the field. That also included 21 Means 21 Pole Award winner Jesse Little, Brodie Kostecki and Kyle Benjamin.
Little finished 12, Kostecki 15th and Benjamin 17th. Rhodes did extend his points lead to 71 over Cameron Hayley, and he is 79 ahead of Jones and Gaulding.
Pursley, as the highest finished West driver, was credited with a victory for the K&N Pro West. He also added to his championship points lead, which is now 36 over Dylan Lupton (27th) and 42 over Brandon McReynolds (14th).
The Autolite Iridium XP 150 will air on FOX Sports 1 on Friday, Aug. 8 at 11 a.m.
The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East will hit the road course next week with the Bully Hill Vineyards 125 at Watkins Glen International in New York on Friday, Aug. 8. The next event for the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West will be the NAPA Auto Parts/Toyota 150 at Evegreen Speedway in Monroe, Washington, on Saturday, Aug. 16.
NKNPS Iowa 8/1/14 Results
K&N Pro Series East K&N Pro Series West
Race: NKNPSE Iowa 8/1/14
Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Points B/Points Status
1 8 33 Brandon Jones Wolfpack Energy Services Chevrolet 150 47E 4 Running
2 16 96 Kenzie Ruston Ben Kennedy Racing Chevrolet 150 42E Running
3 6 0 Cole Custer NAPA/Haas Automation Chevrolet 150 43E 2 Running
4 21 4 Sergio Peña Toyota Racing Development Toyota 150 41E 1 Running
5 7 34 Scott Heckert Project Lifesaver Chevrolet 150 39E Running
6 19 71 Eddie MacDonald Grimm Const./National MS Society Chevrolet 150 38E Running
7 4 41 Ben Rhodes * Alpha Energy Solutions Chevrolet 150 38E 1 Running
8 9 31 Kaz Grala * OzLINK Chevrolet 150 36E Running
9 17 26 Greg Pursley GPM/Star Nursery/Real Water Ford 150 46W 3 Running
10 15 17 David Mayhew MMI Services/Ron’s Rear Ends Chevrolet 150 42W Running
11 14 6 Daniel Suarez Rev Racing Toyota 150 35E Running
12 1 97 Jesse Little Get To Know Newton Chevrolet 150 35E 1 Running
13 10 20 Gray Gaulding Krispy Kreme Toyota 150 33E Running
14 29 16 Brandon McReynolds NAPA Auto Parts Toyota 150 41W Running
15 2 43 Brodie Kostecki * Acroplate Toyota 150 33E 1 Running
16 11 15 Nick Drake * NAPA Auto Parts Toyota 150 31E Running
17 3 27 Kyle Benjamin * Benjamin Motorsports Ford 150 30E Running
18 22 66 James Bickford * Sunrise Ford/Interstate Plastics Ford 150 40W Running
19 12 98 Cameron Hayley Cabinets By Hayley Chevrolet 150 29E Running
20 20 14 Trey Hutchens * MilitaryWarriors.org Chevrolet 150 28E Running
21 5 1 Ross Chastain Toyota Technical College/Yazaki Toyota 150 27E Running
22 27 4 Ronnie Bassett, Jr. * Butler Trailer Mfg. Toyota 149 26E Running
23 24 21 MacKena Bell Special Smiles Pediatric Dentistry Toyota 149 25E Running
24 26 10 JJ Haley * Charles Dean Lefler Trust Chevrolet 149 24E Running
25 38 99 Chris Eggleston NAPA Filters/H2O Fire Protection Toyota 149 39W Running
26 37 83 Kelly Admiraal Swan Rentals Chevrolet 149 38W Running
27 28 9 Dylan Lupton Sunrise Ford/Go Pro/Lucas Oil Ford 149 37W Running
28 32 5 Thomas Martin MedActive Oral Care Chevrolet 149 36W Running
29 23 42 Jay Beasley * Toyota Racing Development Toyota 149 23E Running
30 35 56 Akinori Ogata ENEOS Toyota 149 22E Running
31 39 51 Justin Funkhouser MedActive Oral Relief for Dry Mouth Chevrolet 147 35W Running
32 25 47 Cale Conley The PM Company Toyota 146 20E Running
33 31 55 Zach Bruenger * Diversified Means, Inc. Chevrolet 145 19E Running
34 13 22 Austin Hill * A&D Welding/Don Rich Ford Ford 145 18E Running
35 36 36 Jairo Avila * Chilli Pepper LLC/Art Cleaners Toyota 144 34W Running
36 33 30 John Wood Wahl Traction Toyota 142 33W Running
37 41 11 Jack Sellers MedActive Oral Relief for Dry Mouth Chevrolet 142 32W Running
38 42 84 Rich DeLong, III * Country Girl Saloon/Ron’s Rear Ends Chevrolet 135 31W Running
39 18 24 Brennan Newberry Qore24 Chevrolet 70 17E Accident
40 30 2 Ryan Gifford Universal Technical Institute/NTI Toyota 59 16E Accident
41 43 38 Zack Huffman * Holleran’s Performance Chevrolet 17 30W Accident
42 40 54 Anthony Giannone Trend Performance/Diamond Pistons Toyota 11 29W Engine
43 34 77 Anderson Bowen Cunningham Motorsports Dodge 10 15E Oil Leak
RACE STATISTICS
Fastest Qualifier: Jesse Little, Time: 23.883 Seconds, Speed: 131.893 mph
Failed to Qualify: (1) Chad Finley * (#29).
Time of Race: 1 hrs., 27 mins, 56 secs Average Speed: 89.556 mph Margin of Victory: .338 Seconds
Caution Flags: Laps 19-23; 61-66; 72-75; 130-138. 4 for 24 laps.
Lap Leaders: Jesse Little 1-24, Brodie Kostecki * 25-49, Ben Rhodes * 50-74, Sergio Peña 75, Cole Custer 76-140, Sergio Peña 141, Brandon Jones 142-150.
Total Laps Led: Cole Custer 65, Brodie Kostecki * 25, Ben Rhodes * 25, Jesse Little 24, Brandon Jones 9, Sergio Peña 2. 6 changes involving 6 drivers.
* Denotes Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate
Sources: John Tejeda, NASCAR PR