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William Byron scores first NASCAR Xfinity win in hectic Iowa race

One week after coming within arm's reach of his first-career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory, William Byron claimed the checkered flag at Iowa Speedway.

William Byron, JR Motorsports Chevrolet

William Byron, JR Motorsports Chevrolet

Matthew T. Thacker / NKP / Motorsport Images

Christopher Bell dominated the opening stage of the race, taking the stage victory over Sam Hornish Jr. and Byron, who was the top Xfinity regular.

"It's been really good out front and it will be interesting to see what it's like in traffic," said Bell after winning Stage 1.

Byron would then win the battle off pit road, leading the way at the start of the second stage with Allgaier directly behind. Kyle Benjamin, who started on the outside of the front row, was sent to the rear of the field for an uncontrolled tire during his first stop of the race.

Hornish knocked out

80 laps into the race, a major contender was taken out of play when Hornish was sent spinning into the outside wall. Bell was attempting to get under the defending Iowa winner for third when he washed up to the track and into the side of the No. 22 machine.

"Car was pretty good," said Hornish after emerging from the infield medical center. "It was getting better and we were heading in the direction we needed. I tried to move my line up just a tad bit in through (turns) three and four and that allowed the No. 20 to get a run on me and seemed like he just overdrove the corner, got loose and and into us. It's a shame for all the guys on this car. Not the way I wanted to debut being back here with Team Penske. Iv'e made my own far share of mistakes but man I hate being on that end of it. Hoping to get the opportunity to come back here and run later on this year. Just not how we wanted it to go at all.

On the ensuing restart, Allgaier got ahead of the pack, but it was short-lived as Bell made his way back into the top spot. But with the stage nearing its conclusion, a caution set-up a sprint to the finish that split strategy throughout the field.. Benjamin spun in Turn 4, sliding down the track and colliding with Ty Majeski, who was making his Xfinity debut with Roush-Fenway Racing. Majeski's night came to end with 100 laps to go when a tire failure sent his already wounded car hard into the outside wall.

While Bell and most of the frontrunners pitted, Brendan Gaughan led a group of nine cars that opted to stay out. The restart came with just two laps to in the stage, resulting in some incredible action as positions were jostled around like a superspeedway race.

With fresh rubber, Byron drove from tenth up to second, but was unable to reach Gaughan, who claimed the Stage 2 victory and a crucial playoff bonus point. "Really excited we finally got one," he said after pitted during the scheduled caution period.

Byron found himself out front again for the start of Stage 3, but Bell never let him get too far away, retaking the lead and holding his own at the sharp end of the field.

Following a crash by Spencer Gallagher, the race went ground, leading to green-flag pit stops. But in those aforementioned pit stops with less than 30 laps to go, the unthinkable happened. Ryan Reed and Brennan Poole got together and race leader Bell was caught up in the mess. He soldiered on, but finished a disappointing 16th in his wounded Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

Byron cycled into the race lead with an interesting cast of characters directly behind him. In the closing laps, he was able to fend off Ryan Sieg for his first ever NXS victory, driving the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet.

"Man, it feels awesome," said 19-year-old Byron in Victory Lane. "Thank you Mr. (Hendrick) for giving me this opportunity. It's so cool to run full-time in this series. Everything has come full-circle for me."

"Just to see it all come to fruition now and have a victory is really awesome and I think we had a first or second-place car. Really proud of these guys."

Sieg brought home second ahead of Tyler Reddick, Ross Chastain and Dakoda Armstrong. All drivers inside the top five scored a career-best result.

"Yeah, it was crazy. It was surreal. I just can't thank everybody enough," said Sieg after his runner-up finish.

Michael Annett, Jeremy Clements, Sadler, Allgaier, and Garrett Smithley rounded out the top ten.

Click on image to watch highlights of Byron's first NASCAR Xfinity Series win.

Cla#DriverManufacturerLapsTimeLaps Led
1 9 united_states William Byron  Chevrolet 250 2:33'07 78
2 39 united_states Ryan Sieg  Chevrolet 250 1.140  
3 42 united_states Tyler Reddick  Chevrolet 250 1.328  
4 4 united_states Ross Chastain  Chevrolet 250 2.303  
5 28 united_states Dakoda Armstrong  Toyota 250 3.082  
6 5 united_states Michael Annett  Chevrolet 250 5.071  
7 51 united_states Jeremy Clements  Chevrolet 250 5.145  
8 1 united_states Elliott Sadler  Chevrolet 250 5.295  
9 7 united_states Justin Allgaier  Chevrolet 250 6.848 5
10 0 united_states Garrett Smithley  Chevrolet 250 8.272  
11 78 united_states Tommy Joe Martins  Chevrolet 250 9.708  
12 46 united_states Quin Houff  Chevrolet 250 9.951  
13 14 united_states J.J. Yeley  Toyota 250 10.126  
14 99 united_states David Starr  Chevrolet 250 10.282  
15 24 united_states Dylan Lupton  Toyota 250 10.793 5
16 20 united_states Christopher Bell  Toyota 250 11.020 152
17 8 united_states B.J. McLeod  Chevrolet 250 11.700  
18 52 united_states Joey Gase  Chevrolet 250 13.975  
19 16 united_states Ryan Reed  Ford 250 22.977  
20 2 united_states Ben Kennedy  Chevrolet 249 1 lap  
21 21 united_states Daniel Hemric  Chevrolet 249 1 lap  
22 19 united_states Matt Tifft  Toyota 249 1 lap  
23 33 united_states Brandon Jones  Chevrolet 249 1 lap  
24 00 united_states Cole Custer  Ford 249 1 lap  
25 11 united_states Blake Koch  Chevrolet 249 1 lap  
26 62 united_states Brendan Gaughan  Chevrolet 249 1 lap 9
27 48 united_states Brennan Poole  Chevrolet 249 1 lap  
28 40 united_states Timmy Hill  Dodge 247 3 laps  
29 07 united_states Ray Black Jr.  Chevrolet 246 4 laps 1
30 23 united_states Spencer Gallagher  Chevrolet 244 6 laps  
31 18 united_states Kyle Benjamin  Toyota 241 9 laps  
32 3 united_states Harrison Rhodes  Chevrolet 236 14 laps  
33 90 united_states Dexter Bean  Chevrolet 161 89 laps  
34 60 united_states Ty Majeski  Ford 143 107 laps  
35 74 united_states Mike Harmon  Dodge 121 129 laps  
36 01 united_states Harrison Rhodes  Chevrolet 118 132 laps  
37 22 united_states Sam Hornish Jr.  Ford 78 172 laps  
38 13 united_states Carl Long  Chevrolet 18 232 laps  
39 89 united_states Morgan Shepherd  Chevrolet 16 234 laps  
40 93 united_states Jeff Green  Chevrolet 6 244 laps  

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