Brandon Jones kept the trend of new winners at Iowa Speedway going.
The 17-year-old driver from Atlanta, Georgia, 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 Series start. His 2014 already included a third-place run in the K&N Pro Series 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 34 over Dylan Lupton (27th) and 42 over Brandon McReynolds (14th).
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