The ARCA Menards Series and ARCA Menards Series East went combo racing on Saturday night, or Sunday morning, at Iowa Speedway. The event was delayed a few hours because of rain and ended in the early hours on Sunday.
Three drivers contended for the victory in the 150-lap race, with Brandon Jones ending the night celebrating in victory lane. Other lap leaders included Sammy Smith and pole-sitter Jesse Love.
Brandon Jones leaves Iowa with his seventh career ARCA Menards Series victory and second of the season. The Atlanta Georgia driver, winning by 2.843 seconds, also visited victory lane at Charlotte Motor Speedway the last time out.
Sammy Smith qualified ninth and had to start the event at the rear of the field for an unapproved adjustment. Smith, entering the 0.875-mile Iowa Speedway searching for his fourth victory, takes home his fifth top five with the runner-up finish.
Connor Mosack picks up his third top-five of the year by placing third.
Jonathan Shafer and Connor Jones rounded out the top five.
Leland Honeyman, Nick Sanchez, Greg Van Alst, Ron Vandermier Jr., and Amber Balcaen took home top 10 finishes.
Five cautions slowed the field, two being for race breaks at laps 50 and 100.
The first yellow was brought out by Rajah Caruth on lap nine in turn two. Caruth went on to finish 12th and one lap down as a result of the issue early.
The No. 11 of Bryce Haugeberg brought out the second yellow flag on lap 30 in turn three. Haugeberg eventually took his No. 11 Chevrolet to a 14th place finish.
On lap 88 Daniel Dye suffered issues when his No. 43 machine dropped a valve. Dye finishes 17th as a result of the DNF.
Jesse Love developed an issue inside 10 laps to go that forced the No. 20 Toyota to pit road. Love, like Sammy Smith and Brandon Jones, showed promise to be one of the contenders for the victory all race long. As a result, Love finishes four laps down in 13th.
The ARCA Menards Series heads to Berlin on June 18th while the ARCA Menards Series East won’t race until August 28th at Milwaukee.
About Me: Brett has been following the sport of NASCAR since the beginning of the 2006 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. Since Brett was 13, he has had a passion of chasing a job in sports that not many get the opportunity of doing. He has been in the NASCAR media since the middle of the 2010 season. Since then, he has been a part of many racing podcast shows to improve his talents. He has written for racingonfuel.com and theracingwheel.com. Currently, Brett writes for motorsportsnat.com and TracksideChatter.com. You can find him on twitter @NASCAR_Brett.
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