Dylan Lupton Guts Out 15th Place Finish in Iowa

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After three straight weeks of going to race tracks for the first time, Dylan Lupton finally returned to a track that he had previously raced on.   A wild race featuring varying strategies would see the Wilton, California native steer his No. 24 Nut Up Toyota to a solid 15th-place finish in the running of the American Ethanol E15 250 at Iowa Speedway on Saturday night.
 
“We fought through another weekend filled with adversity,” said Lupton.  “We blew a motor early in the second practice which put us behind the 8 ball. We struggled with the handling of our No. 24 Nut Up Toyota as we were really loose in and tight off the corner. Clinton (Cram, crew chief) and the rest of the No. 24 JGL crew never gave up and with great pit strategy, we were in contention for a good finish. Shoot, if it we didn’t have that caution with about 30 laps to go, we would have had a chance to win the race. I wish we could have gotten a few more laps there at the end so that we could get a top-10 finish.
 
Dylan would start the 250-lap event from the 28th position as a result of his qualifying effort.  In the early stages of the race Dylan would report that his No. 24 Nut Up Toyota was just too loose as it was during his qualifying runs earlier in the day.  An early trip down pit road in the middle portion of the first stage allowed for the JGL Racing crew to make some adjustments.  Back to racing, the early adjustments did not seem to help Dylan and he would ultimately go down a lap to the leaders just as the first stage concluded.
 
An early caution in the second stage allowed for Lupton to receive the Lucky Dog award and return back to the lead lap.  With Dylan reporting that his No. 24 Nut Up Toyota was getting a little better he would manage through the final laps of the second stage and sit in the 23rd spot at its conclusion.
 
The second half of the race would see some additional adjustments bring the No. 24 Nut Up Toyota to life.  Along with some great pit strategy by Clinton Cram (crew chief), Lupton would be in a position to go the distance on fuel with the majority of the field still requiring one more stop.  A long green flag run played right into this strategy before a late caution came out with 30 laps remaining.  The No. 24 Nut Up Toyota would restart as the leader but would fall back behind cars who had pitted for tires.  With another late caution, Lupton would give up track position to come down pit road to put on scuff tires but with less laps that what he currently had on his No. 24 Nut Up Toyota.  The closing laps saw Dylan pick up valuable positions and come home with an exciting 15th place finish when the checkered flag flew.
 
“I am happy with our result considering the struggles we had to fight through,” added Dylan. “A big thanks to Nut Up Industries for all the support, and the JGL crew for all their hard work.”
 
JGL Racing team will next head to Daytona International Speedway for the running of the Coca-Cola Firecracker 250.  The 15th race of the NASCAR XFINITY Series season will be Friday June 30th and can be seen LIVE on NBCSN at 7:30 pm ET.  It can also be heard on Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM Channel 90.
 
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