Erik Jones will start first Sunday in the NASCAR Xfinity race at Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa after winning his sixth pole of the season.
Jones has twice as many qualifying victories in 2016 as Kyle Busch, who is second in the series with three. But Jones is just fourth in the point standings, 55 points behind teammate Daniel Suarez, largely because he failed to finish two races.
“Just staying up on it and making good adjustments,” Jones said when asked about the keys for Sunday’s race. “Everybody is going to be getting their stuff better all day long, and we need to make sure we’re ahead of the curve.
Suarez will look to make it back-to-back wins after becoming the first Mexican to win a NASCAR national series last week at Michigan.
Sam Hornish Jr. will start third in his first race of 2016, giving Joe Gibbs Racing the top three spots on the grid.
Justin Allgaier was fourth, followed by Elliott Sadler, Ben Kennedy and Sprint Cup regular Brad Keselowski.
Kennedy, who topped both practice sessions Friday, will be making his first series start.
Keselowski has won three times in Iowa, including his last two starts in 2013 and 2014.
NASCAR Trucks
William Byron held off the field on a late restart to win the NASCAR Truck Series race at Iowa Speedway for his second straight victory.
The 18-year-old Byron held off a hard-charging Cole Custer by less than a half-second for his third victory in just nine career starts.
Byron is just 11 points behind Matt Crafton in the season standings.
“We’ve kind of hit our stride in May and now June, and we’ve been able to focus on what we need to do better,” said Byron, who will attend Liberty University, the sponsor of his No. 9 truck, in the fall.
Custer was second, followed by ThorSport Racing teammates Cameron Hayley and Ben Rhodes.
Tyler Reddick, who led 37 laps, was fifth.
The first 150 laps or so didn’t provide much action, with only a mandatory caution clock keeping things interesting.
The finish showed why drivers often rave about Iowa’s 0.875-mile oval.
Reddick had clean air and the lead with 22 laps to go. But Tommy Joe Martins and Derek Scott Jr. got collected in the backstretch, drawing a red flag to clean up fluid on the track.
The restart saw multiple drivers jump out in front, and at times the battle for first went three-wide.
But another accident drew the final caution flag of the race. Once the green flag was raised, no one had enough to overtake Byron.
“After that red flag, things definitely multiplied by about a thousand,” Hayley said. “(Byron) made the best moves at the right time.”
John Hunter Nemecheck earned his first career pole earlier Saturday, and he led the first 53 laps before Byron surged ahead after a caution.
Formula One
Nico Rosberg claimed pole position for the European Grand Prix after his teammate Lewis Hamilton crashed out of qualifying.
Qualifying was red-flagged when Hamilton clipped his right front wheel on a wall at the exit of Turn 10 in the twisty section by the Baku fortress in the old town section of the street circuit in Azerbaijan. Hamilton qualified 10th.
Force India’s Sergio Perez was second but will take a five-place grid penalty for changing his gearbox after also hitting a wall at the end of pre-qualifying practice and severely damaging the rear of the car.
Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo qualified third ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen in fourth and fifth but all will move up a spot due to Perez’s demotion.
NHRA
Steve Torrence took the No. 1 qualifying position in Top Fuel on Saturday in the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway in Tennessee.
Torrence had a 3.745-second pass at 324.12 mph for his sixth No. 1 qualifier of the year and 11th of his career. Torrence won in New Jersey last weekend as the No. 1 qualifier and was second the weekend before in New Hampshire. He has two wins this year.
“It feels great and I did win here a few years ago and it’s always Father’s Day when we race and this year I have my dad with me so that adds a lot to it,” said Torrence, the 2013 Bristol winner. “To be able to share success with him while he’s here, with the way the car is running and with the team, the moral is at an all-time high. We’re going to try to repeat and go all the way.”
Ron Capps topped the Funny Car field, and Jason Line was No. 1 in Pro Stock.
Capps raced to his third consecutive No. 1 qualifier with a 3.884 at 323.66 in his Dodge Charger R/T. Capps has won the last two races and three so far this year. The three-time Thunder Valley winner has 21 top qualifiers in his career.
Line pushed his Chevrolet Camaro to a 6.652 at 208.01 to earn his fourth consecutive No. 1 qualifier and sixth of the year. Line, who has 47 top qualifiers in his career, won the event 10 years ago. He has five victories this year and leads the points race.
