NASCAR XFINITY Series Race Report - Iowa

June 25, 2017

Track:                    Iowa Speedway
Race:                     America Ethanol 250
Date:                     June 24, 2017

No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang – Sam Hornish Jr.

Start:  3rd
Finish: 37th
Status: Running
Laps Completed: 78/250
Laps Led: 0
Owner's Points Position (behind leader): 1st (+82)

Recap: Sam Hornish Jr. looked to be on his way to a successful return to the NASCAR XFINITY Series with Team Penske, but an accident while running third derailed those plans and the Ohio-native finished a disappointing 37th on Saturday night at Iowa Speedway Hornish started the weekend strong, finding himself at the top of the speed charts in each of the practice sessions and qualifying a strong third, just 0.008 seconds off the pole position. Having not run in the NASCAR XFINITY Series since September last year, Hornish showed little rust as he settled into fourth as the 250-lap race started.  Hornish was battling a loose Discount Tire Ford Mustang for much of the early portion of the race, but used a solid restart on lap 30 to move into the second position. He would finish second at the end of the first stage and came to pit road for four tires, fuel, air pressure and a track bar adjustment to help get a better handle on the No. 22.  However, just 10 laps into stage two, the No. 20 of Christopher Bell was trying to pass Hornish on the inside. Bell got loose and spun the No. 22 Discount Tire Ford into the outside wall. The accident caused significant damage and forced the Hornish and the team to retire from the event – their first DNF of the year. Despite the 37th-place finish, the No. 22 team remains the points leader in the NASCAR XFINITY Series Owner's points by 82 points over the No. 42 team.

Quote:  "That was a disappointing end to what was going to be a good race for this No. 22 Discount Tire team. It was a lot of fun to come back out here and run with Greg Erwin and all of these guys. I wasn't sure how much time it would take me to get used to these cars with the lower downforce, but we were able to jump right in and find some speed. I felt like we were setting ourselves up for a good race. We were solidly in third and we were going to work on getting the car better.  Unfortunately, the No. 20 got in there too hard and spun us around. We hit pretty hard and there wasn't any fixing that car. It's too bad that this is how our first race back together ends. But we had some speed and we have something to build on when we come back here in a month. I'm just happy for this opportunity and I'm excited to get back behind the wheel of this Discount Tire Ford Mustang."