By Summer Bedgood
NEWTON, Iowa – Somehow, Iowa Speedway was able to successfully jam two days worth of racing into one on Sunday afternoon.
What was supposed to be a two-day show with the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series race on Saturday and the NASCAR Xfinity Series on Sunday, turned into a Father’s Day marathon after severe thunderstorms and heavy rains cancelled most of the on-track action on Saturday — including the NGOTS race.
The race was moved to late Sunday morning / early Sunday afternoon, just before NXS qualifying followed by the race later in the afternoon.
All on-track activities occurred with no weather issues, with comfortable temperatures and pleasant weather conditions making for an excellent day at the racetrack.
However, to say everything went off without a hitch would be incorrect.
During the NGOTS race, what was a simple battle for position between Johnny Sauter and Austin Hill turned into a demolition derby.
To put it simply, Sauter bumped Hill out of the way for position, Hill retaliated and spun Sauter, and Sauter retaliated after the fact, running Hill up into the wall and then hitting the driver side of his No. 16.
Sauter was parked for the remainder of the race, Hill earned a 12th-place finish, and neither driver was offering any apologies after the race.
Meanwhile, Ross Chastain dominated most of the event, leading 141 of the 200 laps en route to the victory … or so we thought.
After everything was over — the burnout, Victory Lane, photos, press conferences, etc — NASCAR announced that Chastain’s winning No. 44 truck had failed post-race inspections.
As NGOTS Manging Director Brad Moran put it, the truck was “extremely low”. Even after the team was allowed to make approved adjustments to try and raise it, the truck was still well outside of the tolerance.
For the first time since 1960, NASCAR disqualified the winning driver and awarded the win to second-place Brett Moffit. Chastain was credited with a last-place finish.
“Obviously this is not the way I want to win it as a racecar driver,” said Moffitt after he was announced as the winner. “I still know I got beat on track, which is frustrating. Back in the beginning of the year when NASCAR implemented this new system, it was to clear up the Tuesday disqualifications and the encumbered wins and let the fans know and everyone else know who actually won the race. I still would rather take the checkered and be the first one to it, but I’ll take a win any way I can get it and that solidifies our Playoff spot, and $50,000 bucks, and a shot at $100 grand or $150 grand next week.”
Niece Motorsports has announced that they will appeal the decision.
Thankfully the NXS race went a lot smoother.
After Cole Custer earned his 10th career pole in qualifying, Christopher Bell, unsurprisingly, had the best car by far in the race and went virtually unchallenged, leading 186 of the 250 laps.
The next highest lap leader was second-place Custer at 59.
Bell’s No. 20 Toyota passed inspection, so the NXS garage was spared the post-race drama.
The victory was Bell’s fourth of the season and second at Iowa Speedway.
The NGOTS is back in action at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway on Saturday, June 22nd for the Gateway 200 presented by CK Power. The race will be broadcast on FS1 at 8:30PM ET.
The NXS will be at Chicagoland Speedway with the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Their race — the Camping World 300 — will take place on Saturday, June 29 at 3:30PM ET. The race will be broadcast on NBCSN.