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Joey Gase parlays timely caution into best Iowa Speedway finish
Jun. 25, 2017 12:14 am, Updated: Jun. 27, 2017 7:19 pm
NEWTON — Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.
Cedar Rapids native Joey Gase's No. 52 Chevy was a handful for the 24-year-old driver all weekend, with the car 'the worst we've ever unloaded anywhere,' on Friday for the first practice.
But on Saturday night in the American Ethanol 250 at Iowa Speedway, Gase stayed out of trouble, dodged some carnage in front of him, caught a timely caution before his final pit stop and parlayed that into an 18th-place finish behind race winner William Byron — who picked up his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series win.
Every racecar driver has had nights on both ends of that spectrum — where you're running really well and get some bad luck, and where you're running poorly and get some good luck. Given how his weekend started, Gase will take that top-20 any way he can get it.
'We definitely got lucky with how, a lot of times, the cautions fell and getting the lucky dogs, but not all of it was luck,' Gase said. 'We got the car where it was actually drivable and we could race the guys we should be able to race against. Hopefully now when we come back in August we'll have a lot better starting point. If we didn't run out of tires the last 40 laps, I think we could almost have had a top 15.
'For once, a weekend from hell turned out pretty decent at the end.'
Gase started 37th Saturday night and was the beneficiary of the free pass three times — another example of that racing luck.
Saturday marked a career-best finish at Iowa Speedway and fourth top-20 of the season for Gase, who finished seventh at the season opener at Daytona, 16th at Talladega and 20th at Richmond. It also capped a weekend in which he won the Late Model race at his home track of Hawkeye Downs Speedway in Cedar Rapids.
Gase was hopeful before the race that his team's changes would stick and make for an improved car at his home NASCAR track — a place where he'd run well in the past but not necessarily gotten the finishes to back that up.
Those changes that finally stuck and changed the car from having a front end 'like driving on the snow in Iowa,' to one that was much better were where the luck turned into execution. Gase might have had good fortune to snag the cautions, but he had to be in position to do so as well.
'After qualifying 37th, I was not a happy camper and I didn't really want anyone around me, that's for sure,' Gase said. 'I wouldn't say we got it right where we wanted it, but we got it 10 times better. I think halfway through the race, we made a change in the front end and it finally let the tires hook up.'
Gase's good fortune also applied to Byron, who had fallen to the back half of the top 10 before the late caution that trapped many of the contending cars a lap down.
With less than 30 to go, then-leader Christopher Bell was caught up in a wreck with Ryan Reed and Brennan Poole while the lead lap cars were making their final pit stop. Byron, who hadn't yet made his stop, then pitted under caution and restarted second to Dylan Lupton.
Byron snagged the lead on the restart with just more than 20 laps to go and never looked back — even through another late restart after Reed hit the wall again.
Byron's win was his third overall at Iowa Speedway in as many years — he won a K&N Pro Series race in 2015 and a Camping World Truck Series race in 2016 — and came a week after he was edged out by a bumper for the win at Michigan Speedway to Denny Hamlin. The teenager has experienced his fair share of bad racing luck in a short time — last week, as well as last fall blowing an engine in the CWTS Chase, costing him a shot at the championship.
He's been fast in everything he's driven, and that's what brought him back to JR Motorsports — where he started in Late Models — and tied to Hendrick Motorsports.
'It was really cool to see it pay off and to get a phone call from (Rick Hendrick) was really cool,' Byron said. 'It all kind of comes around in racing. Last week we were so close, last year we had that blown engine in the Chase and stuff like that. We've had our fair share of good luck, too. You've got to have a little luck to win every race you win. I feel like we got one back for last week.'
Ryan Sieg finished second, Tyler Reddick was third, Ross Chastain fourth and Dakota Armstrong was fifth. Des Moines native Michael Annett finished sixth, and like Gase, was the beneficiary of that caution that included Bell. Annett had been in the mid-20s most of the race and was a lap down for a good portion.
Gase's grin after the race reflected his finish, sure, but also that the finish came at Iowa Speedway. With his sponsor connections — his Late Model win at Hawkeye Downs was on Iowa Donor Network night, and Iowa Donor Network was his sponsor Saturday — and so many friends and family there, the desire to run well was obviously up a notch.
As much as that, Gase was proud to back up the big ovation he got in driver introductions. Backing up the support with a good finish is a confidence booster he'll carry with him.
'I put more pressure on myself when we come here to Iowa,' Gase said. 'It's pretty cool to come across the stage and have the loudest cheer because you're from Iowa. All the support from the state of Iowa is awesome. I can honestly say Iowa is really the only state that does that. Anywhere else we go, drivers from Delaware or Virginia or anywhere, they get a little extra, but not like we do here. It's so cool.'
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Cedar Rapids native and NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Joey Gase #52 enters turn three during the NASCAR XFINITY Series American Ethanol E15 250 presented by Enogen at Iowa Speedway in Newton on Saturday, June 24, 2017. (Cliff Jette/The Gazette),
NASCAR Xfinity Series driver William Byron #9 celebrates winning the NASCAR XFINITY Series American Ethanol E15 250 presented by Enogen with a burnout at Iowa Speedway in Newton on Saturday, June 24, 2017. (Cliff Jette/The Gazette),