Sam Hornish Jr. gets emotional Iowa Speedway win on Father's Day

NEWTON — A few strong emotions washed over Sam Hornish Jr. in the wake of his fourth career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory on Sunday at Iowa Speedway in the American Ethanol 250.

First, it had been 210 days since he was inside a racecar in competition. He'd sat on the sidelines from his home in Ohio, waiting and hoping for a high-caliber ride to be available.

Second, he and his family excitedly altered their Father's Day plans to be in Newton so Hornish could fill in for injured Matt Tifft. His win was the first time he'd been able to take his three kids, Addison, Eliza and Sam III with him to Victory Lane.

Monday morning was his lifeline, receiving the call to race. Sunday afternoon was the payoff, holding his son and barely holding back tears.

'I can't say how far I am beside myself that this opportunity presented itself and we took ahold of it and did as much as we could with it this weekend,' Hornish said. 'For me, what this really means is I had the opportunity to take my kids to Victory Lane, which is something I wanted to do since I became a dad.

'I've worked hard to get my wife and kids here and be able to get to enjoy this with me. I would not have it any other way.'

Once the race got started, there wasn't really ever much doubt he'd get the win, either.

Hornish became the all-time laps leader in Xfinity Series competition at Iowa Speedway by leading 183 of the 250 laps, beating Ty Dillon to the stripe by 1.443 seconds — among the closest margins (other than on restarts) anyone had to Hornish all day.

His No. 18 car swapped the lead with teammate Daniel Suarez in the opening half of the race, but it felt inevitable that Hornish would retake the lead each time. Like clockwork after the first two pit stops, in which Suarez beat Hornish off pit road, Hornish would get back out front after 15-20 laps. A swap of pit crews between Hornish's original crew and Erik Jones' crew — Jones had fallen out of contention with a fuel pressure issue — gave him the final missing piece on a nearly perfect day.

Normally drivers don't like to tempt fate by thinking about winning before the checkered flag falls, but Hornish admitted after the race he'd been thinking about it since he agreed to run the race.

'I felt like as long as I was physically where I needed to be at, I knew the 18 car was going to be stellar when I got in it,' Hornish said. 'I've been thinking about this all week, what the possibilities would be for us winning. As soon as I got out there and in the car, I knew this thing was pretty good. I kept trying to find out a new way to tell (crew chief) Chris (Gayle) I needed a little more, but I was being picky at this point.'

Hornish said Friday he was thankful for two practice sessions to re-familiarize himself with being in a racecar again, and didn't get much sleep Thursday night thinking about everything.

On Sunday, he said he kept expecting himself to be rustier than he was — but it was never really a concern. Two of his four career Xfinity wins came at Iowa Speedway, with his last being the spring 2014 race, also driving for Joe Gibbs Racing. His affinity for the 7/8-mile track and short tracks in general helped his rate of getting back up to speed, and certainly made him confident from the green flag on.

'I kept thinking I was going to have some kind of mistake or do something really silly, because I hadn't been in a car since Homestead,' Hornish said. 'Any track that's bumpy and under a mile tends to suit me. (Iowa Speedway) is both of those.'

Ultimately nothing made him happier than getting to be a dad who happened to win the race.

Hornish had sat on the sidelines so far this season, but it wasn't the same frustrated longing for a ride that it might've been in the past. Getting to be a father has superseded all of his other goals and ambitions, so marrying his two passions made this Father's Day his best one.

He even was joined by his son, Sam III, for his winner's news conference.

'I don't know what (the win) is going to hold; I know what it means for today,' Hornish said. 'Really for me, it doesn't have to be anything. The best part of my life is sitting here. I'll work, but I wouldn't sacrifice doing the right things by them.'

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